• About Us

    Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott are the husband-and-wife digital storytelling and photography team behind Uncornered Market. They travel deep and off-beat, aiming to connect the world through people, food and adventure. Five years and 70 countries later, they are still going...and still married. Read more…

  • Article Channels

    Travel Articles

    Food Articles

    Opinion and Perspective Articles

    Humor Articles
  • Donate: Buy a Footstep

    Currency:

    Amount:

    Website(Optional):

  • Articles by Country

  • Articles by Topic

  • Monthly Archives

  • Check These Out

  • Buy from Amazon

  • Suggested Reading

    How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization

    How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization
    Author: Franklin Foer
    Who knew you could learn so much about globalization, economics and politics from soccer? Great read.

    Artist\'s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity

    Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity
    Author: Julia Cameron
    One possible path to re-discovering the creativity you never knew you had.

    Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, New Edition

    Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, New Edition
    Author: Jared Diamond
    An admirable crack at explaining why the world is the way it is by way of an anthropological macro-history. This book probably comes up the most in conversation as we travel.

    The Cathedral Within: Transforming Your Life by Giving Something Back

    The Cathedral Within: Transforming Your Life by Giving Something Back
    Author: Bill Shore
    Inspiring profiles of social entrepreneurs and projects we all can learn from and hopefully replicate to give back to community.

    Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation

    Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation
    Author: John Carlin
    Although the storyline is built around the South African rugby team and the 1995 World Cup, this book is more about Nelson Mandela and how he was able to unite a divided country. Inspiring.

    Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Capetown

    Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Capetown
    Author: Paul Theroux
    The author re-visits Africa and re-assesses the place he once knew... and judges it once and for all. Well written, poignant observations of the thumbprints left by career politicians, aid workers, and everyday people.

    Outliers: The Story of Success

    Outliers: The Story of Success
    Author: Malcolm Gladwell
    A look at the internal and external factors of how extraordinary people got to be, well, extraordinary. One of those books that challenges assumptions and makes you think differently.

    Shantaram: A Novel

    Shantaram: A Novel
    Author: Gregory David Roberts
    Administering first aid in a Bombay slum, selling fake passports and running guns to the Mujahideen in Afghanistan. Technically a novel, but closely linked to the Author's own experiences. Fantastic read.

Talkative Tailors in Hoi An, Vietnam


 Filed Under:  Southeast Asia, Travel, Vietnam by Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott

Our forays into the tailor shops in Hoi An left us with more than just extra (or superfluous) clothing for our wardrobe. Even when a business deal was clearly not involved, we found that shop owners were often open to sharing their lives and their opinions with us. These unprotected moments provided us with insight into Vietnam’s diversity, the legacy of the Vietnam War (or, “American War”, as it’s called here), and opinions on the impact of Vietnam’s breakneck speed development is having on Vietnamese tradition and culture.

After placing an order with a tailor one evening, we got caught up in a conversation with a bright, talkative woman in her mid-twenties. We chatted for what seemed like hours and stayed long past closing time.

Vietnamese Stereotypes
She tells us that northern Vietnamese are very close to their families, but not very open and sometimes two-faced to others. The southern Vietnamese are warm and speak from the heart. The central Vietnamese on the coast live in fear of typhoons and strong storms – they live for the moment and are open and friendly. The central Vietnamese who live behind the security of the mountains, like in Hue, are smooth talkers, but are not genuine. As in all countries, stereotypes and prejudices characterize people from different regions. We can’t affirm or deny any of this, as we spent little over a month throughout Vietnam. But it was fascinating to hear. Not that this is any surprise, but suspicions and stereotypes – like ethnic jokes – begin to take on a very familiar ring.

A Personal Story
Prejudices aside, this woman’s personal story was representative of many in Hoi An. Her family has owned the merchant house in which her family lives and runs a business for eight generations. She’s of Chinese descent, but identifies herself clearly and proudly as Vietnamese. In a complicated twist of family trees and politics, she tells us that her father worked with the American forces during the war, even though his father was a strong supporter of the Viet Cong. Thirty years later, the father still has a black mark against his name, and as a result, her older brothers and sisters were not able to finish their schooling because of this. For her, things continually improve and time seems to slowly heal old wounds, but certain fields of study and work in the government are both closed to her. She hopes and expects that the black mark may disappear from her family’s record in time for the next generation, her children, to openly pursue what they desire.
Hoi An, Vietname
She disagrees with the government’s approach of punishing children for the “sins” of the parents, believing that each generation should be responsible for themselves and not the actions of previous generations. Asking how the Vietnamese feel about the war and Americans, she explains that current generations don’t blame Americans today for the bombings and the war of the past.

She concludes, “Today and tomorrow are enough.” In conflicted eras and eras of conflict, these are admirable words to live by. And if their reactions to us as Americans are any indication, the Vietnamese for the most part – from North to South – certainly appear to live by it.

More Photos from Hoi An and Central Vietnam



Possibly Related Articles:

Up to 25% off GAP Adventures

2 Comments to: “Talkative Tailors in Hoi An, Vietnam”

  1. 1
    Rob says:

    Spent a month in Hoi An, amazing place, really has it all with great cuisine, clothing, a beach and even a golf course near by.

  2. 2
    Daniel Noll says:

    Rob: We didn’t get to the beach or golf, but we certainly did have some interesting conversations…in addition to eating and having a bunch of custom-tailored clothes made.

Leave a Reply

Please use your REAL name and not your website or company name. People enjoy talking to people, not websites. Spam will be deleted, as will duplicate links. Thanks for taking part in the conversation.

Home | About Us | Contact Us | Site Map
© 2006-2011, Uncornered Market.
Articles may be excerpted with attribution, but not reproduced in whole. Photos may not be used without prior permission.