If you are walking in the streets of Vietnam then it's a very common sight to see the local kids rounding up on the tourist and talking with them. After a week in Vietnam I was getting used to this behaviour.
I was travelling alone so not many kids came up to me but I was very curious about what makes these kids do this. So I asked some of the travel buddies I befriended regarding what is it about.
The Vietnamese history is quite know to many and we all know how hard it had been for them as well as to the world for recovery from those tragedies.
Vietnam is one of the most beautiful places I have backpacked to and made such great memories. Tourism has become one of their major economic boost elements in the last decade. This is one of the reasons the vietnamese people indulge in tourism related activities which predominantly includes socializing skills. So the kids are encouraged to read,write and speak english, as we all know that it comes with practise this is precisely the reason that the kids walk up to the tourist and start making conversations regarding which country they are from, where is their country, how are things there and how the tourist like their country and so on.
So one such evening I happened to have such an encounter with a local kid. I was sitting in one of the walking streets of Hoi An city having a beer and smoking a cigarette. This kid came up to me and said "hello", the moment I saw this kid I put out the cigarette in the ash tray and kept the beer bottle down. I wished him back and he told me "bro do not to smoke cigarettes it's bad for health, smoke weed instead"
I was shocked and I couldn't say another word I did not know whether I should laugh at this or be worried.
Then I asked him what does he do and he said "I used to go to school when I was a kid but not anymore."
I asked him " what do you mean by when you were a kid.How old are you now?"
He said " I m 8."
I was literally laughing and I couldn't hide it anymore then I asked him " why what happend now why did you stop going to school?"
And he was like "people bully me there and I go to an English school I don't like it there so I started developing a game"
This was the moment for me to be the responsible adult so I asked him to take this matter with his parents and school authorities and stop the other kids from bullying him.
But he was not interested he was actually developing a game and he was so into it that he showed me a sample of what he is done and took me by surprise. I was so amazed that kids this generation are so upto date and so innovative starting from a very young age. I wished him good luck on his new venture and said my goodbyes.
PS: we never exchanged our names or whereabouts online so I just hope maybe someday and that day might never come we meet again.
