5 weird things you’ll only see in Vietnam

Overview

Vietnam is becoming one of the most attractive tourist destinations in the world due to its beautiful landscape, rich and delicious food, hospitable people and many interesting things that you will find strange but actually normal in other parts of the world. Today, let’s explore 5 weird things you’ll only see in Vietnam with the best Vietnam tour operator.

5 weird things you'll only see in Vietnam

1. Drinking beer with cold ice

The first item in the list of 5 weird things you’ll only see in Vietnam is drinking beer with cold ice. Drinking beer with cold ice cubes seems strange to many foreigners when they first come to Vietnam. Because in their country, it is considered proper to chill beer cans or bottles in ice buckets or ice containers, before taking them out to enjoy along with dishes. They never add ice cubes into beer glasses to make it chill. Especially, when the ice melts, they can make the taste fade and become worse. They believe that if they do so, beer taste will become diluted and pale, losing the inherent attractiveness of beer. So they find this Vietnamese beer drinking style strange. However, to many Vietnamese people, adding ice cubes into beer glasses is the best way to keep their beer cool. When enjoying beers with friends, they chat a lot, then the way that chilling beer in ice in advance becomes ineffective in this case. Adding ice can reduce the strength of beer; however, it can keep the beer chill successfully. Moreover, when the alcohol concentration in beer decreases thanks to the water melted from ice, the beer will take longer to make drinkers drunk. So they can talk more, talk longer and enjoy the meal better.

Anyway, many foreign people may find this weird because it is different from the normal way they often drink beer in their countries. Many famous youtubers shared their surprise when they saw this in Vietnam, including Dan Hauer, an American living and working in vietnam, with more than 1,4 million subscribers on Youtube. But you can get familiar and not too shocked when you see and even try drinking beer with cold ice. And if you want to try Vietnamese beer with cold ice one time in life, you can refer to the best Vietnamese beers to choose a favorite brand.

2. Wearing pyjamas on the street as normal clothes

Wearing pyjamas on the street as normal clothes is the next one mentioned in the list of 5 weird things you’ll only see in Vietnam. Vietnamese people, especially Vietnamese women, have a habit of wearing pajamas in the street, and this is a great surprise to foreigners when they first come to Vietnam. Since pajamas are clothes designed to be worn to sleep, many foreigners cannot believe that it is worn as a casual garment in Vietnam. However, because Vietnam's climate is quite hot, and the fabric for making pajamas is extremely soft and cool, they love to wear this type of clothing at home, even when going out to go out or sell goods. 

The second reason why Vietnamese consider it normal to wear pajamas outside on the street is that, although pajamas are designed to be worn at bedtime, it takes the form of a long-sleeve shirt (collar or not), and a pair of pants. Logically speaking, wearing pajamas outside is not revealing or offensive in the slightest. So in addition to not wearing the right way, people can still wear pajamas outside. So the next time you see a lot of female street vendors wearing this type of clothing on the roadside, don't be too surprised, except for when someone wears pajamas to work or to a wedding, then it would be another story.

3. Dipping or shaking fruits with spicy salt

Fruit often has a sweet taste and then in many countries, people just need to peel, remove the seeds and divide into bite-sized pieces to enjoy. However, for a country located in a humid tropical area like Vietnam, the fruit is extremely diverse, and so is the taste. Therefore, in addition to eating immediately, Vietnamese people also have many different ways of preparing fruit to enjoy, including dipping fruit or shaking fruit with spicy, salty, and sweet spices. In particular, this method of processing is often found in sour fruits such as mango, toad, pineapple, plum, ... to reduce the sour taste as well as enhance the flavor of this snack. The fruits after being washed, peeled, seeded and divided into bite-sized pieces will be arranged on a plate, laid with a bowl containing an ordinary salt, which will casually be shrimp salt. Shrimp salt is a seasoning often used to dip or shake with pieces of fruit. If not dipping, the Vietnamese also put the pieces of fruit in a bag or bowl with a lid along with shrimp salt and shake well. 

You should try this dish once and it will change your view of eating fruit and you will consider this to be in the list of 5 weird things you’ll only see in Vietnam anymore. Because there are fruits that must be eaten with spices to taste good. Due to this hobby of Vietnamese people, there is no shortage of food stalls on the street selling bags of mango shake, toad shake, mango salad beside mixed rice paper and kumquat tea, popular street snacks of Vietnamese youth. 

4. Breathing bamboo tobacco (Lao Smoking Culture)

Breathing bamboo tobacco is not that weird to be listed in the 5 weird things you’ll only see in Vietnam; however, this is also a surprise to many foreigners to Vietnam for the first time. The Lao Smoking Culture of Vietnamese people has existed since ancient times and passed down from generation to generation. The habit of smoking a bamboo pipe is the "prelude" for the reunion and mutual reunification, a habit of all classes of people, old and young, boys and girls, women and children, rural areas, and the urban poor to the feudal aristocracy. In the rural areas of Vietnam before, almost every house had a pipe smoker. Waterpipe tobacco is a unique specialty only found in Vietnam. From planting, processing, trading to smoking, only Vietnamese people master the process. Can't be proud of course. Smoking anything is now a warning the whole world is dangerous to health. Until now, every tea shop in Hanoi has a plow. Its ease of use is second to none. The strong hissing plow emitting a crisp sound to call customers is also an effective business tool of the country.

This can be associated with normal tobacco due to similar usage and effects to users; however, this is a brand-new practice that foreigners can only see in Vietnam. They have never before known that people can breathe tobacco with a bamboo pipe like when Vietnamese people breathe bamboo tobacco. Many people from other countries also tried to breathe bamboo tobacco, and this has become funny images to many Vietnamese people because of their friendliness and dare that they experience this unique practice.

5. Sleeping in the middle of the day

Sleeping in the middle of the day in Vietnamese culture can help but be mentioned in the list of 5 weird things you’ll only see in Vietnam. In many countries, especially Western countries, people only spend 15 to 30 minutes to take a nap after lunch and restore the energy for work in the afternoon. However, in Vietnam, that “nap” can last for over 2 hours. In other words, Vietnamese  people often start their afternoon work shift at 1:30 pm or even 2:00, much later than in other countries. 

Hong Seong-won, head of Hanjin Shipping's Vietnam headquarters in 2006, said: "At first, I was surprised to see local staff sleeping on mattresses on the floor after lunch, preventing me from entering the office and having to walk around".

Or coach Park Hang Seo himself also shared in Goodmorningvietnam, a Korean newspaper about life in Vietnam, that at first he was quite unfamiliar with the napping culture of Vietnamese people.

"A cultural feature of Vietnamese people is sleeping in the middle of the day, which I didn't understand at first. But in my experience, napping in hot weather is effective, so the quality of training will be higher. Now, I also often take a nap," he said.

Having a good afternoon nap will help us have a good memory, focus for better practice and work and thereby improve the quality of life.

Conclusion

After reading this article about 5 weird things you’ll only see in Vietnam, Vietnam Escape Tours hopes that you can find these Vietnamese practices or habits less weird to you - a person who has an intention to Vietnam or is in Vietnam. Anyway, put aside its strangeness, you can consider these unique traits that make you love the S-shape country more.