I didn’t plan it this way. When I flew from LA to Vienna for the final semester of my Master’s program my Pakistani research visa application was mired in red tape. Media coaching in Hanoi wasn’t even on my radar screen. Some free time was coming up after I finished my thesis. So, I planed a trip through Croatia, Hungary and Poland; personally some of my favorite places. Then both trips to Asia came through. I’d be flying back to LA for summer from Hanoi.
Just before leaving for Vietnam, I had a quick
turn-around. I needed to leave Wroclaw, catch a bus to Vienna, wrap things up
at the university, check out of my apartment and catch a plane to Hanoi
via Moscow all in the space of two days. Travel often amounts to a lot of ‘hurry-up-and-wait’.
So, while transiting through Slovakia I got board. I started thinking about culture
and the importance of keeping an open mind in order to appreciate new
international experience.
. Once the passengers
were seated, the flight attendants announced that imbibing booze not offered on
the flight was forbidden. Not that I was planning to, but I found the
regulation a bit puzzling as this policy seems to be unique (See my post about
Pakistan from May 2014 for a comparison).
Unfortunately, I was
only in Moscow’s airport. I haven’t been to Russia in years and would have
liked to see it anew. Still, I did notice some signs of difference. Before
embarking on my connecting flight to Hanoi, I noticed that more than one group of
Russian-speaking people were passing around a bottle of vodka. Indeed, some of
the Caucasian-looking people who boarded my flight appeared to be a few sheets
to the wind. Well, I guess I understand the in-flight drinking rules now. I’m
also not judging.
As part of my trip to Hanoi
I was to assist in a TV news presentation training program for the government
run television monopoly. Mainly I was to accompany news presenters as they went
about making a Western-style news package for the course and advise them as to appropriate
practices. As it turned out, I just missed the outing of the first group as I
cleared customs and collected my bags. This meant that I had some time off. I
filled it by taking in sights such as Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum and Hoa Lo prison, referred to alternatively as the Hanoi Hilton by Americans and the
School of Communism by Vietnamese. I
found the exhibits quite interesting. Although not in keeping with my personal
political beliefs, they proved to be striking examples of how Vietnam is
crafting its national narrative, a process that most-all nation-states
undertake in one way or another. I also enjoyed learning about the country’s Buddhist
and Confucian traditions and picked up a couple of socialist-realist posters
simply because I liked the art.
Back at the training,
I was advancing a different viewpoint of my own. I was able to accompany two
groups into the field. The first analyzed the methods that the
training program and my suggestions were advancing. They included many aspects
of them in their report regarding relocating residents from Hanoi’s old
quarter. The second insisted on doing business as usual, while reporting on
trash in the street when there was very little of it. The first group made the best report of
the training. The opposite was true of the second. While some of the technical
changes included in the training can’t yet be used on VTV, there is still benefit
to considering and testing new methods.
At the end of the
training, the training group gave us silk robes to thank us for bringing our
foreign perspectives to Vietnam. I felt honored to have gained so much from
them as I boarded my flight to Bangkok and then another which took me over the pacific
to LA. I’d flown completely around the world in 108 days. At the start of my journey
I had no idea that so much would happen or that I would experience so much just
on this leg of it. Though I may have been able to do the flying, none of the appreciation
or enjoyment would have been possible without keeping an open mind. It is
through this mental facet that travel has the power to improve life.
Upon arrival at LAX,
the immigration officer seemed puzzled as to why I travel so extensively. In
practice, I find many different reasons. Yet, I like to think of her question
in another, more existential, sense. Why do certain people enjoy traveling
extensively, while others remain confined? Hopefully, this post provides some
answer.