with the subtitle: The country is in the middle of a cable-car bonanza, much of it driven by the over-the-top developments of the Sun Group, which feature giant Buddhas, ersatz European enclaves and selfie spots galore.
[The link she sent me was an unlocked link. I'm not sure if it will work when I post it publicly on this blog or not.]
But if you can read the article, you'll notice that it discusses 3 things about domestic tourism in Vietam:
1) Cable Cars
2) Ersatz European Enclaves
3) Selfies
I can vouch that all 3 are real things over here in Vietnam.
To take Cable Cars first, here is my video of the cable car in Phu Quoc (the one mentioned at the very beginning of the New York Times article):
(Video from my blogpost: Trip to Phu Quoc Island, 2022)
and here is one of my photos of the Ba Na hills cable car (also mentioned in the NY times article)--which I linked to in this post here.
As for the "ersatz European enclaves", I've also mentioned them before on this blog in this post here, where I said:
These faux European villages are (for whatever reason) popular in Asia. See other examples of fake European villages in Asia, see also:
And as for the culture of taking selfies, it is very noticeable at any tourist spot in Vietnam. It's something that me and the other expats have noticed, and we often discuss the phenomenon of selfie-culture in Vietnam among ourselves. In Vietnam, the purpose of visiting a tourist spot seems to be more about getting pictures of yourself for social media than it is about actually experiencing the location.
But I've been abroad for so long now that I feel like I've completely lost touch with what is normal. Is the selfie culture unique to Vietnam? Or is this just the way it is everywhere now? If I went to a tourist spot in the USA nowadays, would it be any different? I don't know.
I've expressed my frustration about this before in a 2016 post:
On a recent trip to Dalat (Highland areas in Southern Vietnam) I was struck by how all the other tourists around me were more concerned about getting the perfect photos than they were about actually enjoying where they were. It's like the experience of seeing and doing stuff while travelling has been completely replaced by the obsession to catch pictures of everything.
That being said, to a large extent, I'm as guilty of this as anyone. Ever since 2007, I've been taking a digital camera with me on my travels, and I have been often more concerned about documenting my trips than I have been about enjoying my trips.
[To my mind, I consider it an open philosophical question about whether it's better to document an experience, or simply enjoy an experience. I know that most of what I experience, I will forget. So, if I see a really beautiful view, but I can't remember it ten years later, then does it even matter that I saw it? Or are experiences valuable even if we can't remember them?]
Although I do consider myself distinct from the selfie-culture that predominates Vietnam, because I always have the camera pointed out looking at the landscape, not back looking at me.
...although, this is probably partly because I am middle-aged now, and I get depressed whenever I see photos of myself. (Who is that old man in the picture? Wait a minute, is that me? How did I get so old? Where did all those grey hairs come from? What's happened to my skin?) I suspect if I was 22 again, I might be more inclined to take selfies.
And my own personal observation is that most of the selfie-culture in Vietnam is all young people. I don't see old people in Vietnam taking selfies of themselves. That's probably true everywhere in the world, right?
I just can't muster the energy to say no to my older sister whenever she insists on taking pictures of me and ask me to take her pictures as well (the latter is less of a problem but the former...) I really wish I could just tell her I hate seeing myself in pictures or even in the mirror... I hate the sight of myself. But doing so is just akin to a woman saying that she doesn't want to get married or bear children a century or many decades ago. It's hard to do that while restraining myself not to scream by the time I can get the message across. Not doing so might even save time.
ReplyDeleteI can identify. When I first started dating my (now) wife, I would object to the picture taking. I didn't mind so much if someone else took the picture, and I didn't have to see it, but I really hated the selfies where I had to link at myself on the phone screen as she took the picture. I kept trying to explain to her that I didn't like seeing myself.
ReplyDeleteI've gotten better at this in recent years, but I still feel hate seeing myself.