all things grassy

The first thing that I’ve ever seen in Vietnam was large expanses of crop fields. I was on the plane looking out the window, expecting to see a bustling city in Hanoi but the sight that greeted me was green and flat and not very interesting at all.

i see fields

I soon found out that Vietnam was still an agriculture-driven country, with most of the people in the rural areas operating farms. The income gotten through farming is quite low so the government is seeking to shift the focus over to more economically viable industries such as manufacturing. They will be lagging behind the rest of the world if they do not make this change.

However if this change were to be successful, the mindsets of Vietnamese must be changed. Currently in their farming jobs, life is rather laidback and urgency is an unknown feeling to them. In the modern world, “time and tide waits for no man,” as my friend Max used to say. This phrase has to be indoctrinated into their minds or else they will be late for work everyday and work at a slow pace when they eventually get there.