When I think of #Vietnam, I think of "Water" everything from the rains, to the floods, the water puppets, to flexible "watery" nature of the people. Also, the Water you need to make the best coffee I've ever had in my life. Can't give enough thanks to all the Vietnamese geograpeeps that helped with this one especially those I met and are featured in the video! ALSO! Want to possibly come to Zimbabwe for the last episode? We are thinking of doing a group trip! If you think you might be willing to join, take the survey here and we will try to make it happen! www.surveymonkey.com/r/YLLZTZ5
i get you all honestly, when afghanistan came out i was 11, now i'm 20 and there's only 3 countries left. it's crazy to think that by the end of the year the series will be over after a decade of running
For anyone who's wondering how "water" could be related to "country", "nước" is a clipping of "đất nước" meaning "country", but literally means "land & water".
I had a random thought: make a mini-series called “Geography Then!” where you do these overviews of countries or regions that don’t exist today. Could be a fun way to dip toes into historical content and expand the audience… and see how the past melds into the present.
That's not a bad idea. I had the thought of Geography Wow! where he focuses on a strange, hard-to-believe or just massive event or feature of country's past, present or even future, or a unique geographical feature to a country or region.
I’m from Sri Lanka 🇱🇰. I disagree with the point that Thailand 🇹🇭 people are friendlier than Vietnamese 🇻🇳 People . In my opinion, in general (not all,) Thai people are friendlier towards Caucasian people of darker complexions like me. When I first traveled to VN 🇻🇳 I found that people were genuinely nice and friendly. A few sellers I spoke to were happy to know that I am from Sri Lanka 🇱🇰, apparently, people from India have a bad reputation for bargaining down to the last cent (Doesn’t help me when I look like I am from India) I found that it was much easier making Vietnamese 🇻🇳 friends Than Thai friends. I never got some warm feeling in Thailand 🇹🇭. So that is one of the reasons I became a fan of Vietnam 🇻🇳 and I keep returning. This is just my personal view.
In Vietnam there is no racial or gender discrimination. Whether you are male, female or LGBT, it's all the same. The government neither recognizes nor opposes it. They want people to be free and happy ❤
maybe socialism somehow changed vietnamese perception on race and gender. thailand on the other hand is very hyper capitalist and has a royalty which breeds more elitism.
bạn rất hiểu VN..người VN thân thiện nhất thế giới..không bao giờ phân biệt chủng tộc..bạn là người da đen hay da trắng điều được tôn vinh ở VN.người dân nơi đây yêu hòa bình thân thiện..Thái Lan cũng thân thiện nhưng VN thân thiện hơn
No big mistakes now other than: 1. Vietnam isn’t the only Southeast Asian country that didn’t have it’s own script. Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore and East Timor didn’t have an own writing system as well. In fact their are a couple minorities in Vietnam that have their own script, most notably the Cham with their Cham script 2 Vietnamese is an Austroasiatic language and not Austronesian 3 Football is the most popular sport in Vietnam and not badminton
To be honest with that logic, most countries have never had an indigenous script. The scripts of Thai, Khmer, etc. were derived from ancient Indic languages. Japan uses Chinese characters and its other two scripts were derived from Chinese characters
Any statistics for the 3rd bullet? I d like to add that football is team sport, badminton is individual sport that doesn't require much space, so it's more convenient to do regular badminton matches, and both female and male can play together, in football not so much
@@DVfromtheeastYou don't need any statistic to find out that football is Vietnam most beloved sport and not Badminton, that's more of an Indonesian/Singapore sports. As a proof, when Vietnam U-23 made it through the semi-final in World Cup Qualification in 2018. The people of Hanoi CLOSE THE ENTIRE CITY just to celebrate the achievement. Kilometers of motorcycle parade of people wearing shirt bearing their national flags just driving around the city center can be seen during those period.
@@Heylanda-fb9xb I was there in hanoi that time, I didn't even watch the match but still go out, you should know the difference between playing a sport and watching a sport
I wish they mentioned about the Khmer krom minority in southern Vietnam (indigenous Khmer folk) who also have the largest Buddha statue in all all of Vietnam!! ❤in Soc Trang province
@@ayooolearnit6153người khmer là 1 trong 54 dân tộc được công nhận ở đất nước Việt nam, khmer krom bản địa sống ở cambodia và bạn nên qua cambodia để đề nghị họ được công nhận là dân khmer bản địa
@@duonghdduong5899aside from the accents, how did it come to that different regions have different dialects? My parents from the north, I was born in the south so I was familiar with both dialects. Then there's the central region, forget about it!
I have been waiting for this episode since 2017. Vietnam is like my second home - I have visited it 4 times so far. I am really obsessed with Vietnam's food, coffee and culture. I want to spend more time in the north during my next visit. Can't wait to go back!
Fun fact, my dad was drafted in the US Army to fight in Vietnam. He hurt his back during basic training and was medically discharged. He met my mom a month later during rehab. If he never hurt himself, he would never of met my mom and I wouldn’t be here. 😊
I’m in Vietnam right now for a one-month long vacation. Your timing of uploading this video is perfect for me! Now I get to know Vietnam more while I’m in it! Even though I’m Vietnamese, I was born and still reside in the US.
Had the amazing chance to visit Vietnam in January 2023. Having been to 28 countries so far, Vietnam probably takes the cake for me. The people are so genuine and the culture is so fascinating. As a Finn it’s really easy to relate to the hardships experienced by the brave people of Vietnam over the course of their history, but it only makes it so much sweeter to see them thriving today. Definetly have to return someday! Thank you for the episode Barbs!
There's is a pretty large Vietnamese community where I live in North Alabama. There's a lot of Vietnamese restaurants and I had multiple roommates in college from Southern Vietnam who lived with their extended families nearby the college when the dorms were closed. I hadn't tried Vietnamese food before college, but now it's definitely one of my favorites. I would eat Pho every meal if I could.
For the "Best Friends" section, Laos is definitely considered to be Vietnam's best friend. Many Laotians move to Vietnam to study in various fields such as healthcare, and many Laotians can speak Vietnamese after just a year or two of living there. Laos was also subject to heavy bombing campaigns by the Americans because of their role in helping the North Vietnamese army in securing logistical support. I can't think of a country that Vietnam is closer to than Laos.
I also think Laos should be included. In comparison with Cambodia, the relationship between Vietnam and Laos is far closer. The political system in Laos resembles Vietnam, and in Laos there is not a strong anti-Vietnamese sentiment in certain sections of Cambodian society (based on what I have read).
In Moscow there is a shopping mall and hotel called Hanoi-Moscow that i used to go often for Vietnamese food and froots. Vietnamese food is very popular in Russia. And one of my core memories is Vietnamese balm called Golden star, it was very popular then.
Totally agree with you. My grandma who lives in St.Petersburg, Russia, still has "Golden star" medicine from Vietnam. We also have many Vietnamese restaurants with tasty pho bo and pho go and spring rolls in St.Petersburg.
Ukraine interestingly has a somehow stable relationship with Vietnam. One Vietnamese businessman became literally the richest man in the entire Vietnam when he brought to Ukraine quick noodles packets (highly popular in Asia, but at that time it was a "mind-blowing" technology" in eastern Europe) and named it "Mivina" (translated from Vietnamese as "Vietnamese noodles"). for this day few generations grew up in Ukraine calling every single type of quick noodles package as "mivina". also a lot of Vietnamese clothes factories sell their products here. and it is considered as some good quality products. hell, we even have an entire type of slippers called "vietnamki" because Vietnamese "shuttle traders" brought them here.
agree, not only we in Ukraine call any brand of quick noodles "mivina", it became like a modern cultural pillar, theres not a single ukrainian that doesnt know about mivina. Vietnamese food is also delicious albeit not as popular here sadly
As a Vietnamese , i have waited since the Cambodia episode, i love Geography now and i am so happy the Vietnam episode is finally here. The wait is well worth it Side note: not mentioning football in the sport section of vietnam is very bruh Side note 2: If i have to say what country would be vietnam "bestfriend" politically, Laos and Cuba are up there. Laos is seen kinda like the little brother of Vietnam, alot of Laotian go to Vietnam for study and many integrated themselves into Vietnamese society. Cuba have been Vietnam closest allies since the cold war, both are communist, both share suffering from foreign attempt military intervention (US) and trade embargo (US). Vietnam is slowly getting better of than Cuba due to opening up trade, Vietnam now send aids to Cuba and many Vietnamese study medicine in Cuba due to Cuba having a advance medical industry (relatively to us). Cuba was probably one the biggest supporter and aid Vietnam alot during all 3 Indochina (against the french, the american and the chinese), now that they need our help, we willing to lend a hand to pay back the decades of support they gave to us.
Great video! Some things that are technically correct but are rather from a Westerner/tourist viewpoint: - The overemphasis on Champa kingdom - The overemphasis on “Vietnam trilogy” - Mentioning badminton but not football - The “no restrction” on building’s height - Water puppetry (traditional yess, but VERY touristy)
In the sports segment, you forgot 'football', or 'soccer', it is a big deal in Vietnam too :v like we can suffer traffic jams because people go out with thousands of thousands of motorbikes to celebrate a Vietnamese football national team's big win
There's also a TH-cam video discussing about the Vietnamese football team's history. The guy who made it also made the video about the issues facing the US football team and it's coach Greg Berhalter.
@@zuni46 Indonesian national football team now is better than any squad in their history 😅 outstanding players from Europe's top tiers and good tactic from coach Shin 👍 it's good that your country's national football team became much better so far, and I can't wait to see how they can be better, especially with Southeast Asia standard 👏
@@Marlin123 so? Why u proud of a Vietnamese born in other country lol? If she was born in Vietnam, she will probably working in some office with 300 dollae / month salary🤣
I've been waiting 5 years for this!! I've been living in Vietnam for the past 5 months, but my husband and I were here 5 years ago too and discovered your channel. Keep up the amazing work, Barbs! I'm so glad you enjoyed one of my favorite countries (and had amazing coffee)! :)
"anh" uses for older male; "em" for younger person (genderless) and your wife (no matter her age, culturally, you can call her "em"). So, it's kinda rude when you refer to urself "anh" and the other "em" while you don't know whether he/she is younger or older than you. To be more polite, you should use "tôi" for urself and "bạn" for the other, "các bạn" if there are more than one person. "Tôi yêu các bạn Việt Nam" would go better 👍
A historical note about post-1975 Vietnamese refugees: the country which welcomed the largest proportion of refugees (as percentage of its own population) was Australia.
@@KonradAdenauerJr true they suffered the least casualties compared to any other participants but have something to cry about every year. Great trade.
Hey Barb, I'm not sure if you know this, but I love traveling, and I've visited 34 countries (not a lot, I know). Before going to any country, I watch your videos about that country to understand the culture more. And you won't believe this, for the last 5 countries I've traveled to in the last 6 months, every single time I stumbled upon my hostel roommates watching your videos. It has become my own way to start conversations now
Hate being that guy that just knows Vietnam from TV, but when Top Gear went here for there special, was one of their best places they've went and made me love Vietnam even more than i do now.
Yay finally viet nam. I love viet nam and i am so excited. My south east asian country collection is finally completed. The wait is over. Funally. Thank you!! This vhannel came so far.💕💖😭
although i’m a foreigner, i’ve lived in Vietnam practically my entire life and it’s such a beautiful place. although sad you didn’t mention Nha Trang, Mui ne, etc.
“If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it. This is the most basic kind of peace work.” ― Thich Nhat Hanh,
Ahh man. I'm so proud of how much effort and time you've come. You only has yemen, Zambia and zimbabwe. You truely a geography legand. You have done over 200 episodes and the fact it's been 10 years since you've done the Afghanistan episode. Your amazing.
Very good video, here’s a few little historical corrections: 1) Lê Duẩn, despite being a hardliner, gave the go ahead for the đôi mỗi reforms shortly before his death, so like in China where Mao repaired relations with the US, both dictators paved the way for reforms before their successors. 2) Ho Chi Minh died during the war in 1969, so he had no say in how a reunified Vietnam came about. He was, of course, all about unity, and serves as unifying figure for the country, but he was most definitely a communist as well, not only a nationalist. 3) The friend zone part was done well, but Cambodia is probably the wrong choice - there is a lot of bad blood due to ethnic massacres of Vietnamese and Vietnam’s occupation. Probably the ‘correct’ answer is actually Laos.
In college I lived on garbage food and pre-packaged crap I bought from the gas station, but there was a nearby Vietnamese restaurant that I'm pretty sure kept me alive nutritionally and repaired my damaged tastebuds. Pho and Banh mi are life.
As we get closer and closer to the end of this series, the episodes get more interesting. Love this episode Been Watching since the Albanian episode when I was a pre teen
@@eeaqsas1321it’s… Not worth it I get there is corruption in the central government But the issues is that THIS IS AN INTERNATIONAL CHANNEL WE CANNOT TALK ABOUT THE NEGATIVITY that haven’t show. I’m not here to support to government It’s just how to like, show others foreigners to something something idk But better watch your back. Bộ An Ninh Mạng always watching…
The majority of my neighborhood is Vietnamese, most of which immigrated from South Vietnam after the war was lost. Thanks to them I have learned so much about the country and its culture.
14:52 actually, hủ tiếu nam vang, despite its Vietnamese-sounding name, isn’t technically Vietnamese originally. In fact, it is even in the name. Nam Vang is actually the Vietnamese name for Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The dish, therefore, translates to “Phnom Penh rice noodle soup”. This is because the noodle soup dish created by the Teochew Chinese who migrated to Cambodia. With that being said, by the time the Vietnamese got a taste, it was so good that it became widely popular in Vietnam.
My parents are from Vietnam and I always wanted to learn more about the country that they're from. Been waiting for this episode for so long. Thank you Barbs!!
I started watching Geography Now since the St KITTS AND NEVIS episode in 2019 because my dad showed it to me. That was 5 years ago. Now there’s only 3 episodes left. Great job ❤
33:02 as a Vietnamese, I would say Vietnam's best friend is Lao, not Cambodia, Vietnam-Cambodia relationship is like that of Vietnam-China but reverse, but Cambodia is the one hating Vietnam for various reasons, but Vietnam doesn't really care much about Cambodia. In general, the two kinda hate each other, but it's not a love-hate relationship. Vietnam certainly has extended influence on cambodian government though, so it might be where the misunderstanding came from. Lao on the other hand, helped Vietnam a lot during the Vietnam war, evidenced with the Ho Chi Minh trail and they even got bombed heavily on behalf of us, and the people of both countries got on well with each other, with none of the conflicts that Cambodia might have with Vietnam.
How Vietnamese view China is the same way Cambodian view Vietnam. No hate here tho. But is more about hating the government than the people. I hate the Cambodian government. Im Cambodian from the state.
I was very surprised not to see Laos there honestly. Question tho: what about Russia? I have been living in Moscow for years and many Vietnamese work and study there.
@@danielalejandroarizarodrig1540 I'd say before the current war, Russia was universally loved. But now the population is more split, some support Ukraine some support Russia.
@@danielalejandroarizarodrig1540 about russia, not much going on in vietnamese's minds except the fact that they helped us during vietnam war (though it was actualy the soviet). Political wise, we have some trades here and there but we try to not involve much and keep our view neutral.
I would say the culture difference between Vietnam and China is much smaller. There aren't a lot of culture similarities between Cambodia and Vietnam TBH. Meanwhile the Vietnamese and the Chinese, especially the southern Chinese, they are probably 95% the same minus the language and political differences.
10:27 the death of Lê Duẩn does not lead to the Đổi mới reform, he is the one that started the Đổi Mới reform during the 5th national assembly (1982) when he famously critique the Soviet economy model and kick start the reform Without Lê Duẩn there would be no reform, nobody got the gut to tell the Soviet theyre wrong at that time, his successor Nguyễn Văn Linh only continue where he left off Lê Duẩn speech at the very openning of the national assembly where Nguyễn Văn Linh was elected to replace him which was the 6th assembly in 1986 where he reaffirmed the commitment to reform that he made in 1982, he only died a month after that Lê Duẩn image of "evil communist dictator that held back developement" is just revisionist thing that is spread mainly by Chinese descended people because he cracked down on them during the Sino-Vietnamese war
Visited Vietnam last year and what surprised me the most is how the country has developed within almost 30 to 40 years of an intense civil war. The roads were great, the trains were good (we took the overnight train from Hanoi to Da Nang), the food was fantastic and the people were very friendly. Coming from India, the chaotic nature of the street didn't really overwhelm me as we are used to our cities. I loved Hanoi more than Ho Chi Min and found Hoi Ann to be a tourist trap. It would have been better if we stayed in one of the many beachside hotels in Danang! But the best part of my trip was the cruise in Ha Long Bay. The bay is really beautiful and at night it does look spectacular. If I have to go back, I will go back to Hanoi, the more northern parts and Danang. And I will take the train again because that view of the sea and cliffs as the train winded down the tunnels and hills is something to remember for a lifetime. People say Vietnam is a cheap destination, but as Indians we found it to be moderately priced. The fruits especially the dragon fruit, and other specific SE Asian fruits were cheap, otherwise at the same price as India. The Ban than market in Ho Chi Min wasn't cheap either, but yes the quality of clothes at that price point is better than those in India. Street food was cheap, I especially loved Bun Cha, but sometimes the herbs can be too much!! Vegetarians and Vegans will have a hard time here because almost every dish has fish sauce in it.
I'd say we have a lot of options for vegetarians, since the major religion here is buddhism. You can find a lot of those eateries with the word "chay" usually written big on the sign, and they have a lot of options, ranging from various toppings for rice, noodles, to even hotpots. And there are also vegetarian version of the non vegetarian dishes too like com tam, pho, bun bo hue, etc. And if you're still having trouble finding an eatery, try to find a pagoda. 90% chance there'll be a vegetarian place near it.
Now, as a proud Vietnamese student, I'll try my best to sum up our history while not disappoint my teacher: Basically, as you said it, the Bách Việt people lived around the Red river Delta area and eventually found the Văn Lang (with the Hùng Kings as leader) and then Âu Lạc Then we were invaded by the Chinese (or not?), started a whole 1000 years era of Chinese ruling. As you mentioned, there were many revolution started off by the Trưng Sisters, most of them were successful, left the country independent for a couple years before the Chinese sent another bigger army to take us back and we sadly lost Some times later, the Chinese became more chaotic and somehow one of our man - Khúc Thừa Dụ became the leader of our land and we were independent. Then the Nam Hán brought some guy to fight us but got beaten badly by our great Ngô Quyền, finally brought our country to a fully independence After that, Ngô Quyền started the Ngô Dynasty, then the country got divided and united back by Đinh Bộ Lĩnh, started the Đinh Dynasty. Then the Tiền Lê Dynasty, when we fought the Song Dynasty for the first time. Then the Lý Dynasty, when we fought the Song Dynasty again. Then the Trần Dynasty, when the famous war between us and the Mongol took place. Then the Hồ Dynasty, the Ming invaded us but the Hồ couldn't fight off so we were under Chinese ruling again. Later Lê Lợi came up and beat the Ming out of the country, found the Hậu Lê Dynasty. Next, by some reasons I can't remember, the Mạc rise up, then the Trịnh and eventually our country was divided North and South just like in the Vietnam war (just not at the 17 line though). That whole time was very confusing with the Nguyễn in the South and the Trịnh - Lê in the North. In this time and even earlier, we had expanded to the South, which was called Nam Tiến as you've seen, with this time we reached the deep south and found old Sài Gòn (Gia Định). Later, the Tây Sơn brother got up and beat the Nguyễn in the South, then the Trịnh in the North and united the country once again, Nguyễn Nhạc was the first king after that, then Nguyễn Huệ - the very famous guy who beat the hell out of the Qing in 1789 But just a few years after that, Quang Trung died and Nguyễn Ánh stole the crown, became the next king and found the Nguyễn Dynasty, probably the most controversial dynasty in Vietnam's history (this is when Minh Mạng was ruling too). Later the French came in, took us because the Nguyễn Kings are too useless even though the people fought back the French real hard. Well, eventually we became a colony and from there start the colonial ages, there were still fighting but not significant. At this time is when HCM started his journey around the world and found out about Communism, tell that to the people when he went back to Vietnam and start doing revolutionary activities. Then WWII broke out, the Japanese kicked out the French then got kicked out themselves by losing WWII, HCM and his crew take the chance and help our country gain independence. The French then try to took the country back but lost in the Điện Biên Phủ battle. They sign a treaty and now the north was completely independent, but the South was still under French, and then American control. Next is history, the Vietnam War, ended with the fall of Sài Gòn, as we finally united our countries after years. We were independent yay, but we still have no economy for another 10 years until Đổi Mới. In that time we once fight with the Khmer Rouge and Chinese for various reasons though. Eventually our country then developed super fast and become the country of Vietnam you known today! Hopefully I've covered most of the history, sorry if my English was bad:)
10:37 About the close-door policy before 1986, or we usually call "Thời bao cấp". I once asked my grandfather, who used to serve in the North Vietnam Army (NVA), about his thought on the decision keeping the close-door policy until 1986 by Lê Duẩn. He said, at that time, Vietnamese people had to fight: - Cambodian-Vietnamese War (or the Red Khmer led by Pol Pot) from 1975 until 1989. Red Khmer was backed up by the Chinese government, which eventually led to the next war with China. - Vietnamese-Chinese border war (1979), fight against the Chinese (was backed up by the American) in the North border with China. Although officially the war ended in March 1979, the Chinese still messed around the Vietnamese border with the ambition of taking down Vietnamese government in later years, which forced Vietnam focusing huge amount of military force in the North border, always in ready state for the next invasion from China Having to manage the resources for these two wars, plus the suspicion for the Western country (mainly the American and their allies), Vietnamese government had to play safe with the close-door policy, only traded with the communist allies except China. From the history point of view, maybe some people might argue that Vietnamese government should had use the open-door policy sooner by a few years but that decision would be too risky to decide, rather late than sorry. If God don't play dice, so does the leaders at the top level of Vietnamese government.
Còn 1 cuộc chiến ngầm nữa đó là nội ứng VNCH luôn lăm le tổ chức chống phá. Toàn bộ lính VNCH chỉ có 1 người bị xử vì quá ác. Còn lại đều được sống và cho cơ hội phục vụ quê hương ở chiến trường miền tây. May là tai mắt dân khắp nơi nên phá nhiều nguy cơ hiểm.
Supposing you're right that close door policy was applied due to suspicion of the west but was it necessary to forbid citizens operating their private businesses? Why don't you say anything about nationalization of private companies in the south after April 30, 1975 or policy of "đánh tư sản"?
@@thumtlnguyen3626 I think the prohibition of privatized businesses was in line with the process of unification back then, especially under the socialist political regime. In some sense, the government at the time couldn't really afford to manage a rapid multisectoral economy throughout the country, due to war aftermath, not to mention the radical political remnants of the Republic of Vietnam - so they stuck to they way they're used to in order to "maintain power". Then, practical changes had been made to the economy since 1986 (only roughly 10 years after independence) including the establishment of a market economy with one of the components being the private sector (now playing a crucial role in the country). They actually saw how awfully stagnant the country's economy had become which, combined with internal and external conflicts, led to the decision for a reform. It's funny that this video mentioned Le Duan and claimed that he was one to impede the advent of new economic reforms, when he was actually one of the earliest strong advocates for changes, and even raised proposal back in 1975 to introduce concepts of multisectoral market economy and not to forcefully exert the Northern regime to the Southern sectors.
I find one crucial thing the video forgot to mention about religion is the "Ancestor worshipping faith" of Vietnameses, which I have never seen any family here that doesn't practice. Like its name, each Vietnamese family or the family of the elder son of the lineage has pictures of deceased grand parents or great grandparents on altar in their house to worship. Nonetheless this is an amazing video that covered many charms of Vietnam, I really can feel the effort and sincerity in it.
You are right. It is our religion. But we have even raised it to worshiping Humanity, placing it in the center, surrounding by our ancestors. It is called Lễ Gia Tiên (But regrettably, almost forgotten today. Also, we worship any great person, Vietnamese or foreigner. And finally, we worship mother goddess.
There is also a huge cafe culture around Vietnam. And many young Vietnamese locals often like to approach English speakers in parks to practice English.
Love the Costa Rican hat, pura vida. 🇨🇷💕 Amazing episode as always, cannot believe I can finally watch it, waited for so long, sad we are almost over tho.
"đồng bào" is the word from the story of the origin of Vietnamese people named "Con Rồng Cháu Tiên". It means all Vietnamese people are have one mother Âu Cơ and one father Lạc Long Quân. To know more you shoud read this story.
Thank you for your video that details Vietnamese history, we have always had wars for thousands of years but we still survived. And now in peace, our country is increasingly developing, we try to change our lifes for the better than in the past. Nowadays, Vietnam is changing more and more beautifully, the people are always smiling, considerate, and willing to welcome you Please come visit Vietnam. You will have many unforgettable memories when traveling here ❤.
@@namtrungnguyen4947 is there any country when prime minister is corrupted, his punishment is only forced to be resigned? Search “vo van thuong resignation” on google dude.
I’ve been waiting for this episode for years. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the beautiful country of Vietnam. Excellent episode Barbs and Co. you all did a wonderful job.
The statement that Vietnam is 'the only Southeast Asian country that didn't have any original indigenous writing system' is incorrect for several reasons as other commenters have pointed out, but we shouldn't really be trying to think in terms of modern political borders in the first place when discussing the rich tapestry of cultures, languages, and writing systems that is Southeast Asia. Throughout the region, writing was adopted from India (mostly but not exclusively from South Indian models) and developed several different traditions which influenced each other. Some of the earliest inscriptions we know of are found in the modern borders of Vietnam and Malaysia, two places that one might think of naively as lacking an indigenous writing tradition. But they were in pure Sanskrit (a classical language from India), in writing that is pretty much identical to their Indian models. Over time, these developed into several different traditions throughout Southeast Asia, often influencing one another. These are gradual changes, so it is difficult to say when something stops being an Indian script and starts being an indigenous one, though an important milestone is when it starts being used to record local languages, not just Indian languages like Sanskrit and Pali. The Đông Yên Châu inscription from central Vietnam dates from the 4th century and is the earliest example known to write a local language, not Sanskrit. But this was in Old Cham, an Austronesian language which is unrelated to Vietnamese. If you look at the history of writing in Southeast Asia, several of the important early writing systems were for languages that don't have the status of national languages today. Another great example is the Old Mon script, from which the Burmese script is thought to have derived. The earliest examples are found in Thailand, but the Mon language isn't related to Burmese or Thai - it's Austroasiatic like Khmer and Vietnamese. At the moment I'm working a video on another descendant of the Old Mon script, the Tai Tham script which is used for several minority languages in Thailand, Myanmar, and China - there is a tiny minority in Vietnam (the Lự people) who uses this as well.
24:15 true, badminton is a popular sport in Vietnam, but the tournament mentioned here isn't really too prestigious as tournaments in the same region, like the Malaysia Open or the Indonesia Open which are much higher-rated than the Vietnam Open, tbh
Thank you. Not many people can see our cultural aspect. We have 5000 years history and great culture. Please look at the Ngọc Lũ Bronze Drum alone, you'll appreciate how civilized such a culture was 2000-3000 years ago.
0:22 aside from Vietnamese, this method might also work on Laos, Khmer & Thais, and maybe Cantonese too one reason why we VNmese make fun of Laos & Thais languages is because they sounds vaguely like Vietnamese, yet these the same sound doesnt carry the same meaning in Vietnamese
@@ucchau173 Im aware, but it just sounded like Thai to me. The dude in the video still had his consonants flow together a bit, Vietnamese is a bit choppier. And no language is truly monosyllabic, Burmese and Vietnamese are very close but not quite. There are words that require more than one syllable to say.
Awesome, great job on Vietnam. Surprised you didn't mention Vietnam's relationship to other SE countries like Laos, Thailand and The Philippines. I hope to visit Vietnam someday. Good job Barbs!
Vietnam moved south. The rural area around Guangdong and Beihai looks like Vietnam: same way of building houses, same looking people. I think that people of South China are closer to Vietnam than to Beijing. But not going so much inland, because Hmong people live there and they are not related to China or Vietnam.
When I think of #Vietnam, I think of "Water" everything from the rains, to the floods, the water puppets, to flexible "watery" nature of the people. Also, the Water you need to make the best coffee I've ever had in my life. Can't give enough thanks to all the Vietnamese geograpeeps that helped with this one especially those I met and are featured in the video!
ALSO! Want to possibly come to Zimbabwe for the last episode? We are thinking of doing a group trip! If you think you might be willing to join, take the survey here and we will try to make it happen! www.surveymonkey.com/r/YLLZTZ5
W VIETNAM!!
Scorpion toilet
Hello can I just thank you for everything you’ve down to make me enjoy these episodes so much thank you
Good morning Vietnam!
Nice
I have been waiting for this since I was in primary school, I am an adult now
well it’s here enjoy bro
Most W man on earth
I was waiting for the Somalia episode since I was in elementary school and when it dropped I nearly screamed
Hanoi and Saigon > Bangkok
i get you all honestly, when afghanistan came out i was 11, now i'm 20 and there's only 3 countries left. it's crazy to think that by the end of the year the series will be over after a decade of running
Fun fact: Related to the "watery" feel of Vietnam, the Vietnamese word for country is "nước", which literally means water
For anyone who's wondering how "water" could be related to "country", "nước" is a clipping of "đất nước" meaning "country", but literally means "land & water".
The colloquial word is nước which is a shortening of đất nước (land + water) but a more formal way to say country is Sino-Vietnamese quốc gia (國家).
that explains Nuoc Mam
SEE?!?!?
@@DrFerno727 Country of fermentation
I had a random thought: make a mini-series called “Geography Then!” where you do these overviews of countries or regions that don’t exist today. Could be a fun way to dip toes into historical content and expand the audience… and see how the past melds into the present.
he could do that after he finishes geography now
That's not a bad idea. I had the thought of Geography Wow! where he focuses on a strange, hard-to-believe or just massive event or feature of country's past, present or even future, or a unique geographical feature to a country or region.
Such a cool Idea
“Geography Then! SIKKIM” would be an interesting video
Speaking of Vietnam, South Vietnam would make a good episode of “Geography Then!”
I’m from Sri Lanka 🇱🇰. I disagree with the point that Thailand 🇹🇭 people are friendlier than Vietnamese 🇻🇳 People . In my opinion, in general (not all,) Thai people are friendlier towards Caucasian people of darker complexions like me. When I first traveled to VN 🇻🇳 I found that people were genuinely nice and friendly. A few sellers I spoke to were happy to know that I am from Sri Lanka 🇱🇰, apparently, people from India have a bad reputation for bargaining down to the last cent (Doesn’t help me when I look like I am from India) I found that it was much easier making Vietnamese 🇻🇳 friends Than Thai friends. I never got some warm feeling in Thailand 🇹🇭. So that is one of the reasons I became a fan of Vietnam 🇻🇳 and I keep returning. This is just my personal view.
In Vietnam there is no racial or gender discrimination. Whether you are male, female or LGBT, it's all the same. The government neither recognizes nor opposes it. They want people to be free and happy ❤
maybe socialism somehow changed vietnamese perception on race and gender. thailand on the other hand is very hyper capitalist and has a royalty which breeds more elitism.
Thankyou. VN always welcomes you back.
Caucasians are white, white is not caucasian
bạn rất hiểu VN..người VN thân thiện nhất thế giới..không bao giờ phân biệt chủng tộc..bạn là người da đen hay da trắng điều được tôn vinh ở VN.người dân nơi đây yêu hòa bình thân thiện..Thái Lan cũng thân thiện nhưng VN thân thiện hơn
No big mistakes now other than:
1. Vietnam isn’t the only Southeast Asian country that didn’t have it’s own script. Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore and East Timor didn’t have an own writing system as well. In fact their are a couple minorities in Vietnam that have their own script, most notably the Cham with their Cham script
2 Vietnamese is an Austroasiatic language and not Austronesian
3 Football is the most popular sport in Vietnam and not badminton
To be honest with that logic, most countries have never had an indigenous script. The scripts of Thai, Khmer, etc. were derived from ancient Indic languages. Japan uses Chinese characters and its other two scripts were derived from Chinese characters
Any statistics for the 3rd bullet? I d like to add that football is team sport, badminton is individual sport that doesn't require much space, so it's more convenient to do regular badminton matches, and both female and male can play together, in football not so much
@@DVfromtheeastYou don't need any statistic to find out that football is Vietnam most beloved sport and not Badminton, that's more of an Indonesian/Singapore sports.
As a proof, when Vietnam U-23 made it through the semi-final in World Cup Qualification in 2018. The people of Hanoi CLOSE THE ENTIRE CITY just to celebrate the achievement. Kilometers of motorcycle parade of people wearing shirt bearing their national flags just driving around the city center can be seen during those period.
@@Heylanda-fb9xb I was there in hanoi that time, I didn't even watch the match but still go out, you should know the difference between playing a sport and watching a sport
@@Heylanda-fb9xb are you even vietnamese, do you play football?
3 more countries!
🇾🇪 Yemen
🇿🇲 Zambia
🇿🇼 Zimbabwe
For real. Almost done.
now we need "Geography now! EARTH"
☹️
Maybe remastered old countries next??
When Vatican city?
Small correction: The Vietnamese language belongs in the Austroasiatic language family, not Austronesian.
I wish they mentioned about the Khmer krom minority in southern Vietnam (indigenous Khmer folk) who also have the largest Buddha statue in all all of Vietnam!! ❤in Soc Trang province
@@ayooolearnit6153người khmer là 1 trong 54 dân tộc được công nhận ở đất nước Việt nam, khmer krom bản địa sống ở cambodia và bạn nên qua cambodia để đề nghị họ được công nhận là dân khmer bản địa
@@duonghdduong5899aside from the accents, how did it come to that different regions have different dialects? My parents from the north, I was born in the south so I was familiar with both dialects. Then there's the central region, forget about it!
Most of Vietnamese phases which the Barbs mentioning are direct taken from Cantonese words if you had realized or not.
@@kawings No, Vietnamese is from France,
I have been waiting for this episode since 2017. Vietnam is like my second home - I have visited it 4 times so far. I am really obsessed with Vietnam's food, coffee and culture. I want to spend more time in the north during my next visit. Can't wait to go back!
The war museum in Saigon is the only museum that has ever made me cry. Good thing the amazing coffee immediately brought back my good spirits!
Fun fact, my dad was drafted in the US Army to fight in Vietnam. He hurt his back during basic training and was medically discharged. He met my mom a month later during rehab. If he never hurt himself, he would never of met my mom and I wouldn’t be here. 😊
Your dad is the chosen one
Are you a millionaire? Not being here in the first place is the better option if you are not.
@@PROVOCATEURSKahan😊😅👏🏾
Jit trippin
I’m in Vietnam right now for a one-month long vacation. Your timing of uploading this video is perfect for me! Now I get to know Vietnam more while I’m in it! Even though I’m Vietnamese, I was born and still reside in the US.
Viet Kieu
Good for u. Life in here is miserable. I wish I was born in western country like u
@@eeaqsas1321 actually, you're just being miserable
😏
I know I was in Vietnam when this was uploaded and I think TH-cam went through a Vietnam phase while I was there
i took a one-month trip to Vietnam a year ago after 8 years! I’m also a Vietnamese-American!
Had the amazing chance to visit Vietnam in January 2023. Having been to 28 countries so far, Vietnam probably takes the cake for me. The people are so genuine and the culture is so fascinating. As a Finn it’s really easy to relate to the hardships experienced by the brave people of Vietnam over the course of their history, but it only makes it so much sweeter to see them thriving today.
Definetly have to return someday!
Thank you for the episode Barbs!
❤❤❤Thank you very much.❤❤❤
❤❤
Ahoy Vietnam! Love from Czechia! 🇨🇿❤️🇻🇳
Xin chao Czechia! From Vietnam. :D
My brother-in-law is from the Czech Republic, he is very cute and handsome 😂
There’s a significant việt community in Czech Republic
ahoj😅
❤❤
There's is a pretty large Vietnamese community where I live in North Alabama. There's a lot of Vietnamese restaurants and I had multiple roommates in college from Southern Vietnam who lived with their extended families nearby the college when the dorms were closed. I hadn't tried Vietnamese food before college, but now it's definitely one of my favorites. I would eat Pho every meal if I could.
And also Louisiana ???
Thats why there is a unique genre of cuisine called Viet-Louisiana formed by Vietnamese community in Louisiana
I'm obsessed with pho too lol
So you went to college and still don´t understand the food you need to eat? American education stereotype reinforced.
Wow, I dont hate them, but they dont give you “real” Pho 😂 coz they came from South Vietnam, but Pho is Northern traditional food.
Greetings Vietnam 🇻🇳 from your international friend Poland. 🇵🇱
I can't believe that it's been almost 10 years since this channel was running. Now it's all coming to an end.
Thanks Barby for the journey 🙏
For the "Best Friends" section, Laos is definitely considered to be Vietnam's best friend. Many Laotians move to Vietnam to study in various fields such as healthcare, and many Laotians can speak Vietnamese after just a year or two of living there. Laos was also subject to heavy bombing campaigns by the Americans because of their role in helping the North Vietnamese army in securing logistical support. I can't think of a country that Vietnam is closer to than Laos.
Strongly agree. In fact, I am a little surprise when Laos is not there in the friendzone, the two countries have been together for so long.
Maybe it wasn’t Included because Laos was Thailand’s best friend (or Thailand was Laos’ best friend. I forget) ?
Because Paul came to HCMC. If he come to Hanoi, the answer will be different.
Vienam loves Laos so much that Vietnam gave Laos a water port at Ha Tinh province for free
I also think Laos should be included. In comparison with Cambodia, the relationship between Vietnam and Laos is far closer. The political system in Laos resembles Vietnam, and in Laos there is not a strong anti-Vietnamese sentiment in certain sections of Cambodian society (based on what I have read).
In Moscow there is a shopping mall and hotel called Hanoi-Moscow that i used to go often for Vietnamese food and froots. Vietnamese food is very popular in Russia. And one of my core memories is Vietnamese balm called Golden star, it was very popular then.
Totally agree with you. My grandma who lives in St.Petersburg, Russia, still has "Golden star" medicine from Vietnam. We also have many Vietnamese restaurants with tasty pho bo and pho go and spring rolls in St.Petersburg.
Ukraine interestingly has a somehow stable relationship with Vietnam. One Vietnamese businessman became literally the richest man in the entire Vietnam when he brought to Ukraine quick noodles packets (highly popular in Asia, but at that time it was a "mind-blowing" technology" in eastern Europe) and named it "Mivina" (translated from Vietnamese as "Vietnamese noodles"). for this day few generations grew up in Ukraine calling every single type of quick noodles package as "mivina". also a lot of Vietnamese clothes factories sell their products here. and it is considered as some good quality products. hell, we even have an entire type of slippers called "vietnamki" because Vietnamese "shuttle traders" brought them here.
agree, not only we in Ukraine call any brand of quick noodles "mivina", it became like a modern cultural pillar, theres not a single ukrainian that doesnt know about mivina. Vietnamese food is also delicious albeit not as popular here sadly
As a Vietnamese , i have waited since the Cambodia episode, i love Geography now and i am so happy the Vietnam episode is finally here.
The wait is well worth it
Side note: not mentioning football in the sport section of vietnam is very bruh
Side note 2: If i have to say what country would be vietnam "bestfriend" politically, Laos and Cuba are up there. Laos is seen kinda like the little brother of Vietnam, alot of Laotian go to Vietnam for study and many integrated themselves into Vietnamese society. Cuba have been Vietnam closest allies since the cold war, both are communist, both share suffering from foreign attempt military intervention (US) and trade embargo (US). Vietnam is slowly getting better of than Cuba due to opening up trade, Vietnam now send aids to Cuba and many Vietnamese study medicine in Cuba due to Cuba having a advance medical industry (relatively to us). Cuba was probably one the biggest supporter and aid Vietnam alot during all 3 Indochina (against the french, the american and the chinese), now that they need our help, we willing to lend a hand to pay back the decades of support they gave to us.
Love Vietnam 🇻🇳from Saudi Arabia🇸🇦❤
Likewise by In America. 🇺🇲
❤❤❤❤❤ fr VN To Bro!!!!!
Love you habibi ❤❤
12:30 Liechtenstein is sorta shaped like Vietnam after a few too many bowls of pho.
Love this comment 😂
@@GeographyNow bro loved it so much he forgot to heart it
Great video! Some things that are technically correct but are rather from a Westerner/tourist viewpoint:
- The overemphasis on Champa kingdom
- The overemphasis on “Vietnam trilogy”
- Mentioning badminton but not football
- The “no restrction” on building’s height
- Water puppetry (traditional yess, but VERY touristy)
As a Vietnamese American I am happy you made this video and you did a good job Mashallah. Shukran for educating the people.
Fellow Vietnamese American, we should kiss
Love from the United States of America to Vietnam! 🇺🇸❤️🇻🇳
🇺🇲❤️🇻🇳.
🇻🇳❤️🇺🇸
Blood is thicker than water! 🇺🇲♥️🇻🇳
Some Folk are Born made to wave the flag
I read that Vietnam is the most pro American country🇻🇳 ❤️🇺🇸.
In the sports segment, you forgot 'football', or 'soccer', it is a big deal in Vietnam too :v like we can suffer traffic jams because people go out with thousands of thousands of motorbikes to celebrate a Vietnamese football national team's big win
Sadly, they lost against my country indonesia 😂
There's also a TH-cam video discussing about the Vietnamese football team's history. The guy who made it also made the video about the issues facing the US football team and it's coach Greg Berhalter.
Shout out to Maqwell
@@zuni46 Indonesian national football team now is better than any squad in their history 😅 outstanding players from Europe's top tiers and good tactic from coach Shin 👍 it's good that your country's national football team became much better so far, and I can't wait to see how they can be better, especially with Southeast Asia standard 👏
@@eeaqsas1321 let people have fun
In the "Celebrity" part you forgot include Diane Nugyen who wrote famous actor bojack horseman's memoir
Haha very funny 😅
Nguyen is the most popular family name in Vietnam
She was born in America and lived there since she was a kid. Why include her xd?
@@eeaqsas1321 yeah but she is of Vietnamese decsent
@@Marlin123 so? Why u proud of a Vietnamese born in other country lol? If she was born in Vietnam, she will probably working in some office with 300 dollae / month salary🤣
I've been waiting 5 years for this!! I've been living in Vietnam for the past 5 months, but my husband and I were here 5 years ago too and discovered your channel. Keep up the amazing work, Barbs! I'm so glad you enjoyed one of my favorite countries (and had amazing coffee)! :)
I LOVE VIENTNAM🇻🇳❤ GREETINGS FROM ARGENTINA, SOUTH AMERICA🇦🇷⚽️🌎🥰
Tôi yêu các bạn Việt Nam
-A fellow ASEAN member 🇮🇩❤️🇻🇳
"anh" uses for older male; "em" for younger person (genderless) and your wife (no matter her age, culturally, you can call her "em"). So, it's kinda rude when you refer to urself "anh" and the other "em" while you don't know whether he/she is younger or older than you. To be more polite, you should use "tôi" for urself and "bạn" for the other, "các bạn" if there are more than one person. "Tôi yêu các bạn Việt Nam" would go better 👍
@@michaelduong5267 I edited my comment. Thanks for the correction
Suprise Laos is not mentioned in friendzone. Two country is quite close in relation
Laos is more friendly toward China these days.
@@SimonMoreal sadly yes. But that's because Laos fall for China's debt trap. We Vietnamese still see Laos as a brother
@@SimonMoreal laos is friends with both
It's 21h45 in VN, I just back from work and now enjoy your video. Thank you for advertise my country to the world.
A historical note about post-1975 Vietnamese refugees: the country which welcomed the largest proportion of refugees (as percentage of its own population) was Australia.
That's nice. Of course Australian soldiers were fighting alongside the US soldiers.
@@deanzaZZR The Aussies were very good soldiers, too.
@@KonradAdenauerJr true they suffered the least casualties compared to any other participants but have something to cry about every year. Great trade.
Hey Barb, I'm not sure if you know this, but I love traveling, and I've visited 34 countries (not a lot, I know). Before going to any country, I watch your videos about that country to understand the culture more. And you won't believe this, for the last 5 countries I've traveled to in the last 6 months, every single time I stumbled upon my hostel roommates watching your videos. It has become my own way to start conversations now
Hate being that guy that just knows Vietnam from TV, but when Top Gear went here for there special, was one of their best places they've went and made me love Vietnam even more than i do now.
I’ve been subscribed since August 2016 and the one country episode I was waiting for the most is the Vietnam episode and it’s finally here!!!!🇻🇳🇻🇳🇻🇳🇻🇳
For real. For years. 🇻🇳
same
Yay finally viet nam. I love viet nam and i am so excited. My south east asian country collection is finally completed. The wait is over. Funally. Thank you!! This vhannel came so far.💕💖😭
Love from the Philippines, your neighbour from across the sea!
although i’m a foreigner, i’ve lived in Vietnam practically my entire life and it’s such a beautiful place. although sad you didn’t mention Nha Trang, Mui ne, etc.
Love Vietnam from Philippines 🇻🇳 ❤ 🇵🇭
Love Philippines, from Vietnam. I would love to visit your country.
Love Pinoy, fan boy dota2 comment 😂
@@trungknPlease STOP
@@trungknwhat
@@trungkndota 2 still rampant here lmao (but not that popular anymore)
“If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it. This is the most basic kind of peace work.”
― Thich Nhat Hanh,
OMG, MY MOM LOVES TO LISTEN TO HIS PHILOSOPHIES😍😍😍😍, NOW HE'S DEADDDD😭😭😭
Ahh man. I'm so proud of how much effort and time you've come. You only has yemen, Zambia and zimbabwe. You truely a geography legand. You have done over 200 episodes and the fact it's been 10 years since you've done the Afghanistan episode. Your amazing.
Very good video, here’s a few little historical corrections:
1) Lê Duẩn, despite being a hardliner, gave the go ahead for the đôi mỗi reforms shortly before his death, so like in China where Mao repaired relations with the US, both dictators paved the way for reforms before their successors.
2) Ho Chi Minh died during the war in 1969, so he had no say in how a reunified Vietnam came about. He was, of course, all about unity, and serves as unifying figure for the country, but he was most definitely a communist as well, not only a nationalist.
3) The friend zone part was done well, but Cambodia is probably the wrong choice - there is a lot of bad blood due to ethnic massacres of Vietnamese and Vietnam’s occupation. Probably the ‘correct’ answer is actually Laos.
In college I lived on garbage food and pre-packaged crap I bought from the gas station, but there was a nearby Vietnamese restaurant that I'm pretty sure kept me alive nutritionally and repaired my damaged tastebuds.
Pho and Banh mi are life.
As we get closer and closer to the end of this series, the episodes get more interesting. Love this episode
Been Watching since the Albanian episode when I was a pre teen
Sad it’s ending :(
Yep :(
Forget to mention Vietnam's fellow ASEAN countries in the friend zone.
@@eeaqsas1321it’s…
Not worth it
I get there is corruption in the central government
But the issues is that
THIS IS AN INTERNATIONAL CHANNEL
WE CANNOT TALK ABOUT THE NEGATIVITY that haven’t show.
I’m not here to support to government
It’s just how to like, show others foreigners to something something idk
But better watch your back.
Bộ An Ninh Mạng always watching…
Corruption and censorship exist everywhere, so that is a moot point to talk about. Dictatorship? Sure thing, I guess.@@eeaqsas1321
@@eeaqsas1321 cope 😭🤣
Consider it a blessing that there is no negativity part being talk about here.
Because oh boy, VIETNAM HAS A LOT TO TALK ABOUT!
@@eeaqsas1321 proof? link?
Hey, Barbs! Zimbabwean here living in South Africa. Give a shout when you want some info, will be glad to help.
The majority of my neighborhood is Vietnamese, most of which immigrated from South Vietnam after the war was lost. Thanks to them I have learned so much about the country and its culture.
13:19 the Son Doong cave is on my bucket list. I watched some TH-camrs go there it takes three days to do the trip and it's amazing.
đây là hang động lớn nhất thế giới..kỳ vĩ..hoang sơ..một địa điểm mà bao người mơ ước được khám phá..
It always fascinated me how similar the Flags of Vietnam 🇻🇳 and Somalia 🇸🇴 look.
Much love from Somalia ❤
As a Somali-American, much love to Vietnam as well! 🇺🇸🇸🇴❤️🇻🇳
Much love fro vietnam 🇻🇳 to somalia 🇸🇴 as well ❤
YOUR BIGGEST VIETNAMESE🇻🇳 FAN RIGHT HERE!! I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS EPISODE FOR YEARS!!!🎉🎉🎉🎉
NO IM THE BIGGEST VIETNAMESE FAN🗣️🗣️🗣️🔥🔥🔥🔥
Yesssss finally my country!!!!! Love this video from Vietnam!🇻🇳💖
14:52 actually, hủ tiếu nam vang, despite its Vietnamese-sounding name, isn’t technically Vietnamese originally. In fact, it is even in the name. Nam Vang is actually the Vietnamese name for Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The dish, therefore, translates to “Phnom Penh rice noodle soup”. This is because the noodle soup dish created by the Teochew Chinese who migrated to Cambodia. With that being said, by the time the Vietnamese got a taste, it was so good that it became widely popular in Vietnam.
Fun fact Vietnam shares with Crotia. The country's geographical center is located in another country (at least if you limit yourself to the mainland).
Shares border? How can Vietnam share a border with Crotia? Btw what country is Crotia? Is it Croatia?
Grew up right near little saigon, so vietnam has a very special place in my heart 🇺🇲❤🇻🇳
Thank you for making the image of my country become better in friend's view, love the efforts keep it!
Vietnamese is an Austroasiatic language, not an Austronesian one. Sounds very similar but very different! :)
Water Buffalo or Carabao is Philippines National Animal..
I love Vietnam!..🇻🇳
From Philippines..Mabuhay!.🇵🇭
We call it Kerbau in indonesian :)
I love how you highlight Vietnam's Hoang Sa and Truong Sa islands. Respect ❤
Reminder, when you make the Flag dissection, PLEASE include the “BLOOD OF THOSE WHO FIGHT FOR FREEDOM” animation, we need it back!
Need it back?
Cry more😂
HEY Orion
My parents are from Vietnam and I always wanted to learn more about the country that they're from. Been waiting for this episode for so long. Thank you Barbs!!
I have been waiting for this episode for many many years!
I started watching Geography Now since the St KITTS AND NEVIS episode in 2019 because my dad showed it to me. That was 5 years ago. Now there’s only 3 episodes left. Great job ❤
Vietnam is a wonderful country with great people 🇷🇺❤🇻🇳
33:02 as a Vietnamese, I would say Vietnam's best friend is Lao, not Cambodia, Vietnam-Cambodia relationship is like that of Vietnam-China but reverse, but Cambodia is the one hating Vietnam for various reasons, but Vietnam doesn't really care much about Cambodia. In general, the two kinda hate each other, but it's not a love-hate relationship. Vietnam certainly has extended influence on cambodian government though, so it might be where the misunderstanding came from. Lao on the other hand, helped Vietnam a lot during the Vietnam war, evidenced with the Ho Chi Minh trail and they even got bombed heavily on behalf of us, and the people of both countries got on well with each other, with none of the conflicts that Cambodia might have with Vietnam.
How Vietnamese view China is the same way Cambodian view Vietnam. No hate here tho. But is more about hating the government than the people. I hate the Cambodian government. Im Cambodian from the state.
I was very surprised not to see Laos there honestly.
Question tho: what about Russia? I have been living in Moscow for years and many Vietnamese work and study there.
@@danielalejandroarizarodrig1540 I'd say before the current war, Russia was universally loved. But now the population is more split, some support Ukraine some support Russia.
@@danielalejandroarizarodrig1540 about russia, not much going on in vietnamese's minds except the fact that they helped us during vietnam war (though it was actualy the soviet). Political wise, we have some trades here and there but we try to not involve much and keep our view neutral.
I would say the culture difference between Vietnam and China is much smaller. There aren't a lot of culture similarities between Cambodia and Vietnam TBH. Meanwhile the Vietnamese and the Chinese, especially the southern Chinese, they are probably 95% the same minus the language and political differences.
Love Vietnam from Malaysia 🇻🇳❤️🇲🇾
Cool
🇻🇳🇻🇳🇻🇳🇻🇳🇻🇳🇻🇳
thanks. love Malaysia from Vietnam
I’m a Vietnamese dating a Malaysian, so I guess I love you too😂
@@quangminh9873I love vietnam 🇻🇳💕 of America continent 🌎😊
10:27 the death of Lê Duẩn does not lead to the Đổi mới reform, he is the one that started the Đổi Mới reform during the 5th national assembly (1982) when he famously critique the Soviet economy model and kick start the reform
Without Lê Duẩn there would be no reform, nobody got the gut to tell the Soviet theyre wrong at that time, his successor Nguyễn Văn Linh only continue where he left off
Lê Duẩn speech at the very openning of the national assembly where Nguyễn Văn Linh was elected to replace him which was the 6th assembly in 1986 where he reaffirmed the commitment to reform that he made in 1982, he only died a month after that
Lê Duẩn image of "evil communist dictator that held back developement" is just revisionist thing that is spread mainly by Chinese descended people because he cracked down on them during the Sino-Vietnamese war
Shout out to my brother/sister for spitting fact about Lê Duẩn here
Lê Duẩn was an iron fist leader. And also, was a wise one.
Visited Vietnam last year and what surprised me the most is how the country has developed within almost 30 to 40 years of an intense civil war. The roads were great, the trains were good (we took the overnight train from Hanoi to Da Nang), the food was fantastic and the people were very friendly. Coming from India, the chaotic nature of the street didn't really overwhelm me as we are used to our cities. I loved Hanoi more than Ho Chi Min and found Hoi Ann to be a tourist trap. It would have been better if we stayed in one of the many beachside hotels in Danang!
But the best part of my trip was the cruise in Ha Long Bay. The bay is really beautiful and at night it does look spectacular. If I have to go back, I will go back to Hanoi, the more northern parts and Danang. And I will take the train again because that view of the sea and cliffs as the train winded down the tunnels and hills is something to remember for a lifetime.
People say Vietnam is a cheap destination, but as Indians we found it to be moderately priced. The fruits especially the dragon fruit, and other specific SE Asian fruits were cheap, otherwise at the same price as India. The Ban than market in Ho Chi Min wasn't cheap either, but yes the quality of clothes at that price point is better than those in India. Street food was cheap, I especially loved Bun Cha, but sometimes the herbs can be too much!! Vegetarians and Vegans will have a hard time here because almost every dish has fish sauce in it.
I'd say we have a lot of options for vegetarians, since the major religion here is buddhism. You can find a lot of those eateries with the word "chay" usually written big on the sign, and they have a lot of options, ranging from various toppings for rice, noodles, to even hotpots. And there are also vegetarian version of the non vegetarian dishes too like com tam, pho, bun bo hue, etc. And if you're still having trouble finding an eatery, try to find a pagoda. 90% chance there'll be a vegetarian place near it.
It have not "civil war" and but it is against the invasion of American imperialism and its puppets
I was waiting for this episode since 2018. It finally came out !
It has finally appeared, go VIETNAM
Now, next is Yemen 🇾🇪💜
My friend and I went to Vietnam last year and did the Hang Son Doong expedition! Absolutely incredible!
"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING VIETNAAAAAAAAM!!!!!"
*electric guitar*
As a Vietnamese, thank you I hope you have a GOOD MORNING USA! I gotta feeling that today is gonna be a wonderful day,
Rest In Peace Rob Williams
Now, as a proud Vietnamese student, I'll try my best to sum up our history while not disappoint my teacher:
Basically, as you said it, the Bách Việt people lived around the Red river Delta area and eventually found the Văn Lang (with the Hùng Kings as leader) and then Âu Lạc
Then we were invaded by the Chinese (or not?), started a whole 1000 years era of Chinese ruling. As you mentioned, there were many revolution started off by the Trưng Sisters, most of them were successful, left the country independent for a couple years before the Chinese sent another bigger army to take us back and we sadly lost
Some times later, the Chinese became more chaotic and somehow one of our man - Khúc Thừa Dụ became the leader of our land and we were independent. Then the Nam Hán brought some guy to fight us but got beaten badly by our great Ngô Quyền, finally brought our country to a fully independence
After that, Ngô Quyền started the Ngô Dynasty, then the country got divided and united back by Đinh Bộ Lĩnh, started the Đinh Dynasty. Then the Tiền Lê Dynasty, when we fought the Song Dynasty for the first time. Then the Lý Dynasty, when we fought the Song Dynasty again. Then the Trần Dynasty, when the famous war between us and the Mongol took place. Then the Hồ Dynasty, the Ming invaded us but the Hồ couldn't fight off so we were under Chinese ruling again. Later Lê Lợi came up and beat the Ming out of the country, found the Hậu Lê Dynasty.
Next, by some reasons I can't remember, the Mạc rise up, then the Trịnh and eventually our country was divided North and South just like in the Vietnam war (just not at the 17 line though). That whole time was very confusing with the Nguyễn in the South and the Trịnh - Lê in the North. In this time and even earlier, we had expanded to the South, which was called Nam Tiến as you've seen, with this time we reached the deep south and found old Sài Gòn (Gia Định). Later, the Tây Sơn brother got up and beat the Nguyễn in the South, then the Trịnh in the North and united the country once again, Nguyễn Nhạc was the first king after that, then Nguyễn Huệ - the very famous guy who beat the hell out of the Qing in 1789
But just a few years after that, Quang Trung died and Nguyễn Ánh stole the crown, became the next king and found the Nguyễn Dynasty, probably the most controversial dynasty in Vietnam's history (this is when Minh Mạng was ruling too). Later the French came in, took us because the Nguyễn Kings are too useless even though the people fought back the French real hard. Well, eventually we became a colony and from there start the colonial ages, there were still fighting but not significant. At this time is when HCM started his journey around the world and found out about Communism, tell that to the people when he went back to Vietnam and start doing revolutionary activities. Then WWII broke out, the Japanese kicked out the French then got kicked out themselves by losing WWII, HCM and his crew take the chance and help our country gain independence. The French then try to took the country back but lost in the Điện Biên Phủ battle. They sign a treaty and now the north was completely independent, but the South was still under French, and then American control. Next is history, the Vietnam War, ended with the fall of Sài Gòn, as we finally united our countries after years.
We were independent yay, but we still have no economy for another 10 years until Đổi Mới. In that time we once fight with the Khmer Rouge and Chinese for various reasons though. Eventually our country then developed super fast and become the country of Vietnam you known today!
Hopefully I've covered most of the history, sorry if my English was bad:)
10:37 About the close-door policy before 1986, or we usually call "Thời bao cấp".
I once asked my grandfather, who used to serve in the North Vietnam Army (NVA), about his thought on the decision keeping the close-door policy until 1986 by Lê Duẩn. He said, at that time, Vietnamese people had to fight:
- Cambodian-Vietnamese War (or the Red Khmer led by Pol Pot) from 1975 until 1989. Red Khmer was backed up by the Chinese government, which eventually led to the next war with China.
- Vietnamese-Chinese border war (1979), fight against the Chinese (was backed up by the American) in the North border with China. Although officially the war ended in March 1979, the Chinese still messed around the Vietnamese border with the ambition of taking down Vietnamese government in later years, which forced Vietnam focusing huge amount of military force in the North border, always in ready state for the next invasion from China
Having to manage the resources for these two wars, plus the suspicion for the Western country (mainly the American and their allies), Vietnamese government had to play safe with the close-door policy, only traded with the communist allies except China. From the history point of view, maybe some people might argue that Vietnamese government should had use the open-door policy sooner by a few years but that decision would be too risky to decide, rather late than sorry.
If God don't play dice, so does the leaders at the top level of Vietnamese government.
Còn 1 cuộc chiến ngầm nữa đó là nội ứng VNCH luôn lăm le tổ chức chống phá. Toàn bộ lính VNCH chỉ có 1 người bị xử vì quá ác. Còn lại đều được sống và cho cơ hội phục vụ quê hương ở chiến trường miền tây. May là tai mắt dân khắp nơi nên phá nhiều nguy cơ hiểm.
Supposing you're right that close door policy was applied due to suspicion of the west but was it necessary to forbid citizens operating their private businesses? Why don't you say anything about nationalization of private companies in the south after April 30, 1975 or policy of "đánh tư sản"?
@@thumtlnguyen3626 I think the prohibition of privatized businesses was in line with the process of unification back then, especially under the socialist political regime. In some sense, the government at the time couldn't really afford to manage a rapid multisectoral economy throughout the country, due to war aftermath, not to mention the radical political remnants of the Republic of Vietnam - so they stuck to they way they're used to in order to "maintain power". Then, practical changes had been made to the economy since 1986 (only roughly 10 years after independence) including the establishment of a market economy with one of the components being the private sector (now playing a crucial role in the country). They actually saw how awfully stagnant the country's economy had become which, combined with internal and external conflicts, led to the decision for a reform.
It's funny that this video mentioned Le Duan and claimed that he was one to impede the advent of new economic reforms, when he was actually one of the earliest strong advocates for changes, and even raised proposal back in 1975 to introduce concepts of multisectoral market economy and not to forcefully exert the Northern regime to the Southern sectors.
@@thumtlnguyen3626 Đây là việc bắt buộc phải làm lúc đó, vì thắng trận nên càng phải làm
I find one crucial thing the video forgot to mention about religion is the "Ancestor worshipping faith" of Vietnameses, which I have never seen any family here that doesn't practice. Like its name, each Vietnamese family or the family of the elder son of the lineage has pictures of deceased grand parents or great grandparents on altar in their house to worship. Nonetheless this is an amazing video that covered many charms of Vietnam, I really can feel the effort and sincerity in it.
You are right. It is our religion. But we have even raised it to worshiping Humanity, placing it in the center, surrounding by our ancestors. It is called Lễ Gia Tiên (But regrettably, almost forgotten today. Also, we worship any great person, Vietnamese or foreigner. And finally, we worship mother goddess.
I have been waiting for this since I first found your channel. This is so cool!
As a Vietnamese i say: damn! His decipering is mindblowed accurate. :))))
Cool. 🇻🇳 Vietnamese person commenting.
There is also a huge cafe culture around Vietnam. And many young Vietnamese locals often like to approach English speakers in parks to practice English.
Love the Costa Rican hat, pura vida. 🇨🇷💕
Amazing episode as always, cannot believe I can finally watch it, waited for so long, sad we are almost over tho.
Thanks for making this video, I have been waiting this episode for many years now :)
"đồng bào" is the word from the story of the origin of Vietnamese people named "Con Rồng Cháu Tiên". It means all Vietnamese people are have one mother Âu Cơ and one father Lạc Long Quân. To know more you shoud read this story.
We’re really in the end game now
For real. In this series of countries. A-Z
Yay! I was waiting for the Vietnam episode. 🇻🇳
Thank you for your video that details Vietnamese history, we have always had wars for thousands of years but we still survived.
And now in peace, our country is increasingly developing, we try to change our lifes for the better than in the past.
Nowadays, Vietnam is changing more and more beautifully, the people are always smiling, considerate, and willing to welcome you
Please come visit Vietnam. You will have many unforgettable memories when traveling here ❤.
Hannah is glowing!!! She looks so great! Awesome video! I cant believe the series is ending soon
I have been waiting for this for so long!!!! Thank you! Excellent Content
Their tourism slogan, "Vietnam, Timeless Charm" definitely represents the country very well
@@eeaqsas1321 isn't that everywhere?
@@eeaqsas1321 Stop spreading lies, LOL. You're definitely living in California
@@eeaqsas1321 Only you live like animal
@@namtrungnguyen4947 is there any country when prime minister is corrupted, his punishment is only forced to be resigned? Search “vo van thuong resignation” on google dude.
@@eeaqsas1321 Có thêm đảng khát nước :)) 50 năm vẫn khát
I’ve been waiting for this episode for years.
I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the beautiful country of Vietnam. Excellent episode Barbs and Co. you all did a wonderful job.
The statement that Vietnam is 'the only Southeast Asian country that didn't have any original indigenous writing system' is incorrect for several reasons as other commenters have pointed out, but we shouldn't really be trying to think in terms of modern political borders in the first place when discussing the rich tapestry of cultures, languages, and writing systems that is Southeast Asia.
Throughout the region, writing was adopted from India (mostly but not exclusively from South Indian models) and developed several different traditions which influenced each other. Some of the earliest inscriptions we know of are found in the modern borders of Vietnam and Malaysia, two places that one might think of naively as lacking an indigenous writing tradition. But they were in pure Sanskrit (a classical language from India), in writing that is pretty much identical to their Indian models.
Over time, these developed into several different traditions throughout Southeast Asia, often influencing one another. These are gradual changes, so it is difficult to say when something stops being an Indian script and starts being an indigenous one, though an important milestone is when it starts being used to record local languages, not just Indian languages like Sanskrit and Pali. The Đông Yên Châu inscription from central Vietnam dates from the 4th century and is the earliest example known to write a local language, not Sanskrit. But this was in Old Cham, an Austronesian language which is unrelated to Vietnamese.
If you look at the history of writing in Southeast Asia, several of the important early writing systems were for languages that don't have the status of national languages today. Another great example is the Old Mon script, from which the Burmese script is thought to have derived. The earliest examples are found in Thailand, but the Mon language isn't related to Burmese or Thai - it's Austroasiatic like Khmer and Vietnamese. At the moment I'm working a video on another descendant of the Old Mon script, the Tai Tham script which is used for several minority languages in Thailand, Myanmar, and China - there is a tiny minority in Vietnam (the Lự people) who uses this as well.
I'm both super hyped and absolutely dreading the Zimbabwe episode
Another great video. Definitely having some Pho tonight!
Enjoy! :D
been waiting for this all week long❤
As a Brazilian, to see a country that have great forests, lots of fruits and coffee, I see it as kinship.
24:15 true, badminton is a popular sport in Vietnam, but the tournament mentioned here isn't really too prestigious as tournaments in the same region, like the Malaysia Open or the Indonesia Open which are much higher-rated than the Vietnam Open, tbh
just went to vietnam....awesome country and people......they grew in there own cultural way...
Thank you for your appreciation 😊
@@MaiNguyenNgocHan-tg6od cảm ơn😊
Thank you. Not many people can see our cultural aspect. We have 5000 years history and great culture. Please look at the Ngọc Lũ Bronze Drum alone, you'll appreciate how civilized such a culture was 2000-3000 years ago.
0:22 aside from Vietnamese, this method might also work on Laos, Khmer & Thais, and maybe Cantonese too
one reason why we VNmese make fun of Laos & Thais languages is because they sounds vaguely like Vietnamese, yet these the same sound doesnt carry the same meaning in Vietnamese
Vietnam languages and cantonese have diffirent grammar struture 😂😂(vietnam languages have similar grammar with thai,laos,khmer languages)😂😂😂
@@ucchau173 i didnt talk about grammar though
i talked about the phonetics & pronunciation of words between VNmese & these languages
honestly it sounded like thai to me but its because im vietnamese. foreigners probably wont make the same distinction due to stereotypes
@@khangaroo8166 thai is polysylabic languages , vietnam languages is monosylabic languages(very rare in the worlds)😂
@@ucchau173 Im aware, but it just sounded like Thai to me. The dude in the video still had his consonants flow together a bit, Vietnamese is a bit choppier. And no language is truly monosyllabic, Burmese and Vietnamese are very close but not quite. There are words that require more than one syllable to say.
I have been waiting for this
Awesome, great job on Vietnam.
Surprised you didn't mention Vietnam's relationship to other SE countries like Laos, Thailand and The Philippines.
I hope to visit Vietnam someday.
Good job Barbs!
Vietnam moved south. The rural area around Guangdong and Beihai looks like Vietnam: same way of building houses, same looking people. I think that people of South China are closer to Vietnam than to Beijing. But not going so much inland, because Hmong people live there and they are not related to China or Vietnam.