Nearly everything you and other people said here in this thread, applies to Viet as well.
Viets are easy to figure out? Maybe in the city you come from, maybe. But Viets are as tricky and can put on a good mask. You know the Chinese members and people giving stereotype that Viets are cunning and sly? They have some merits with that view (eventhough they never admit Chinese are also just as cunning and sly). We have extreme cases of viet people scamming and screwing each other, and I have heard some really nasty real life stories from family friends, the kind of stuff where someone lost their whole lifesaving because of another viet friend or aquaintance. I fear for you and your wealth if you think Vietnamese are easy to figure out or that most of us are some kind of generally good and honest folks. Im just being honest here, and probably some other viet members wont like what I’ve just said..
Ok, lets go in steps here. Don't give up man, this is an interesting subject and a learning opportunity.
Yes, Viets are a lot easier to figure out than Thais, by far. Viets don't have the cloaking device, that's a Thai specialty, but you are not aware of it, so you are not going to understand it. Only experienced residents of Thailand can figure that one out. It takes time to pick it up. You need to get very close into Thai people and Thai culture in order to get it. Your experience with Thailand is typical of newcomers and you have the typical response to it, its normal.
The cloaking device used by Thai people is not just about covering negative things, it goes much further than that, its a whole cultural mindset with negative and positive aspects. Its actually quite complex. Just being cunning and sly is not what I'm talking about. Actually, the fact that you interpret it that way, also tells me that you really have no idea of what I'm talking about, which is what I expect anyway. Cunning and sly would be in addition to what I'm talking about.
I'm very aware about the cunning and sly in Vietnam. I'm not wearing the pink glasses in Vietnam. There is a reason why westerners call Vietnam "the wild west". Just look at the feedback from foreign tourists that go to Vietnam, they get ripped off right and left. 90% of them say that they will never come back to Vietnam. There are a lot of nice people in Vietnam and there are a lot of very bad people also, often capable of the most despicable things that you can think of. Vietnam is not high in my list of nice countries. There is too much of the negative. As I often say when people ask me why I moved to Vietnam, I say because of Da Nang, not because of Vietnam. It will take several generations for Vietnam to become more of a civilized country alongs the lines of a Singapore or Taiwan, etc. I see China at about the same level as Vietnam in that regard.
I also heard a lot of bad stories about vietnamese people screwing their friends or family. Actually, I don't trust anybody in Vietnam except a few family members and a couple of good friends.
Again, what you are talking about has nothing to do with what I was talking about regarding Thai people.
The Thai I know are Thai-Chinese, also some Thai from Chiang mai that looks no different from the thai-chinese but insist they have nothing to do with Chinese and one or two dark thai that I never asked exactly where they from. Im aware there are different type of Thai, particular from the poorer area where their attitudes are different from the city. But this is just the same for VN, and the city viet would be prejudice against those from the poor country side, just like the Thai. Even my home province get some stereotype and prejudice from other area..
Well, there you go, if your friends are mostly Thai chinese, which is actually an ethnic subgroup in Thailand and the most different one with respect to native Thais, then your experience is very partial and also, that's the ethnic group that would be closer to vietnamese although still different because of the Thai qualities that they picked up.
Typical Chiang Mai people look similar to Thai chinese because they originally came from China, that's just history whether they like it or not. They are a different ethnic group called Lanna and the Lanna Kingdom was independent until not long ago, so they see themselves as quite different from regular Thais. I used to live in Chiang Mai by the way.
The fact that vietnamese share the liking of white skin, etc same as Thais is not the point. The thread is about those 2 subjects in Thailand and only in Thailand and those 2 subjects are very real in Thailand and that's what the thread is about. Your point is that Thai and vietnamese are very similar when it comes to deep substance and my position is not, they are not. They are very different in terms of culture and mind set. We are talking about difference of substance as you said. Similar preference for white skin, easier for westerners to get girls are not the type of substance that we are talking about since that's common to most or all asians.
Viets looking down on everybody in the region same as Thais? Not as much, except the animosity with china, I see Viets preferring most other countries as well as the products from other countries over Viet. Viets are always talking super nice about Thailand and see everything there as better than in vietnam. No such thing in Thailand. You might think is similar, but you don't really understand to what degree the Thais take that concept and how it fits into their cultural mindset, which is very different than the Viet mindset.
By the way, the way white skin Thais look down on dark skin Thais is far more serious than what I have seen in Vietnam and in other countries in the region in my opinion.
Since you mentioned your interaction with visiting Thai friends coming home for dinner, well, let me make you aware of something. When you talk with a Thai person, particularly face to face, take everything they tell you with a grain of salt. A Thai person most often will tell you "yes" "you are right" "I agree with you" even if they totally disagree with you, because Thai culture emphasizes that they have to please you, they have to let you save face and always avoid conflict and to tell you that they disagree with you is to be impolite and confrontational. Thai people seldom talk straight and the ones that do talk straight often happen to be Thai chinese actually. This is basic Thai culture 101, but most people are not aware of it.
Somsak already told you, no such thing as Thais and Viets being similar. Most Thais will tell you the same thing. They know themselves.
Hahaha we are same then , comrade. Russian folks are seem to be so pale skinned I see.
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@vostok I'm the same man, I'll look like a tomato if I get under the sun, I can't handle it.
