Culture & Daily Life in Vietnam

Wow, I cannot believe that my time in Vietnam is coming to an end. Our time here FLEW by and we loved every single moment. We recently had a meeting about where we will be doing ministry in the Philippines, which is so crazy to me! And the fact that we only have one more team meetings about that… (for South Africa) that is even crazier!

About this time is around halfway through the race! Again, how??! It seems like I was just at training camp yesterday, yet it does feel like I haven’t been home in an eternity. Nevertheless, I’m trying to soak in every moment and detail while being in this beautiful country of Vietnam, which is what this blog is all about!

As some of you know from asking, the country that I was most excited for was, you guessed it, Vietnam! And though being in a very large city was not exactly what I was hoping for, Vietnam exceeded my expectations and gave me a wonderful first look at asian culture! This is my first time in any asian country and I have payed very close attention to the culture here, what life is like, norms, and everything in between. In this blog, I hope to give a rundown of what I have observed, learned, and thought was interesting about Vietnam, in hopes that you can follow along and imagine what it has been like! I am no where near an expert on asian culture, this is simply just from my experiences 🙂

In my last post, I touched a little on the culture and attitudes towards Christianity, which has been hard (a battle at times) to navigate. And after all the ups and downs, I have come to realize how lucky we are to have the freedom of religion in the United States. Things that would be considered ‘normal’ in the US are outlawed and heavily frowned upon. Simple Christian gathering are often shut down by the police, missionaries are often deported, and simply being a follower of Christ puts a target on you. In Vietnam, you have the freedom to be Christian, but openly evangelizing or sharing the gospel is against the law. On top of that, you cannot carry your bible openly, it has to be in a bag. Because of these laws, our time here has come with challenges with adjusting to the rules, often met with some confusion on what’s allowed, what’s safe, and what is (as Emma would say) “uber sketch” (if you haven’t read my last blog and want to know how we do ministry in Vietnam even with these heavy rules, I would recommend giving that a read for a deeper understanding)

Here are some religious statistics about Vietnam from the U.S. Department of State website (2019)

• ~86.3% Atheist or ancestor worship practice
• ~6.1% Catholicism
• ~4.3% Buddhism
• ~1.6% Other religions 
• ~1.0% Protestantism/Christianity

^ this is a mini pagoda from the Marble Mountains which have a lot of buddhist statues and temples.

(Totally unrelated to these statistics, our first week at the Vietnamese church, were shocked when the men and women were separated by the aisle. Women on the right, men on the left. Our host also had us sit in the back because we were significantly taller than the congregation, including the men.)

Aside from the religious side of things, there have been a number of new things I have seen here that are common in every day life! If you have seen the typical picture of those cylinder looking hats, those are rice hats, or called Nón Lá. I thought they were just a touristy thing, but locals actually wear them which is really cool. Our hosts bought us 2 and I hope to carry it with me all the way home. Another thing that we noticed right away was the traffic. Oh. My. Goodness. The traffic. And to think I thought Colombia had crazy traffic! As my normal ride to the local target would go through around 12 stoplights, we could go across the city and hit maybe 5 or 6. Not sure if you have seen any videos of people crossing the street in ‘nam, but you just go. Unless you’re at a stoplight with the occasional crosswalk light, you just go and the cars just stop for you or graze right by. This was quite the scare the first week, but we are pretty much pros at this point. No fear in our bones anymore. Regarding traffic, we use vietnams version of UBER, called GRAB to get around. We have noticed that lots of cars are custom on the inside, which a variety of different colors and accessories, like fancy ceiling panels/fabric/covers, and beaded seats. Also, the amount of motorbikes is absurd. In 2024, Vietnam led the world in motorcycle usage, with over 77 million registered, if that gives you an idea. The bikes are normally parked on sidewalks, or just pulled up right to entrances of little coffee shops, like an average bike would be. With this, we have been able to have fun looking at what locals can fit on their bikes, including cargo and LOTS of people. We have seen 5 people on one bike before. Many parents hold their children on the bikes as well. Because it is the rainy season here, we have seen so so many ponchos, and not many average rain jackets. Masks are also a big thing here. People were them indoors, walking their dog, or even driving their vehicles. I definitely was not expecting that here, but it is very common.

The people in Da Nang have been amazing. I have really enjoyed getting to know the locals through English class or church. Also, being white is not uncommon here. Many Australians, Russians, English folk, or other Americans tend to settle here for a while. So, we don’t get stared at walking down the street like we would in Colombia. Another thing to mention, when the locals notice someone new, and they will wave and greet you with the biggest smile! The people here are incredibly hospitable as well. As for the overall environment, Da Nang as a whole is a quiet city. It is busy, but quiet. The city is safe as well (On the AIM safety scale, 10 being the safest, Medellín was a 2/10 and Da Nang is a 10/10). I haven’t seen any homeless people or drugs at all here. Unlike Medellín, there are rarely fireworks and gun shots during every hour of the night, and the only thing I hear during the day besideis the bánh bao cart man on his megaphone or karaoke speakers in the evening. Karaoke, cafes, and billiard rooms are very common in Da Nang. There will be multiple of the same type of venue on one block.

Speaking of cafes, my team has spent A LOT of time at different coffee shops with our ministry doing English classes. Here are some of the things we have gathered about this coffee shop culture:

With every coffee, most places will serve a glass of jasmine tea with it. Coffee dehydrates, so they serve it to keep you hydrated. My personal favorite kind of coffee here would definitely be an iced Vietnamese white coffee, but I would give salted cream coffee an honorable mention as well. If you are a coffee drinker, you would be familiar with sweet cold foam in the states or at a local Starbucks, but most places serve salted cream, which in my opinion is even better. Milk tea is also common here, as well as boba and jelly. Most drinks will come with boba or blocks of jelly if you do not specify if you want it or not. If you order take away coffee, they give you a little plastic carrier with the handle. It is not a tray, but the plastic bag material slides on the cup and you hold it at the top. Also, lots of the coffee shops have very low seats. If you have a coffee table in your home, it’s literally that height. The seats are like little lawn chairs or low benches. Some shops have an average table height, but the majority that I have seen have the low seating. Some coffee shops also allow smoking. Lots of cafes are outdoor or don’t have windows or doors, it is just open, so there is a a lot of airflow.

^ above are some pictures of my coffee/drinks with the boba and the jasmine tea, as well as examples of the low seating.Also, we have shared some meals with church friends on the ground! The one with the veggies is a traditional dish with quan noodles, and the other ones are some fun breads.

Aside from the coffee side of things, I have tried a lot of new foods and drinks here! The first taste of Vietnamese food was Bánh Mi, which is a sandwich with a variety of veggies and meat. It is probably my favorite food here! I have also had Phở, which wasn’t my favorite but a staple. I also really enjoy Bún chả Ha Noi which is a mix of noodle, broth, veggies, and a variety of spring rolls and meat. I loved it so much when our friend ordered it for us to try. I also tried a bit of my friend’s jellyfish salad, and got a coconut full of coconut water! I have really enjoyed trying new things here! The food it really really delicious and the drinks always have a new twist that I am willing to try! Most streets have a variety of street food vendors and carts too which tend to be much cheaper than a chain restaurant.

I’ve talked a little about grab which is how we get from place to place, but it also is a food delivery service that lots of my team has used throughout our time here. Lots of the GRAB food orders come in little individual bags. For example, my broth for noodles would just be in a small bag with a rubber band holding it together. Plastic bags are used like MAD here. Another fun thing are the bridge haircuts! Under the bridges that cross the river, you can find haircuts happening at most hours of the day. It is silly when we go on walks and find chunks of hair there from a previous cut. Also, around 2011, Vietnam no longer made coins apart of their currency! It is all paper bills.

^ plastic carrier for drinks!

Some other little things are that there are not playgrounds or parks with slides and such, but lots of outdoor bodyweight gyms. Equipment like pull-up bars and other in that realm are very common and are seen along the beaches and in neighborhoods. Also, many homes do not have an oven, but it is becoming more popular among Vietnamese households. KOI! Koi fish are very common as well! Ive seen them in ponds at local coffee shops the most. Adeline and I went to a forest themed coffee shop with waterfalls, fake fog, and koi!

^ some pictures from places around town with koi and the forest cafe! and a koi watercolor painting I did.

Now it is time for the biggest culture shock of them all.

Bidets.

No one could have prepared me for the moment when I had to use the bidet for the first time. This is a little TMI but I was at a coffee shops at English class and had to go number 2, but after I already went, I realized there was no toilet paper and only a bidet. You can imagine the rest.

In vietnam, you are not supposed to flush your toilet paper ever. You put it in the trash can after you wipe. Never in my life have I ever done that, which made it a very odd adjustment. However, what do you do with icky brown toilet paper? It would just smell up the trashcan. But that is were the bidet comes in handy. You wash your tush before you wipe, so the toilet paper is not as dirty. In some cases, you have no toilet paper at all, just a bidet, so having soggy drawers is just normal I guess. Bidets are in every bathroom and I refused to use for a long time. It do not particularly enjoy them.

Sorry for the toilet talk, but I thought it was necessary.

Anyways, what an ending to this very very long blog. Congratulations, you made it to the end! I hope this blog gave a little into what everyday life is like here in Vietnam! I hope to do a couple more blogs about my time in Vietnam, and am very excited to fill you in about all the updates about the weeks to come with travel days and mini debriefs, and also more information about the Philippines!

Love you all and I hope you had a wonderful, joy-filled Christmas season! Thank you for all your continued support and love. I am so grateful!

~Ellie