All’s Fair in Vietnam (Asean)

By Noah Klinger

“Dep, rat dep [beautiful, very beautiful]”.

That was an old Vietnamese lady, grasping my pale arm very firmly and refusing to let me go
until she was satisfied that there wasn’t a freckle or spot of pigmentation anywhere to be
found. For such a small, frail-looking woman she had a hell of a strong grip. I am not the first
person to notice that the Western preference for a glowing, golden tan is exactly reversed in
much of the East. In Vietnam, where I lived for a year, everyone – the women, anyway -
swooned over an ivory complexion and went to what seemed to me absurd lengths in pursuit
of one for themselves. By far the most important status symbol was a pearl-white, luminous
face - ‘a face like the moon’, as the saying goes. The source of this is mostly class-based.
What in the West signifies wealth and leisure time to hang out on the beach for hours in
Vietnam bespeaks a lifetime of toiling in rice paddies in the blazing sun.

When I first arrived in Vietnam I took a small room in the backpacker quarter with the aim of
becoming an English teacher. Once this was accomplished I realized that I needed some
more formal attire with which to maintain my respectability. So like a good tourist I trotted
over to Ben Thanh Market in search of some cheap clothes. I found a shop selling khakis
and asked the salesgirl how much they cost.

“Forget that” she said “Tell me; how much for your skin?”

I think I blushed. She wasn’t the only one to ask me that (and I could never quite be sure if
they were serious or not), but from then on I always told them “It’s not for sale”, which at the
time seemed like a tremendously witty thing to say. The truth is that I’ve always been rather
self-conscious about my mushroom-like pallor. I was always the one standing timidly in the
patch of shade while everyone else strode through the broad sunlight. I was the one who
endured the most horrific sunburns if I used sunblock that was weaker than SPF 50. The
final indignity was being chased around a beach in Cadiz by a group of kids yelling ‘Whitey!’.

In Vietnam, however, this curious genetic discrepancy became a source of admiration for the
locals. The effect was usually immediate; those who had a little English would simply
announce upon meeting me ‘Oh, you are very white!” Others did not bother to speak, simply
grabbing my arm and holding it up to their own for the sake of comparison. One woman
demanded to know what kind of special diet I was on to maintain such a complexion. In
elevators, people would gesture towards me and then indicate their own skin with a mournful
sigh of den (black) if their tan was a single shade darker than porcelain.
Sunscreen is expensive, so proper Vietnamese girls solve the problem of protecting
themselves from UV rays by wearing an assortment of coverings, including hats, gloves, and
face-masks that makes them look like motorbike-driving, cellphone-chatting ninjas. On the
sands of Vung Tau local tourists dressed more like they were going to the office than the
beach; among the thousands of people there I saw exactly one woman in a two-piece
bathing suit.

Instead of going tanning, Vietnamese girls go to spas for whitening, though exactly how this
was accomplished I never did find out. Instead of bronzing the various skin creams all
promised to make you look like you’d spent your life in a dungeon 100 feet underground.
Occasionally I would see women who had slathered themselves a bit too liberally with these
products and the result was always lamentable. They looked deathly ill more than anything
else.

It doesn’t take a genius to discover the moral in this, if there is one – namely that beauty is in
the eye of the beholder; that people always desire what is expensive and difficult to maintain,
and so on. I learned not to take it too seriously.

Of course, a little adoration never hurt anyone.

QUESTION 1

What is your opinion about the topic that has been discussed in this short story?

In my opinion, the topic that has been discussed in this short story is about the Vietnamese
girls that almost care about their skin and beauty.  It is rare to talk about culture especially
about skin tone. Vietnamese girls will spend her time and money to make sure they will
become beauty and got a whiting skin.

QUESTION 2

Do you think the writer enjoys having white complexion?

Yes, because the writer always takes a good care of his skin.  He always uses the sunblock
to protect his skin from sunburn.  He be blushed when people always praise about his skin. 
For me, I think the writer enjoy having white complexion. This is because he can feel
needed, wanted and also, people pay attention to him. Everyone wants to be different and,
in this case, the writer is different. It is undeniable that the skin of people in Asia is not as
white as the people in West and therefore when they see something like white complexion,
they adore it by having white complexion, the writer knows more people and learn about
Vietnam culture deeper.

QUESTION 3

What do you understand from the phrase ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’?

To me, beauty is subjective. One does not say that everything is beautiful. Different people,
different point of view. Everyone had their own ideas of different means for beauty. 
Beauty depends on who is doing looking. What one-person definition about beauty is will
always be different from someone else's definition. Basically, saying that one person might
think a person is beautiful but another may not beauty does not always lie in looks for some
people.

Essay

Based on the short story "All's Fair In Vietnam (Asean) by Noah Klinger" my opinion about the ladies
in Vietnam, there are 3 reason with evidence that I learnt from this short story.

Firstly, the reason is about the Vietnamese girls that almost care about their skin. It is very rare to
talk about culture especially about skin tone. Vietnamese girls will spend their time and money to
make sure they will become beauty and got a whiting skin. They willing to buy a lotion that isn’t
advertised as having some kind of skin-bleaching properties . As you can see, people in Vietnam are
obsessed with beauty. It can be found when the writer come to Vietnam, everyone looked to
“his/her face, there are some who asked his/her, how much for your skin”. That person asked that
question because his/her skin are really beautiful. This story also tells that even though the writer's
has very beautiful skin, but the writer never arrogant to other people. Actually, the reason why the
writer's want to live in Vietnam because he/she want to be an English teacher. But when he landed,
He realize that he didn't have suitable attire to become a teacher. So he went to Ben Thanh Market
to buy clothes and stuff. The evidence i get is everyone there always asked about his/her skin until
one of the promoter asked how much my skin cost. The writer's also a shy person then he/she
become blushed when the promoter girl asked him/her like that. So for me, the writer is actually
doesn't care too much about his/her skin. He/She actually has a natural beauty. And for me, people
in Vietnam should not act that way.

Secondly, the reason is about beauty. One does not say that everything is beautiful. Different
people, different view. This story is all about different perceptions and views. For example, you
might view that particular city or place as a beautiful place but others might not see it that way.
Beauty lies in the eye of different people and you cannot expect people to like what you like and to
label something beautiful like you do. That phrase shows us that most beautiful thing is subjective.
To some people, that thing might be ugly but to you, it is the most beautiful things ever. This short
story shows us that though we are from different country, different cultures and different skin color,
we will still be as one when it comes to things or matter that is unique or rare. In this case, the skin
of the writer. The writer mesmerized the people of Vietnam with his skin and they mesmerized the
writer with their adoration and admiration. The fact that different people find different sights as
pleasing or beautiful. Put another way, the beauty of same object or sight may be assessed
differently by different person. Thus a thing is beautiful not because of some intrinsic physical
feature it possesses but because of the likes and preferences of the person viewing the object. Thus
the beauty is something that exists in the mind of the person seeing it. The evidence is "Instead of
going tanning, Vietnamese girls go to spas for whitening, though exactly how this was accomplished I
never did find out. Instead of bronzing the various skin creams all promised to make you look like
you’d spent your life in a dungeon 100 feet underground."

Lastly, the reason is culture aesthetic. In Vietnam, they would toll in rice paddies in the blazing sun.
Vietnamese would very shock if they see people who are fairer than them. They are not ashamed to
ask how much it cost to be fair than they are now. As like the writer, he/she was very self-conscious
about the look. Back to the West, he/she are rather stay at the patch of shade rather than everyone
else who are enjoy their self at the beach. For me, why did you need to go the beach if you are
extremely conscious about your skin tone? In Vietnam, however, this curious genetic discrepancy
became a source of admiration for the locals. They are really amazed how fairest the West people
are. Sometimes, they would give a compliment to them. Funny part is they are grabbing the writer’s
hand and holding it up to their own sake of comparison. It is not surprised that a women are
demanding to know what kind of special diet the writer are having to maintain such a complexion.
The evidence from short stories, I found that it is not necessary for all women at there to solve the
problem of protecting themselves from UV rays by wearing an assortment of coverings, including
hats, gloves and face-masks that make them look like motorbike-driving or a cell phone-chatting
ninjas. This is because the cost of sunscreen is expensive. Actually, what are the points of using so
many products to look beautiful but actually the harder you try to change your look, you can look
like deathly ill person. For me, you need to accept what you really look like because the real beauty
comes from the inside. Once the insides are beauty, you will look naturally beauty physically. I would
not say it is wrong but we need a self confidence and a little adoration about our look.
As a conclusion, beauty doesn’t mean you have to use expensive products that are difficult to
maintain. You just need to know the right way and get advice from an expert. Hence, we have to be
grateful for what we have.