During

Before this trip, I expected to learn about the Vietnamese’s determination and endurance. Indeed, I learned a lot about these traits, especially in Sapa. I experienced the locals’ determination whenever they tried to sell us handicrafts. The most impactful incident was when my friend was buying handicrafts from a girl and another girl suddenly came over and started asking my friend to buy her handicrafts, saying “you buy from her, you buy from me”. For the next five minutes, she tailed my friend, although my friend declined buying. She only gave up after my friend entered a church and I blocked her from entering. Seeing how she followed us for so long, I really felt her determination and perseverance.

I also learned how much one’s presence can affect a different culture. Initially, when my friends and I saw children trying to sell their handicrafts, we would become soft-hearted or guilt-tripped into buying from them. Later, we saw a board that requested tourists to not buy from children as it would encourage parents to continue sending their children to work instead of school. Also, a local shared that ever since tourists started coming, many commercialised buildings started springing up. I think many tourists have yet to understand that buying handicrafts from children is merely a short-term solution to their long-term problem, and that our presence can really change the locals’ lives so much. Without us customers, children would not sell handicrafts on the street, and there would be much less commercialised buildings.

As a student on a field trip and a tourist in Vietnam, I thought a lot about privilege. I thought about how privileged I am to live so comfortably, even luxuriously at times, and to receive good education. Simultaneously, I saw how people of different cultures can value different things. Singaporeans tend to chase after abundance, material wealth and qualifications, but the Vietnamese seem to have simpler pursuits, like sufficiency and time with their family and friends. A homestay owner told me about how she just wants a simple life, and how she is grateful for the homestay business as it gives her more time with her family. In addition, my Hanoi Kids tour guide shared during our amazing race that it was their finals period. I was surprised that the Hanoi Kids could make time to have fun with us despite having to study. I believe most Singaporeans would not do this as we place so much emphasis on grades.

I really enjoyed our fieldwork day. The trek was scary but exciting! Some locals followed us and provided support along the way, and watching them navigate the steep paths with such ease in slippers (not even proper trekking shoes!) made me think about how often they do this, just to sell their handicrafts at the end. During the homestay, the host let us help wrap our own spring rolls for dinner, and cooked us a lot of delicious food. The atmosphere that night was very warm and homely.

 

Post

Most of my expectations for this trip were met, and developing a greater appreciation for things around me was one of them. This impacted me most in Sapa. There, I saw many young girls carrying their little siblings on their backs and walking around selling handicrafts. I was shocked that they had to do this to earn a living despite being so young, and at that moment I really appreciated the comfortable childhood that I had.

Thinking back, I also learned to appreciate simpler things too, things we are so used to living with that we do not even realise how much we rely on them till they are gone. When we left our homestay, we had to climb up a steep hill to get to our bus. The hill went up, and up, and up, like there was no end! Most of my group got so tired that we had to take a short break. Meanwhile, our tour guides had effortlessly gone on ahead, and had to turn back when they realised we were gone. I did not think much then, but I realise now that this just shows how reliant we are on modern technology like escalators and lifts to transport us up and down. We are so privileged to have them and we use them so often, yet we never stop to appreciate them. In fact, there are so many other things in life that we feel so entitled to that we simply take them for granted. Indeed, we need to step out of our comfort zones so we can become aware of what we need and do not appreciate enough.

Unexpectedly, one of my most impactful experiences of this trip was falling sick. I had a flu for almost the entire trip, and some days were very tough as it was difficult or uncomfortable to breathe and talk. The flu challenged my expectations of learning to be independent, because through it I saw how I both grew in independence, yet also depended greatly on others. I became more independent because I had to remind myself to drink water (I dislike drinking water so my mother is usually the one who does this), and on the night before the trek when my friends wanted to go for a massage, I had to ignore my ‘fomo’ (fear of missing out) and be strict with myself about going back to my room as I needed to rest. Meanwhile, I also depended greatly on others as I had not even packed enough medicine for this (similarly, my mother is usually the one who packs the medicine)! I relied on kind friends who gave me medicine and vitamins. This was impactful because for six full days I learned, embarrassingly, how much I rely on my mother for simple things, and more importantly learned how I can take better care of myself. In future, I am sure I will be able to do all these by myself.