What are the homes of rich and poor Vietnamese

A couple of years ago, I lived for about a year in the north of Vietnam in the seaside city of Haiphong. This is a non-tourist city and a place where not only hordes of tourists, but even meeting a foreigner in this city is already a big event. Therefore, such "non-pop" locations are an excellent opportunity to immerse yourself in the environment as much as possible and understand from the inside what the life and life of the local population is like.

I had a lot of local acquaintances who every now and then invited to lunch or dinner at their place, especially on holidays and weekends. These were acquaintances, both ordinary workers and sellers in shops and small eateries, and status, wealthy business owners or employees of large firms.

Therefore, the houses and dwellings of my Vietnamese friends differed in the most fundamental way. This contrast is visible to the naked eye wherever you look. The poor inhabitants of small huts, whose roof has rotted and paint will peel off the walls, accept this with a Buddhist smile and as if nothing had happened. Unlike our compatriots, Asians never complain about their standard of living.

Yes, old shabby furniture inherited from older generations, tiny rooms and low ceilings, small windows and even sometimes the smell of dampness and mold - all this is not able to make a Vietnamese feel sad and complex. As a rule, this is precisely a private house on the ground, and next to it there is a garden and a vegetable garden in which chickens, pigs and agricultural crops are bred. And also, they are very sloppy, but do not notice this and do not consider it to be some kind of drawback. Therefore, in poor houses, as a rule, it is also dirty and not cleaned.

And also like this

As you can see, the houses and garages of the Vietnamese hard workers are not particularly clean.

Outside and inside the house are pretty shabby, they do not renew the paint and decoration. Clothes are dried right on the street, in huge quantities

What can not be said about the elite houses of wealthy Vietnamese! They have everything of the highest category: cottages of 3-4 or more floors with columns, monograms and pilasters, marble and stone trim; expensive tall fences with tracking systems, modern multi-car garages and beautiful, well-kept gardens and lawns that they mow with lawn mowers. Almost the American Dream. Inside such houses there are chic carved wooden stairs, expensive mahogany furniture is combined with modern design trends - suspended ceilings, creative wallpaper and glass.

But what is necessarily in common between poor and rich dwellings is the presence of wooden furniture for both, and a special religious stand, which is usually located in the corner of the room. On the floor or table are images of saints, relics and ceremonial items, bowls in which incense sticks are lit, as well as food and drink offerings for the gods and deceased ancestors kind.

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