After Lao's dishevelled systems, Vietnam's tourism machine came as a bit of a shock. A week and three cities showed how easy travel is here, and how easy it is to just be moved along. You wake at the guesthouse (located in a tourist area: guesthouses, food, beer, internet), get on the prearranged bus, get dropped off in the tourist centre of the next city, go on the organised day tour, spend money on the arranged objects and then get on the next bus.
On a similar note, the selling of 'Asian-esque' products is one that worries me. Shops here (and throughout South-East Asia) are filled with factory made products with Asian motifs. I just hope that in producing these mock-Asian products, the skills, reasons, traditions and creation involved in the development of the original models isn't lost.
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