Beyond Pho – My Love of Vietnam

I love Vietnam.

Being a child of Hong Kong, I grew up knowing just a few countries.  There was Britain, which as a colonial power administered Hong Kong during my formative years.  There was China, a motherland that scared most of Hong Kong people away before 1997.  Then America, as a world power that nobody could ignore.  Next came Vietnam.

When I was in fourth grade, a neighborhood restaurant opened.  It was a Vietnamese restaurant.  That would be my first taste of this country’s wonders.  Its food was delicious.  Whenever my mother decided to dine out, which was not often, I would always hope for Vietnamese food at this neighborhood restaurant.  There was always a bit of wait there, and I thought it was worth it.

At around the same time, Hong Kong was having a hard time dealing with the issue of the boat people.  During the 1980s, many, many, boatloads of Vietnamese people landed the shore of Hong Kong.  They sought asylum.  As a matter of policy, Hong Kong did not accept refugees (it still does not today.)  What do we do with all these boat people?  The Colonial Government kept them in a refugee camp in Sai Kung, until some established the refugee status and could go on to other countries that would give them home.  Those that did not qualify as refugees had to go back to Vietnam.

My young mind could not wrap around these impressions of Vietnam. They were of contradiction: its food needed no proof of the country’s greatness.  Yet its people were running away.  Without a developed worldview (and the attendant sympathies), I felt as if the people of Vietnam were causing trouble in Hong Kong.

In my American high school, I read about the Vietnam War in the history books.  There were also Vietnamese immigrants in school, though I never had a chance to know them.  But that all was more than the food and the boat people.  I slowly gathered a better understanding, though still rather preliminary, of Vietnam.

Until I finished all my education in the United States and landed a job in Hong Kong, when I finally could visit Vietnam for the first time.  Ever since then, I have had one goal with regards to this country – I want to see all of it.

By now, I have visited Vietnam four times and my knowledge of the country is entering the intermediate range.  I am pleased that I have come to know it.  Indeed, food or not, Vietnam is much more than its Pho.

Welcome to this series on Vietnam – Beyond Pho.