Abarmard

Dear Emrooz

I am happy that you have enjoyed the photos. Yes Vietnam was very surprising. In my team everyone, be it American, English, Indian, French, Iranian (me) could relate to that place.

I love it when I discover

I love it when I discover things that have been there all along but for some reason or another I've never ventured to further investigate!

That is why I think this blog of yours is terrific.  I actually saw in your photos a country that I had not imagined to be quite like what I see. (albeit only a section of it)  I haven't been able to travel as much as I would have liked to in recent years, so thanks for taking me along with you!  I loved your Malaysian trip photos too, but this one was a special discovery treat for.me.

Dear timothyfloyd

From what I saw, one city and a few villages, people seemed content. As I mentioned earlier, and that's generalizing, Asian people don't complain as much and deal with situations. 

You are right, government is getting richer but people are not as much. In Ho Chi minh there were about 5% wealthy and the rest were the same. I did not see one single beggar, which was interesting (I am not claiming that there are none, I did not see it). That's why for tourists and specially Europeans/Americans the place is a great value. Dollar can buy a lot.

Happy Sunday. 

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Hi Yolanda

I did not know about that. Vietnam is certainly poor in Western economic terms. The country is on the move though and people will change sooner than we can imagine.

Enjoy the rest of this great weekend 

Agho Obama

I don't think I know him. Thanks for being kind :)

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Hi! Abarmard ,

        All the food photos are nice and look delicious......wow! They have Japanese food there.....I have to say that Iran is way more beautiful than Vietnam.....I will visit Iran first.....I heard about this type of primitive weapons used by the Vietnamese during the war, but never saw the picture before:

//iranian.com/main/image/104142

Americans had way better weapons, but lost the war.......Vietnamese got weapon supplies from the Chinese...they won the war, but lost one million people's lives....the war is bad it does not matter you win or lose....in 1979 (?) China and Vietnam had a short war because of some kind of territorial dispute..... Actually I always feel bad for the Vietnamese......according to what I read....at least a quarter million "boat people" drowned in the Pacific ocean....whole bunch of Vietnamese fled to Hong Kong and settled in the refugee camps.....the Hong Kong government force them to go back to Vietnam.....

Abarmand do you know Hossein Farmani "//www.farmani.com/"?

The reason I ask that is becasue he is shirazi about your age. You never know, he might be one of the childhood friends you lost. I know he is very busy man and has never been on this site. He is someone dear to me, I was curious, since you know so much.  Merci for answering my previous posting. Insightful.

bah bah Irandokht jan

Salam doost e aziz. long time no hear, where did you disappear to? Your friends here need an explanation as what happened to you, maybe in a blog?

It was a interesting trip but always nice to be back and get back to routine things in life :)

Nice to hear from you and have a great Saturday 

Dear Obama

Perhaps one reason that people in Iran are (appear) warmer is related to where Iranians live and how they were influenced. Generally speaking Asian countries have suffered greatly and don't uprise. Suppose that Vietnamese had the Islamic Republic, they would be dealing with it and not say a word. They accept hardship and authoritarian mind set obediently. They are willing to work hard and see it part of life, Iranians tend to "complain" a bit more than work. Of course I am generalizing and that's not a good thing :) 

Weather was not bad at all. People cover their faces because if you are riding with scooters you inhale a lot of CO2 from the guy in front. 

Thanks for your interesting comment. 

Abarmard-e aziz

khoob migardi haaa  bad nagzareh  :)

I really enjoyed reading your blog and seeing the pictures of Vietnam that is so different from what I always imagined it to be. Even the Malay pics were surprising to me. I only went there 15 yrs ago and it definitely looks much cleaner and nicer now.

Thanks for sharing your adventures and your insight to the economical growth of the society. Nicely done my friend

Many thanks

IRANdokht

Merci Abarmand! every educational indeed.

You bring up an important point that I think about quite often when they talk about making Iran more industrial. I even notice it today how the morality has changed for the worse. MARDAANEGI kheili kam shodeh. Before, we would fight and they would come and ASHTI midaadamoon and that would be the end of it. Now, they have learned to sue without any shame and so on......

Culturally, I work and I am friend with many vietnamese, I get along with them well and share stuff, but I never feel the warmth that I get from iranians. Despite the similarities, I feel no connection culturally.

However, I feel more comfortable with philipinos. Japanese culture has a lot of similarity with ours, but the Iranian warmth is very unique, even if it is artificial in many occassions. That is why you see Iranians marrying philipinos and japanese, but not many chinese or vietnamese. I might be wrong, but that's my take. 

it would be nice to have your job, traveling all these places. Is the weather very polluted? Merci!

hate has never, ever solved anything

the people here ought to a zine called Iranian Hate Filled Idiots (IHFI).com. Everyone on this thread could go there and chatter endlessly about the whole collection of people they really, really hate while simultaneously lapping up perks as expatriates sidelined in the imperialistic homebase of the Great Satan. 

the rest of us could stay here at ic and say good things about  people and places that don't involve demise, dissolution, humiliation and/or defeat within a conflict we never, ever intend to get caught in, but only blog about.

maybe the proper chant for IHFI would be: death-to-everyone-but-me-and my-friends,-who-all-agree-with-me-and-think-i-am-really cute!

the IHFI here turn their bloomingly obvious self-loathing as Iranians into hatred for  . . . Israel.  How original! Choosing for a scapegoat, the all-time favorite scapegoat of history! Shows imagination!

dear IHFI, make this note-to-selves: Hate has never, ever solved anything. It won't make anyone feel better.

Tolerance, a human virtue changes things (BTW - just in case you hadn't heard, hate is not a virtue).

try it (t-o-l-e-r-a-n-c-e) sometime in your backyard under the half-moon when no one is looking. You'll feel better!

Isn't it weird to be filled with so much sympathy for the people who brought you suicide bombing as a latter-day pan-islamic fad but none for the people in Iran who struggle everyday for the freedom you'll be the first to grab?

Abarmard

did you see any lotus ponds? not sure if they are in season... 

i hope you did cambodia too. angkor wat is a 'must-see' in a lifetime. no exaggeration.

Thank you dear bajenaghe naghi

I am already back, just took a little time to get my stuff together and pictures downloaded and organized. Happy Friday.

Abarmard jan

I enjoyed reading your essay and will look at your pictures after thanking you for bringing Vietnam to our attention. This country is now on the list of the countries that I plan to visit. You have also asked many relevant and important questions. Thank you and safar be khayr. 

Dashtim Niloufar Parsi?

That's OK, make fun of my little cute camera. I have to tell you, it attracted a lot of people. They were wondering what it was. So being there, I  carried with me a tourist (or should I say native) attraction of my own.

Yes, Vietnam is growing very fast. I was sad to depart knowing that the next time I visit, it would be a different country.  

abarmard khan

vietnam is truly a fascinating country. giant killers, despite their relatively small size. and the pace of their economic growth has been faster than china's in recent years.

thanks for the great blog. you know an iphone has a better quality camera! :)

Dear Maziar

Those are Cu Chi tunnels, some 128 miles if put together tunnels that were used to fight the American military during the war. The American generals could not see where they were getting fired at. It was one of the toughest battles that any military could experience. In the tunnels they had schools, kitchens, clinics and everything else needed to live below the ground. 

When American bombers would flatten their villages, these people were unharmed and would fight when the ground forces arrived. It was an amazing tour. 

You may check this //realtravel.com/r-253545-ho_chi_minh_city_review-cu_chi_tunnels_a_really_enjoyable_tour 

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abarmard khan thanx for sharing your travel pictures with us,I always enjoy travel if .....permits,But I watch the pictures as they say VASFOL EYSH-NESFOL EYSH.

BTW those #60 and ups were they bomb shelters and prison cells ?Maziar

hello Mamane-Omid

I had a small digital camera that fits easily in my pockets. I don't like carrying stuff when I am walking and exploring. So I sacrifice quality for comfort.

Many of the pictures were taken when we were going on our visits to manufacturing or industries of different sort. I took them on the bus and there are mostly reflections from my window.

Thanks and say hi to Omid :) 

Picture quality

Since all your pictures have a haze on them, I'm Just wondering if:

1) you used a filter?

2) It was hazey all the time?

3) You used non-digital camera with out of date (old) film?

4) Your lenz was not clean?

Godd to read your societal assessment though.

Thanks. 

Mamane-Omid

Dear Midwesty

You are right about that. That's the talk of the town. There were many Irish, British, and Americans that were trying to be the first to direct the foreign markets and needs. It was very interesting to see how secretive these foreigners acted wanting to have the market for themselves. 

Vietnamese beat Genghis Kahn twice, Chinese couldn't take them over for 400 years struggle, French got beaten bad, and finally Americans lost to this nation. They have never lost a war in their history.

Thanks for your input mr. Midwesty :) 

Dear Anahid

Vietnam is a facinating place. Maybe I got the same sense as when a foreigner visits Iran. We see a lot of faults but they see our unique culture.

There were many older narrow streets that if they had a faludeh shop you could mistake it for Shiraz :)

I would like to visit Vietnam again and think you get a great value for your dollars also. Thanks for visiting :) 

Dear Red Wine

I would like to hear your experiences. It appears that you got a lot to offer. Thanks for visiting my friend.

Thanks timothyfloyd

What you have explained makes sense. Very interesting approach. Thanks for your input.

Thanks Abarmard,

I think after China gets too expensive to produce US goods, it'll be Vietnam's turn.

A friend of mine after visiting Vietnam, once said that, "these people are one of the most resolute people on earth, that's might be why they won the war".

Dear Abarmard, what a great blog about Vietnam

Dear Abarmard, I enjoyed reading your blog.  From the time that I studied in University in US, I have had study partners and coworkers from Vietnam.  I always find similarities between Vietnamese people and Iranians.  I can not quite put my finger on it but there is some thing in our histories that makes the two people prone to understanding each other.  At least, this has been my personal experience.  Reading your blog, now I am interested to visit Vietnam and see what you mean by similarities between their cities and Shiraz and Karaj.  Great blog.

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This is what i feel each time i travel in this side of the world...

Thank you Abarmard jan for sharing this experience with us.

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