Thank you for listening to A Vietnam Podcast by Seven Million Bikes. We share the stories of people with a love for Vietnam. Host, Niall Mackay, has lived in Vietnam since 2016. As the show has grown we now talk to people from all over the world who have a Vietnam story to share. At the end of every episode we ask our guests the same set of questions each time, so enjoy this bonus compilation episode.
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Thank you for listening to, uh, Vietnam podcast by Seven Million Bikes. We share the stories of people. Connected to, and with a love for Vietnam. I'm your host Niall I've lived here since 2016. of Started show. It was a Saigon podcast. But as the show has grown, we now to all over the world who have Vietnam story to from the end of every episode, we ask guests the. The same set questions for each season. we This is bonus compilation. episode, why season seven and where you where you hear all our guests the question. what shocks you the most about Vietnam? Show your. Answer with us. We love from you. send us a or Instagram or join the. Million army facebook group and you can post answer there. can find seasons of Vietnam podcast from wherever you get podcasts. And you can also watch newer episodes on YouTube as well look Out For season biggest soon The are in the show notes and don't subscribe from wherever you're listening so always get about. About future episodes.
Track 3:
What in Vietnam shocked you the most?
Brian Letwin:
Oh, man. Maybe the driving situation. Not, not like the busy-ness of like, oh, crossing the street. I mean, certainly that had its own the first couple of weeks, I was like, holy shit. Like how don't people die? I think everybody goes through that. I think people coming from the Mekong Delta also feel that way maybe when they come to the psychotropic person. So I don't think that's a Western thing necessarily probably. Kind of the lack of structure coming from America, where everything is pretty, there's not a lot of opaque, social stuff. Like everything is kind of set. Like you walk on this part of the sidewalk and you drive this way down the street, or you are allowed to do this or that. Or if you don't, you get ticketed really quickly. Everything was just a bit more casual here and still this, I think overall, some things, some things have been formalized more than others. I remember the food thing that there was, it was hard to get a hamburger or burrito. You know, there was like very specific places to get these things, Parmesan, cheese, things like this now. Now, I don't think there's any products like, cause I, I measure it based on what I would bring home from the states. When I visited, I'd go to the shopping and I'd bring cheese and canned artichoke, you know, arts or things like this. Now I'm thinking, because we're thinking of going to the states for a few months and then in the near future. And I'm thinking. Food perspective, what we would bring back, probably a few things that are still available here, but the price is triple or quadruple than they are in the states. So it's more of a monetary thing that happened on the find it
Niall Mackay:
well, yeah, cause we've got like a cheese puffs right now, which are just so delicious. It's like a lock and treat, but like just yesterday, I think there are about a hundred thousand, 110,000. Then I've seen the Adria, you know, we're not spending money on anything else. I'll buy as many bags of cheese puffs as I want, because that's like the price of one beer, but she made the caveat. She's like, yeah, but you're still paying like two or three times as much as what you would ever pay in the U S for it. So if you do go, please bring back a box of
Brian Letwin:
cheese. Yeah. Yeah. Unfortunately like wine has been one of those. My she's getting off equivalent. We have a friend who runs a Spanish wine importation company and because all of his customers used to be restaurants. Now he's just doing, nobody's buying that anymore on wholesale. So he's been selling all his wine on like 50% off that just like distributor prices, I guess. And yeah. I mean, we're still paying double or triple for the wine that you would get otherwise. But, you know, I hear the kind of like, you just settled, like I'm not, we're not spending money on other stuff. What else do I kind of have to live for in this kind of like instant reward kind of way. Of course my dog know objectively, my daughter I'd live. Right. I'm like at the end of the day, when you're like finished work and you're like, oh man, I just want something. And food and food is also that food is. Uh, not quite as much as something that's, you know, mind altering and a bit farther down in my life where I don't really partake in any of the other mind altering things. So mine is my current advice and I've even tried to, I was at like a bottle of wine a day with, at the beginning of lockdown. Cause I was like, fuck it, it's a party. Like let's do this. And after like a month, it was like, that's getting really expensive and I'm definitely an alcoholic now. So. I've I've gotten it down to two or three days a bottle, which I find to be a successful intake.
Thuyen Vo:
I've been thinking about this questions and I'd be like, Hey, I'm getting these right things. Shouldn't shock me. But I think it's the ability to balance everything on the board. Like, you know, that I'd seen that and it surprised me. I have ring time. How can you got the whole fridge or no 10 chicken and pig.
Track 3:
I don't get it. That can balance anything, anything on the motorbike. And they can ship to me within days. And God, this is crazy. The ability to balance things, kind of motorbike. You just said, how can I answer this as a Vietnamese? At two, I knew you totally knew you could have an answer for that. Of course, things were new, even as a Vietnamese too, again,
Tracey Nguyen Mang:
Well, my first trip back to Vietnam was in 2000 and that like completely shocked me. Because I didn't remember the country, but since then, I've been several times. I think I mentioned to you, like at one point I had a business with my sister where we made shoes and accessories in Vietnam and I, oh, did I not. I am an entrepreneur at heart. So when I was in my early twenties, when trade relations such as opened with Vietnam my sister's a fashion designer and I had marketing background. We went there, we started a business, we were inputting goods. We were selling them to Nordstroms Mandela bay and Vegas. Big retailers. And then I went back at one point with the us state department to do a woman in business tour. And then since then I've done all sorts of things. I did like a volunteer tour there and. I would have to say what shocks me the most compared to other Asian countries I've been is the pace in which the country evolves. I mean, it is just unbelievable. And I, I use all those examples of my visit because. Every single time. I feel like the country has changed so much. And so the last time I was, there was eight years ago before my first child was born and we haven't been able to go back since and with COVID it just got tricky, obviously. But I remember I went with my husband and it was his first time there. And I was taking him to places that I went in 2005, but when we went back and I think it was 2010 or 11, I can't remember now, but I was like, wow, it looks so different. And that for me is just very impressive. Like, and we were talking earlier just about the. Wealth that is there and Vietnam and people overseas has a misconception that it's like this third world country and it's not. And I think the younger generation, so I, with the podcast, what I find really interesting is we have a lot of listeners that grew up in Vietnam, but they're now here in the U S and they came for college or as an adult. So like they find our stories fascinating because it's nothing. How they grew up in the Vietnam that they know. Right. But what I find so impressive is just how educated they are, how, how their Vietnamese, I'm sorry, their English is even better than mine. And then when you go to these other Asian countries, like I've been to China maybe like 10 years ago. So I can't compare necessarily, but I remember when I went to China and I thought to myself, wow, Wow. I would have thought more people speak English in China than in Vietnam, but in Vietnam, almost everybody speaks English. The, the, the sort of level of education and sophistication and westernization in Vietnam is actually quite impressive compared to its neighboring.
Track 3:
I have to say the people, the general friendliness and hospitality of the people after going to like a level. I think 11 different countries, a lot of different Asian countries. For example, Tokyo, a lot of people would shy away from talking to me. They would just kind of like veer off. It's not that they were mean it's just, they didn't want to socialize with me, whether it's English or whatever. Southern Laos, people were a little standoffish, Thailand. They were always trying to sell me something Cambodia. They were always trying to sell me a bracelet or something. You know, I feel like Vietnam was the most genuine experience that I've had in a, an Asian country. And I was shocked with how friendly the people were. And you'll see in my future videos, if you want to go back and less, the walking videos, I can go up to just about anybody on the street, start a conversation. Doesn't have to be in Vietnamese and they will genuinely want to talk to me. We'll have a conversation or at least try to do. And I. It really blew my mind compared to other Asian countries.
Jovel Chan:
How much people do
Niall Mackay:
it's mental, mental in it? It's things. That's my question. This is like a warehouse somewhere with just stacks of paper. I don't know.
Jovel Chan:
It's and, and, and how they have to, like, you know, when you chop on, on, on, on papers, it's like you've got to spread all of it out like a fan and then chop on all the pages.
Zoonie Nguyen:
This is going to sound corny, but do you know the amount of bikes? It still shocks me. It still shocks me. And, and, you know, I was there in 2019 before the pandemic and sitting in the backup of gravel. My cousin's motorbike every time I'm amazed at the amount of bikes of like next to me. Like, I, I still feel like I'm in a dream. It's just feels so real. So that still shocks me for some
Niall Mackay:
reason. And I've been here five years and it still shocks me as well. So I mean, I'd be shocked me most cause we were in lockdown for so long and now I've gotten back on the bacon, we can travel and I just, you forget how crazy it is when I see like a bait coming towards me, driving down the wrong side, or the bait just takes a U-turn in the middle of the highway and decides that they want to go the other direction. It's like, oh my goodness. I'm still shocked by that in 3d.
Track 3:
I think as a staff living without. That was a huge shock. And especially when they tell you, oh, my grandmother passed away or my grandmother is sick and you don't even know if it's true or, you know, and you never hear from them. They just block you on Facebook. They block you on Skype, never hear them from them. So that was a big shock. Don't forget send us a message or post on our Facebook group the Seven Million army If you can join the community We're building up more and more members you get special exclusive benefits And we do community meetups If you're in Saigon Thanks for listening Don't forget to follow and subscribe wherever you are listening to this podcast and this Don't forget send us a message or post on our Facebook group the Seven Million army If you can join the community We're building up more and more members you get special exclusive benefits And we do community meetups If you're in Saigon Thanks for listening Don't forget to follow and subscribe wherever you are listening to this podcast and this