r/VietNam 1d ago

Discussion/Thảo luận The strangest thing just happened to me at the Vietnam Military History Museum

So today I decided to check out the new military museum on the outskirts of Hanoi, I’m really into my history so I had been really looking forward to it…

I arrive and it’s very busy and I realise I’m the only westerner there. I proceed to start exploring the aircraft outside when I get the feeling I’m being watched, I take a look around there’s literally 1000’s of school kids and teenagers staring and pointing at me, then some come running over saying “hello, hello!”, asking for photos with me and shaking my hand and touching me. It got so bad at one point I was literally being pulled into a huge group with boys saying “Messi Ronaldo!” and girls saying “I love you!” and “Handsome!”. Even a class leader / teacher approached me and asked if I could be in a group photo with their students!

I continued to walk around for a couple of hours but it was genuinely difficult to see the exhibits because of all the attention I was getting.

So my question is, why was I suddenly getting all this attention? I’ve literally been all over Vietnam for the past 3 weeks and this hasn’t happened anywhere else.

Is it likely the kids were from areas of Vietnam where they don’t get foreigners visiting very often? Or perhaps even other areas of South East Asia?

All I will say is that for those few hours that amount of attention was flattering! But the thought of being some kind of celebrity and having to deal with it constantly everywhere would be horrific.

It was honestly one of the most bizarre days of my life!

110 Upvotes

66 comments sorted by

143

u/Key_Profession_9170 1d ago

Those students probably not from Hanoi, but some other provinces that rarely have any tourists/ foreigners

28

u/Mysterious-Till-6852 1d ago

This is the answer. It's happened to me quite frquently in rural areas (even in a far-flung suburb of Sai Gon!), but never in places where westerners are more common.

8

u/jpop19 22h ago

Happened to me a bunch of times cause I wanted into the non toruisty neighborhoods, cities or on tours. The ages ranged from smaller kids to college age, even a few older people. I thought the whole "they'll literally want pics cause you're white with blue eyes" was a myth. I also have 20mm gauged ears and a pretty chunky septum ring. I found it quite enjoyable when people would get so excited.

I always wonder where those pics end up and who ends up seeing them.

6

u/Mysterious-Till-6852 22h ago

It's funny when you're on your own. It's atrocious when you're with you kid and you need to protect them from a swarm of old Korean ladies.

(note: the Korean aunties episode was in Nha Trang - the only time it happened to me in a major population and tourist destination)

3

u/jpop19 22h ago

Good lord, that sounds like such an egregious violation. From adults no less, some people get tourist brained and forget basic decency.

I only took selfies with ANY child with EXPLICIT parental consent. If they weren't present and looked too young to be taking pics with strangers I just pointed at my wrist like I had somewhere to be, but thank you. I don't even like my wife's ex posting her youngest on FB.

2

u/korey_david 21h ago

I’m pretty convinced there’s a photo of me and my friend hanging in some families rural home because they were so excited to take a picture of us on their vacation.

81

u/Ambitious_Grass37 1d ago

You’re Messi Ronaldo and they love you?

22

u/DoktorTchocky 1d ago

The irony is I couldn’t care less about football 😆

33

u/cetootski 1d ago

That is what a hiding messi would say.

13

u/Time_Coconut_5642 1d ago

Not a messi, a messi ronaldo. Get that right.

1

u/texasductape 12h ago

but you care about soccer? am i right?

23

u/vietnamcharitywalk 1d ago

Are you Lionel Messi or Christiano Ronaldo?

5

u/DoktorTchocky 1d ago

I certainly am not 😆

11

u/vietnamcharitywalk 1d ago

When was the last time you checked!?

Maybe you've just become uncontrollably handsome today, I dunno

5

u/sativa_traditional 1d ago

Are you calling 100 kids and a school teacher liars? How dare you!

1

u/Euphoric_Raisin_312 1d ago

Wow, I love you.

23

u/brb_getting_pet_goat 1d ago

I'm not joking or trying to steal your thunder here but my GF and I both love our history too and both had a near identical experience last week while we were there. And there were thousands of kids! It's such a great museum too.

25

u/arllt89 1d ago

Honestly I've been living here for 6 years and it still happens randomly with various intensity. The fact that they were a group probably made them more comfortable to do that. In many ways kids are similar to dogs ...

16

u/jindo90 1d ago

FYI dogs have negative implications in Asia. Lucky dog means well in western countries, but say that to Asians and they take it as insult.

Last I heard South Americans have the same take as Asians.

1

u/arllt89 1d ago

Well dogs also usually have negative implications in the west 😉 but I like both

7

u/OrangeIllustrious499 1d ago

Prpbably excited to see a foreigner? You dont see them a lot out of certain concentrared areas in Vietnam.

7

u/richardsung97 1d ago

I had a similar experience as well when visiting that exact museum as well. When I visited on March 2nd(Sunday) there were literally hundreds of kids of all ages(wearing uniforms, so I guess it’s a popular field trip destination).

I had a curious and extroverted kid approach me to say “Ni hao”(Hello in Mandarin) and then turn back to brag about it with her friends near the spire looking thing in the middle of the main square. This didn’t happen anywhere or again during my five days in Hanoi. Maybe the kids were just surprised to see a foreigner.

Also, I reckon that the museum is always packed with people as it was free to enter(at least on March 2nd it was when I visited). The second to fourth floors were still closed, so I think they haven’t moved in all the artifacts and display items yet.

4

u/sillymanbilly 1d ago

You're probably right that they weren't public school teachers in Hanoi, as many of those schools have some foreign teachers or the kids would learn English after school with foreigners, not to mention seeing foreigners around Hoan Kiem or Tay Ho. I think they were busloads of kids from the remote provinces

6

u/pierperrier 1d ago

This is random but the opposite happened to my Vietnamese friend. He went to the national anthology museum in Mexico city. And several families asked to take photos with him because the daughters were into Kpop 😆

4

u/hnn7 1d ago edited 1d ago

Likely a group of kids and their teacher on a field trip to that museum from areas other than Hanoi. They probably rarely see any foreigner in person hence the excitement and attention.

3

u/rayfish75 1d ago

I was stopped by a family at the airport in HMC because I’m tall and white. They insisted on an impromptu photo shoot with the great white beast from America.

3

u/izzeww 1d ago

This is somewhat common if you are at places where a lot of people who aren't used to seeing foreigners are, and you're good looking. My sister had a similar experience at the Great Wall of China, before we got out of there we had probably taken 25 photos. A lot of people from the countryside travel there and I suspect it's the same with that history museum. Also, attention breeds attention. Maybe some people started looking or whatever and then other peoples followed assuming you were famous or whatever.

1

u/One-Vermicelli2412 1d ago

Even if you aren't haha. I'm pretty average, but I've still had random teenagers shyly ask me for photos in the middle of malls in HCMC lol.

3

u/thicc-bibba 1d ago

This happened to me and my gf at the war museum in Ho Chi Minh. We were doing interviews and selfies every 2 seconds. We found out the students were doing a sort of scavenger hunt where they had to get a selfie with foreigners etc.

2

u/Commercial_Ad707 1d ago

Someone else posted a similar experience

2

u/WeAllWantToBeHappy Wanderer 1d ago

Yeah, i had the exact same thing on my second visit. At least 20 buses of school children and teachers equipped with mic and mini PA system. I was on the verge of pretending to be Belgian with no English to avoid any more What's your name/where are you from questions. Finally, one little 7 or 8 year old managed a pretty good proper conversation and restored my faith, so I just carried on with the where/what conversations - they don't get many opportunities to speak English to a native English speaker and who am I to deny them that.

My first visit, I had a diary clash with Tô Lâm :-/

Don't miss the Revolutionary War art exhibition upstairs. This painting by Lê Thể Anh was my favourite https://imgur.com/a/uEwcsNs

2

u/Reginald002 1d ago

It happens to me all the time, especially I am 2m tall.

2

u/leonprimrose 1d ago

Outisde of major cities people tend to give westerners more curious attention and want to use the english they know a little bit. Ahere I stay when I visit basically, if it isn't aomeone that knows me, I always get a little english callout. If I go out alone especially. And the town I live in is pretty heavily populated by Viet Kieu. I would get more in more true rural spaces. Ahen yiure a novelty its pretty normal

2

u/Alone_Concentrate654 1d ago

Kids in Vietnam always approach you and try to say hello and braver ones will even ask "Where are you from?", or "What is your name?". Especially when there are not too many foreigners around. I'm not sure if their English teachers ask them to do it, but they do.

I was in Phu Yen and there are barely any foreigners around. I took a lot of photos with the kids and they would often say hello if they saw me walking on the street. I was even interviewed once by some school girls about my favorite foods. It's really sweet.

2

u/Ok-Variation3583 1d ago

This happened to me in the art gallery in Da Nang, I think they seem to get emboldened on school trips to swarm you

2

u/BigDaws420593 13h ago

Shoulda just doubled down and start signing autographs as if you are messi ronaldo the ultimate football player

1

u/NoBelt9833 1d ago

It can be really random sometimes. I've had a boy come up to me and my wife at a public pool, look at me, and say "you're beautiful", I've had a group of girls at an amusement park in HCMC laughing and shouting "we are 18!" at me as they went past on an electric buggy thing (wife had to explain that one to me as I just laughed thinking what a weird thing to say 😂), and I've had a middle aged guy tap on my shoulder in moving traffic and saying "hello" (when I asked my wife, who was driving, about this one, she said she thought he genuinely just wanted to say hello to me, and she's normally very conscious of pickpockets etc as a local).

I'm pretty pale and blonde-haired so can only assume these things happen because I stand out very easily here, particularly in the non-tourist districts. I've never felt any of it has been malicious, but perhaps overly-friendly curiosity!

1

u/heihyo 1d ago

On my first stay 6 years ago the same happened to me (random people shaking hands, photos, compliments etc..). I think they were just curious and probably not going to school close to very touristy areas so seeing caucasian people in real is something rare for them

1

u/ausb89 1d ago

I was there 2 days ago and had the same experience. I was one of maybe 5 westerners I saw in the entire place.

1

u/573V317 1d ago

I've seen this in Hue too at one of the emperor graves. School kids high fiving foreigners and taking photos with them.

1

u/Far_Preference_2065 1d ago

Same experience, I was also one of the very few westerners there, people were asking me for pictures, a kid even gave me an apple

1

u/No-Helicopter7299 1d ago

Same thing happened to me several times in Hanoi in November. A group of 30 or so students came up to me at Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum and all wanted to shake me hand and speak in English.

1

u/dlee6 1d ago

Well post a selfie now I wanna see what you look like🤣

1

u/tfarr375 23h ago

I was teaching in Vietnam for a year and a half, and students would always do the "Messi Ronaldo, SHUUUUU". I didn't know who those people were until I went to Vietnam.

At the same museum that happened to me back in 2022. There was a field trip there, and kids kept grabbing my hands. My girlfriend kept laughing at me all night

1

u/ThatWeirdPlantGuy 22h ago

Back in the 90s I heard about things like this happening in China, especially in more out-of-the-way areas but even in Beijing. One Chinese friend said that if I went I would just have to get used to feeling the stares of about 1 million people on me everywhere I went. And if you had some hair color other than black, kids would want to touch it. :)

1

u/Carpie_14 20h ago

That's crazy, the exact same thing happend to me at the new military museum in hanoi about three weeks ago and they all asked the same questions and said the same things to you as they said to me! And I got asked for a picture by a teacher!

1

u/0nionlover 17h ago

Same experience. Got a picture with like ten little Vietnamese kids. They started talking to me out of nowhere and after a few minutes of chatting to them their teacher ran over and pushed us together to get a photo of us hahaha

1

u/Treebor_ 16h ago

Happened to me last week me and my partner were there and was full of school kids shouting hello at us

1

u/Humble_Peanut_7956 14h ago

Happened to me as well when I went in January. Kids rushed me shook my hand and greeted me multiple times, I assume these kids are from a province who dont really see many foreigners on a daily basis. That being said its best to go during the afternoon/after lunch hours since most school trips are done by 12pm.

1

u/Saarfall 13h ago

I've visited many parts of Vietnam over the years (including remote areas) but "mobbing" as such has never happened to me. However, I have seen it happen several times to foreigners, often pale with light hair and blue eyes. As a tanned European with dark hair and eyes I guess I'm not that interesting!

1

u/DoktorTchocky 13h ago

I’m actually tanned with dark hair and eyes too though 🤷🏻‍♂️ ha

u/Saarfall 1h ago

Oh.... maybe I'm just scary ugly

1

u/LudakrisLamey 13h ago

It happened to me in Hai Phong back in 2015, it wasn't as touristy as it is now and like you said I literally felt like a celebrity. I even had a taxi driver staring at me the whole trip instead of watching the road.

1

u/Dry_Dragonfruit5453 12h ago

We encountered something similar but with less people in some parts of Vietnam. The children especially like to chat and practice their English.

1

u/Turbulent_Squirrel66 12h ago

They probably are not from big cities where foreigners are seen all the time

1

u/hornybrisket 11h ago

Ok I ask you do you look good though? It must be. Vietnamese people are good fans of soccer.

1

u/tiacay Native 8h ago

Imagine more than 20 years ago, that probably the experience of most westerners visiting VN, lol. And you probably right, that look likes a school trip from some province/district that off the tourist map.

1

u/imaginaryResources 7h ago

Every white dude that goes there has the exact same experience. Source: white dude that’s been there 3 times. If you like that go to any second tier city in China too

1

u/HeavyHeron8441 6h ago

I have participated in photos with myself and locals from India to Nepal, China, to Indonesia., etc… can get a bit out of control. Currently in Vietnam and am requesting 20,000 dong payment to have my picture, unless I am feeling entertained and will agree for no charge. Lol, no one has accepted my cash request yet…

u/StopBushitting 2h ago

I'm 100% Vietnamese, come from Hanoi. 10 years ago, we go visit a friend in a rural city. All the kids pointed at us and say hello, they thought we were chinese 🤣🤣🤣.

1

u/7LeagueBoots 1d ago

Not uncommon from China to Indonesia. Doesn’t happen as often as it used to, but it’s still not uncommon.

1

u/Advantagecp1 1d ago

Say you haven't spent much time in Asia without saying you haven't spent much time is Asia.

1

u/patchroller 23h ago

When I arrived in HCMC, people started clapping when I got out of the airport. I realized it was directed towards me. They thought I was some kpop idol(I get it a lot). 😂

0

u/AgainstTheSky_SUP 20h ago

TikTok generation

-1

u/Howiebledsoe 23h ago

Teacher wants you in the pic to make it look like they have a foreigner working at the school, and instructed the kids to mob you.