A haphazard chronicle of my inevitable misadventures during a year in Vietnam and points east.

p.s. I'll be pitifully grateful if you send me email during my exile: TravelerKaty@hotmail.com

October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 February 2006 March 2006 May 2006

 
Finally, to cap off my month-long trip to China, lets talk about Disgusting Personal Habits, shall we?

I had sincerely thought that Vietnamese men had the World's Most Disgusting Personal Habit (DPH, for short) title sewn up with their propensity to urinate on any and all walls or corners at all hours of the day or night. I mean, that is disgusting, don't you think? It's dirty, it smells awful if you have a long dry spell, and frankly I just don't need to see that much of the average Vietnamese man.

The Chinese, however, are not a culture willing to stand still while another country takes home the big prize. China's entry in the DPH stakes is spitting. Now, just saying the word "spitting" doesn't adequately convey the nature of this DPH, because as in all major projects, the Chinese have taken this one to unimaginable extremes. The practice is common in both men and women, and generally is preceeded by a loud glottal "KHWOOAAHHH" sound at which point a loogie the size of Lake Erie is hocked in any convenient direction. In their defense, most do attempt to aim out a window or at least away from the nearest human, but sometimes this proves impossible. Like on the train or a crowded bus, for example. As you can imagine, you don't take your shoes off on the bus or train, and I even feel a bit squicky about putting my bag down there. It's no wonder SARS got such a foothold in China considering all the phlegmy liquid being expelled everywhere.

I, meanwhile, have been forced to put a temporary moratorium on all my own DPH's. I'll let you all speculate about what those might be, or those who know me personally can share with the group. The problem I have is that I'm being watched every second -- there is rarely a moment in public in which I am not being stared at by at least one person, and usually a crowd. Which could be described as a Disconcerting Cultural Habit -- not disgusting at all, and it creates a major disincentive for the object of this intense interest to perform any DPH's herself. Since I've just arrived in Vietnam, I should soon be able to be as disgusting as my heart desires. Those Vietnamese men could use the competition.

Copyright 2003 Katy Warren
posted by Katy at 4:48 AM