Thang Nguyen 555

Routine is routine: brush your teeth, set the alarm and off to bed.

But some nights are different: a hang-over or a guest over-stayed his/her welcome.

Some life never sees daylight. They call them (in Japan) the modern-day hermits, estimated about 1.5 million youngsters.

Unable to wake up and to talk up a conversation.

All screen, all night.

We are talking about lack of soft-skills, social skills and simply human skills.

Vietnamese society used to be different. Now one finds an invasion of the Third kind: Grab, French fries (even when French Colonial days are things of the past) and 7/11’s.

McDonalds fast-food workers in VN wear the same uniform as colleagues in the West, albeit XS in size. They localize the merchandise by putting condensed milk in a McCafe. Young people eat it up: honey-mustard, ketchup, chili sauce, mayonnaise etc.. in helpless attempts to super-size themselves.

Everyone talks, talking at each other and talking at the same time. Young females are now toasting and drinking, cheering: “dzo”, 50% (of the mug), for tomorrow, we go to the gym to work it out, kickboxing and yoga.

Back-packers are still making their stop at “pho Tay”, French quarter, albeit without the Cafe du Monde. Beer is cheap, and girls are not free “Oh, Suzie Q”.

Post-war Vietnam has gone through a “Vietnamization” process of its own: heated-up real-estate and hyped-up visas (for overseas resettlement).

Money trail flows out of country with no return date.

Wake me up when the night ends.

Wake me up when September ends.

One million point five and maybe more, sleepwalking through the 21st century.

Machine doesn’t go to sleep at all. Production line is 24/7 and improvement continuous, the Toyota way, not incremental.

Infrastructure cannot keep up with growth, with urban sprawl. Adjacent districts get congestion as if traffic has no longer been satisfied with its concentric formation.

Hence, stress and spa, massage and music.

Coffee gets diluted, and its quality watered down.

Good things we still have routines: brushing teeth and setting the alarm. I’ll try not to overstay my welcome here or anywhere. Just wake me up at the end of the night.