Not surprisingly, people always want to write positive reviews of the places they visit. Tourists often sat in my favorite internet cafe in Saigon writing nearly identical emails - the people here are amazing, the culture is fascinating, yada ... yada. Nobody wants to write that they traveled halfway around the world and spent 10 months in a place that really sucks but that is just what I did. Make no mistake, the learning experience was fantastic almost to the point of enlightening and having to make the same choice again I would still go. On the flip-side, given the chance to remain for an additional ten months would have required serious incentive because Saigon just plain sucks. Just ask any Vietnamese person who lives there.
Vietnamese culture has many fascinating and admirable qualities, few of which you will readily encounter in Saigon. Ambitious Vietnamese people come to Saigon for the economic and educational opportunities that are not available to them in their hometown. Chances are they dislike the city where they are compelled to live. It is easy to see why. The noise, crowds and pollution are all bad but you will seldom here people complain about these things.
The problem for Vietnamese is that Saigon is in a cultural vacuum where people often forsake traditional Vietnamese culture and try to imitate what they believe is American culture. Unfortunatly, people seem likely to end up following only the more accessible negative aspects of American culture and failing to understand the positive ones. Hollywood and the average foreign tourist do no tend to help the problem. Although not stated directly, your VISA grants you minor celebrity status and the responsibility of being a role model for young people who want to imitate you. Hopefully sooner rather than later the large percentage of tourists who represent their home country poorly will decrease and locals will figure out that they are choosing to imitate the wrong people. Like many other places, it is not the role models that are in short supply but the role models that people want to imitate. The businessman who visits Vietnam will maintain a low profile and stay mostly out of sight while whoring alcoholic is all too visible.
The second problem for Vietnamese people moving to Saigon is that they leave behind their family and life-long friends in their hometown. On arrival in Saigon many people do not make new friends. I met plenty of people who had no or very few friends even after living in Saigon for several years. New acquantances are not to be trusted and are assumed to have a different background and interests. Generally people are colder, ruder, lonelier, more rushed, and more businesslike in Saigon compared to other areas.
Of course, these issues do not directly affect a foreigner because you cannot imitate yourself and you can meet people easily. For the foreigner, Saigon offers plenty of opportunity in these areas:
Vietnamese culture and language are both very interesting and very different from the West. As most long term visitors would confirm, they are also rather impenitrable. I knew plenty of people who had spent years in Saigon and barely spoke a few words of Vietnamese because the language is so difficult. Isolated culturally, single 'expats' in Saigon tend to end up drinking and whoring. Married people just spend time with their families. Despite the common praise of Vietnamese culture by people who do not understand a thing, the cultural exchange rarely goes beyond the excellent cuisine and cheap whores.
The rampant prostitution can be a little disgusting to watch. The economics are sure to keep all parties interested for a long time to come but seeing a gorgeous 20 year old with a sloppy, fat ‘sexpat’ more than twice her age does not inspire a warm fuzzy feeling in one’s stomach. If, for whatever reason, you were unlucky enough to learn some of the details of their relationship you certainly would wish you had not. Maybe curiosity really did kill the cat. If you meet someone who says they love Vietnam for the culture but they cannot speak Vietnamese it is pretty safe to assume what aspect of the culture they are fascinated by and what they are lacking in their home country. You might entertain yourself all the same by asking them to explain exactly what it is about the culture that they like.
There is a little comedy in the situation at times. UPDATE
There are two sides to every story but the limited entertainment possibilities were not what really bothered me. Even for people who try to isolate themselves, the crushing poverty and coarse, broken English are both unavoidable in Saigon. The more you encounter them the more cumbersome they become. If you do not look Vietnamese then you are assumed to 1) Speak English 2) Be relatively rich. This amounts to a big thorn in your ass on the streets of Saigon. It often feels like people see you only momentarily before you transform into a cow that needs milking. For someone who has not eaten all day you do not want to be their only chance for getting a meal. This situation was particularly bothersome upon my arrival when the SARS virus had cut sharply into tourism. People on the street who made there living from tourists were hurting and even more insistent than normal even though I follow strict handout guidelines that amount to very close to never. It is not the right way to appease your conscience as many intrepid travelers will agree.
People asking for handouts did not bother me nearly as much as the rude, broken English interruptions. Everyone in Saigon seems to be studying English while almost nobody can speak more than a few words. People studying English lack a good opportunity to practice and assume you want to be their English tutor who is just dying to have the same 30 second “HELL-O, what is your name?” conversation for the six hundred and fifth time. Not surprisingly, any response in Vietnamese to the annoying “HELL-O” interruption is unwelcome and the speaker will usually disappear quickly. Naturally to get your attention on the street almost every knows they can scream “Yoooo” or jump around waving their hands. Try your best to ignore this type of behavior and not reinforce it. Walking around with a damn bull’s eye clearly marked on your chest becomes quite cumbersome so you tragically have to try and isolate yourself from the common person on the street. Walking anywhere alone causes a headache. Walking with a Vietnamese person is much easier for you because all questions will be directed through them but they may not appreciate the hassle either. Many longer term expats have a personal driver to escort them around the city. One thing is certain, Asian looking people will develop the city, not Westerners. The sizable population of Japanese and Koreans is likely to increase because it is much easier for them to blend in to some extent and be treated with more courtesy. The language barrier accentuates the cultural barrier and normally polite, friendly people tend to act a bit strange upon meeting a foreigner.
The fifth is left with a question mark because Vietnamese culture is not readily accessible to the temporary visitor who may witness many interesting things but will understand very little. Discovery is a summary for seeing and doing things you cannot do at home. If you do not know what lychee, rambutan, papaya, pomelo, sabuche, dragon fruit or a handful of other fruits that I cannot name in English taste like - believe me you wish you did. I guess most of the interesting aspects I am including in the term 'Discovery' are best left undescribed for visitors to explore themselves but I was surprised by things from the moment I arrived until the moment I left. Related to discovery and the most accessible aspect of Vietnamese culture is the food which is varied, exotic, healthy, cheap and very, very good. You can enjoy outstanding food in Saigon for only a few dollars a day.
The business opportunities are fantastic if you do not stumble over the cultural differences and can handle developing economy related delays and problems.
My recommendation for your visit to Vietnam is to spend a little time in Saigon to visit some of the excellent restaurants and then do what all the locals wish they could to do and get the hell out! Life outside Saigon is much more interesting and friendly, although the English only speaker is fairly limited on what they can do and must stay very close to the tourist path.