The TubeNet Vietnam Quiz #1

[LoyalTubist]

There were some comments made about Vietnam in this forum, I am not sure some people understand the country where I have been living as an expatriate for the last year. So I made a quiz.

I took all the presumptions that people have about Vietnam, including my own (before I visited here in 2005), and put them in a fun quiz. Take the quiz. Use a phony name but post your reactions to it up here.

The quiz is right here.

[Tom Mason]

I got at 50. The first two questions threw me a little.

Tom Mason

[lgb&dtuba]

I scored a 70.

Then again, I don't know what religion most people in Raleigh belong to either.

The surprising one to me was the tv question.

[LoyalTubist]

I knew the truth about Vietnam would shock some of you.

Here is the gist of my answers.

1. If you spend the night with an unmarried local girl, the secret police can make your life hell. If you want to have intimate relations with someone, do it during the day, with your door locked (if you can do it--most doors lock with a padlock on either side) and make sure you've gone your separate ways by sundown.

2. Raunchy pornography is taboo.

3. Buddhism is the most common religion in Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh was a practicing Buddhist.

4. According to many American historians, the Vietnam War was the Buddhists against the Roman Catholics. Saigon has a lot of Catholics (and Protestants--most are Baptists).

5. The government has always been pro Buddhist. Every government building has a shrine. Every public school has a shrine.

6. The health system here is "pay as you go." My wife recently broke her left foot. It was much cheaper here than it would have been in America. But the doctor had to be paid.

7. Cable TV that comes into Vietnam is also seen in the strict Islamic nations of Malaysia and Brunei, so HBO and Cinemax have all the sex scenes (as well as about 50% of the rough language) edited out. Nudity is allowed in entertainment venues in Vietnam (live and filmed), but not actual pornography. But there are some NC-17 movies that make it onto the screen unscathed.

8. The Vietnamese government does not want foreigners driving cars. They will permit the use of an International Driving Permit--and they will accept it with an expired foreign license. As a foreigner, you don't need a license of any kind to operate a motorcycle, but carry lots of cash.

9. The people are Saigonese. Saigon will always be Saigon. When the government changed the name of the city in 1975, the reasoning was that, even if the national capital was moved here, it wouldn't be Saigon.

10. The countries that offer the most religious freedom in Asia are Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, Cambodia, and Vietnam. This surprises most people.

[LoyalTubist]

Thanks, Wade. I had a playing gig on Independence Day and she had to go to her home village for a ceremony of the police department in Dong Nai, as he retires from the force in December (and he's two years younger than I am). She didn't take her wheelchair--it's a big pain in the rear here, as there is usually no room to move on the sidewalk, so you have to move with the flow of traffic on the street. Anyway, it was fairly severe. But the doc says she should be well in six weeks.

As you might (or might not) know, my wife is disabled. She had been working as a software engineer for the Vietnam Post Office. She had a huge cyst removed from the base of her spine and it tore some of the ligaments that feed to her legs. Before she broke her foot, she got around very slowly with a stick. Now she has to use the wheelchair, even in the house. Some of my friends back home have the idea I married her so I can get a good parking place at Albertsons and WalMart.

Independence Day here is on September 3.

[LoyalTubist]

Some people have been sending me anonymous messages (I put this quiz on several forums) that I must be a Communist sympathizer or something like that (why else would the LoyalTubist plan to stay in Vietnam for 2-4 years?)

Well, I don't plan to move here permanently. If I wanted to move to a foreign country permanently, it would probably more likely be Costa Rica or Poland.

But I miss America. That doesn't mean I am coming back any time soon. I am still missing my Miracle Whip, root beer, and Roman Meal bread.

Without getting political, I shall only admit that I am a conservative Republican and a member of the National Rifle Association. I didn't bring any weapons with me. I intend to keep my nose clean, just in case I plan to come here again.

I think some people saw a program about North Korea on the National Geographic Channel (we saw it here, too) and have the idea that we have a similar system here. We don't.

Some reasons...

1. North Korea never allows more than 16 foreigners (non-diplomats) at any given time for a period of less than two weeks. I have been here since last October and I can stay as long as I stay productive.
2. North Korea doesn't allow expariates to live there, except for diplomats.
3. The Vietnamese are very religious people. There would be another war if the Buddhists, Catholics, Hindus, and Baptists were told they couldn't go to church anymore.

As much as I don't like Wikipedia, it probably offers the best definition of what the political situation is like in Vietnam from a neutral point of view:

The Communist Party of Vietnam has claimed Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Ideology to be ideological basis of the Party and the Revolution. Though formally Marxist-Leninist, the Communist Party of Vietnam has moved towards market reforms in the economy and has permitted a growing private sector. However, the Party retains a monopoly on power.

I hope you all understand this now.

[OldsRecording]

40. I could have scored higher if I had gone with my first gut instinct on a couple of the questions. Very informitive, though.