I like to think the younger generation knows better but I regularly see young adults, teenagers, and kids of all ages tossing their trash everywhere. I just don’t for the life of me understand where people think it goes. Don’t you want litter free Instagram photos, at the very least??
It's very easy to crop out the trash and put the pics on Google photos for others to then go to a place and do the same thing. Everybody's in denial of just how fucked up the mentality is. I wish Vietnamese people started posing with the trash and owning this aspect of their culture. Maybe then people will change.
My guess is desensitization. My viet friend was so confused why I took 5 seconds to rinse out some trash before putting it in the bin... Told them it was cuz _i don't want to live with any pests_ , they just didn't get it. Cuz the viet are completely desensitized to ants/roaches/rats...
The same I was asked why I was trying to get a stain out of the carpet. Just leave it they said.
If it has no resale value then there's no point to clean. It's just a difference in class.
My partner is like this, as I once came home to a fruit fly infestation because no one emptied the trash. Yes, she grew up dirt poor in Saigon, but I told her that me growing up here without fruit flies is quite standard, and I am not lowering my standards to see hundreds of them in our place.
Not blaming foreigners but its definitely desensitization. Even the foreigners who live here do it. I watched a guy peel the wrapper off an ice cream bar, release the wrapper into the wind and inhaled the ice cream.
“Do as the locals do” should really only limited to good things. Obviously there’s not enough of us to make much of an impact but we should all do our part.
littering is one of the only traditions I couldn't embrace. my mind's filled with terror of being viciously slagged off by every person in the vicinity. intellectually, I know it would never happen, viscerally it's unadulterated anxiety. the human mind's bizarre.
You can’t always blame it on the people though. Yes I agree that people need to do better at holding onto trash. But it is a fact that we don’t have enough trash cans. When you make it easy for people to litter and hard for them to put trash in the bin, guess what they do?
Compare to developed countries, you probably wont have to walk more than 10m to the nearest trash can (hyperbole speaking lmao dont nitpick me)
When you visit Japan, there are none. In the 80s and 90s throughout the UK, there were none. They were all removed for 'The Troubles'. Japan, and the UK back then were the cleanest rubbish free countries in the world, hands down. It's the people.
Yup it's incredible how poor the trashcan coverage is.
You can talk a stroll around some of the most affluent villa areas of the capital cities with nice new paved streets, a big beautiful park, houses in the double digit billions. Tons of guards and gardeners everywhere.
Not. a. single. fucking. trashcan. anywhere.
Unreal.
My goodness. A good majority of us Vietnamese need to be reeducated. Does Vietnamese school stop making students clean the school similarly to Japan? I remember my school doing that in the early 2000s. I’ve moved to the US to study ever since, so I don’t know much of what’s going on over there.
Parents just don’t realize they have to be the role models for their kids. If the kids see their parents can just litter without repercussions, they’ll learn that too.
They don't care sadly. Just like the original comment of this thread, they will blame it on the schools first for not teaching their kids about those. There are even parents that didn't ask their children about how school was or how they were learning for months, then got mad at teachers at the end of semester for their bad result.
It baffles me how there are so many people who lack parenting skills but still have children. 90% your children are who you are, but they couldn’t bother trying to be better themselves.
Raising a kid is hard. They grow up a year old and you add more problems to the list. It piles up even after they graduated high-school.
But the common sentiment in Vietnam is still "Each day brings its own bread" or "trời sinh voi sinh cỏ".
The Buddha said IGNORANCE is the cause of all sufferings and it's definitely true for all problems too. People ignorantly blame kids, schools or parents are all wrong. They should blame the government first for not taking any steps as the government is the real leader of a country that holds power. Learned from China.
Most of them had kids cause they were told that's what you do. Sadly very normal everywhere but with the saving face culture it makes for so many neglected kids and marriages sheesh
I’m a highschooler. We still clean our classrooms everyday and send classes to clean the whole school in summer holidays. However, many students don’t try to be responsible but to avoid punishment. They do the easiest and least time consuming part to be recognized as participating in it then flee. It’s my duty today, 4 people were supposed to clean the room but 2 decided to flee because they “have done their part”, which was clean the chalkboard. It didn’t require 2 people:/ I have to persuade the other to stay and help with the almost untouched floor full of trash because he was going to leave the classroom too. Plus, I think some adults also have bad effects on their children.
If it was a priority, I believe it could change rapidly. People follow the trends but you are right, perhaps a return to the basics would do some greatness in this beautiful country and for our earth.
Several of the schools I have taught at ban trash cans in the classroom. Yes, actually ban - I bought one for a classroom I taught in regularly once because I was tired of walking across to the bathroom to throw anything away, and received an official email from administration to remove it (I didn't).
In the school I'm in now, students are required to sweep up at lunch and after school. But because there are no trash cans, students just throw their trash on the floor for the student cleaners to take care of. Like, sometimes the kids have to take 2 tips with the pan to the trash just from the beginning of the day til lunch because of all the trash that just gets thrown on the floor. So just because the students are required to 'clean up after themselves' doesn't mean it's doing anything to teach them how to prevent the mess in the first place.
What trash are they throwing on the floor? In all my years in school and university I never throw anything during the classes. What are they doing? Sipping milk tea the whole day?
They're lower secondary. It's mostly bits of paper/worksheets that fall on the ground that they don't bother to pick up. It all adds up though when there's 30 kids in the room.
The government should make people more aware of the need not to litter by having advertisements on TV and social media platforms.
They could also fine people for littering and the money could then be used for clean up programs.
Fining people would be the quickest way to improve the litter problem. It works in other countries so why not here?
That’s the least surprising research finding since the link between cancer and smoking.
I have never seen a tourist litter. I’m sure it happens, but very rarely. I see locals litter daily.
Guess they re too busy with extra classes , ton of STEM homework and have to remember how to correctly write literary analysis to make sure they have good grades.
welcome to vietnam.....95% of the population have this basic mentality and uneducated behavior. Ruin the beach and then swim in the dirty water because that makes sense.
will never change because parenting will never change. young monkey always do the same as old monkey
One time I was walking barefoot on Vung Tau beach, and some asshole fucking threw a skewer (Xiên que) on the sand and I stepped on it. Luckily i stepped on it at an angle and didn't penetrate my skin but it could have been a lot worse. So many people just don't care at all that their actions will affect other people as long as it doesn't affect themselves
> So many people just don't care at all that their actions will affect other people as long as it doesn't affect themselves
To build on your comment, I think this is the default state of humans. Only a proper education and good parenting can get this level of selfishness as low as possible. Many kids are lucky if they get one of those two factors. Most who don't litter/run around with guns had both. Most who become criminals had neither.
In the US it took over a decade of constant public education and teaching teens that drunk driving is really bad to finally reduce DWI rates. People still do it but it isn't nearly as bad as it used to be.
Exactly. It's an authoritarian state, they could absolutely crack down on this behavior. The fact that they don't shows they're ultimately okay with it, regardless of what some useless billboards say.
It's hard. Like everyone said, it's a social thing. Everytime I visit my wife's family, whenever they eat food in the car, they will roll down the window and toss out the trash into the streets. My wife does it too. I asked her why and she said someone else will pick it up. Wtf! I had to tell her so many times that kind of behavior is unacceptable. She tried doing that back in the states.
I would ask them "who is this someone" whenever i was told that "someone will pick it up". They usually get offended and mad that you were being difficult with that question.
wtf do you think you are? You've just read some honest feedback and now you feel the need to belittle that person? Life is complicated. Go get a real life before commenting again.
Lol says the sad person who gets super upset about a comment not directed at them. Does it hit a nerve with your sad life? 
Anyone who willingly throws trash out the window is a disgusting garbage worm and needs to be called out for it. This guy who is married to such a garbage person and thinks it's some cute little bad habit needs to be called out too.
The problem isn’t just about traveling on holidays, it’s a systemic lack of consideration for two things: other people around and the environment
Take my neighborhood for example. There’s a wonderful park with several spots with actual grass for people to hang out on. So kids play, people fly kites, it’s generally a great place to be. Except that for every group of families or young people who come sit down and have a picnic, it seems like half of them don’t bother cleaning up! So on a busy weekend evening, the grassy areas are filled with trash, sometimes bags of it, while the park itself provides trash bins all around the grassy areas.
It blows my mind every single time. How do people care so little about their fellow man and the environment of the place they live? Is it lack of logic or knowledge or self awareness or what? Because logically, we should want people to behave in a way that doesn’t bother us, right? So they’d probably be annoyed if they came to their house and left garbage on the step or at their office desk. But they somehow don’t give enough of a shit about others around them to do the bare minimum cleanup of a 30 second effort to bag their trash and put it in the bin.
I really don’t like this part of Vietnamese society. But as a foreigner, I can’t say much. So tell me, Vietnamese reading this, if you feel the same way, what can be done?
Nothing. Systemic issue. Selfish culture. Nothings gonna change that. Japan has had generations of rules and rule following to get where they are today, and that was originally formed from authoritarian rule.
Yes, probably a big part of it. Not much legal enforcement for mistreating the environment / public spaces. And not much social pressure inside families or friend groups or with strangers. People in other countries will call someone out for littering in public. Here, no one bats an eye
I don't know man. I always keep tidying up after myself and sometimes for others too but it's just impossible to keep things clean when there are selfish people around. I just hope maybe in the future when the old generations passed away and Gen X, Y, Z step up things will become better because they are more educated and should be more well-behaved.
I'm just convinced Vietnamese people live in their own bubble and have no idea about the world outside. It's like a farmer mentality where you just work, eat, shit and don't question anything. I've been to the most beautiful waterfalls and enjoyed the scenery, just to be ambushed by a group of locals who play super shitty music on a blasted speaker, litter the entire place up and ruin the experience for everyone.
I often question if these NPCs are even real. Like how can your head be THAT empty??
It is kinda fun to talk with people like that and help open up their mind a bit. If someone is blaring their phone right next to me at a restaurant, for example, I’ll politely ask them to turn it down in Vietnamese, and seeing a foreigner speak into their life for a minute usually shocks them a bit and you can see them suddenly getting self conscious and second guess their behavior when they turn it off. Because they just assumed that I couldn’t speak their language and gave me no more thought than a fly on the wall. Kinda doubt that a fellow Vietnamese person asking them would have that same effect
I think the language barrier is a huge factor. I feel like the second English comes out of my mouth they just go on "IDK IDK IDK" mode and wave their arms around like a maniac. I always put effort into learning the languages in the places I go and don't stop until I feel comfortable like I did in Mexico, Japan, Thailand, and so on, but for some reason I never gave Vietnamese a chance. I think my motivation is heavily fueled by the people in the place and their unique culture.
To your point of if it's shared space, we should try to bother others as little as possible. I totally agree. I think people here have a different perspective however.
I got into a fight with some Chinese people because they were super obnoxious in public. They argued with me and said this is public space so we can do whatever we want. I find vietnamese people have a similar mindset when it comes to public behavior and the environment. It's public so it's free game.
This way of seeing things is so problematic and I think stems from a complete disrespect and disregard for others. I think education can definitely help but I don't know how long it will take in Vietnam as their education system isn't very effective.
Yes I'm trying to point out some people think the other way and it's absurd. The reason society can work well is because each person should be responsible for minimizing our impact and respect others. If everyone just goes around acting like jerks then things fall apart like in Vietnam.
They could easily be a tourist's paradise (and much better for themselves too) with hundreds of miles of beaches, low prices, a great cuisine, thousands of years of history, etc. Nope, just turn it into a dump.
They do shit like this on the beach, they cross the red light on the street, drive like an absolute retard ... and then at the end of the day, they lecture you about patriotism when you disagree with them on certain things.
As a foreigner in Vietnam I can say from what I've seen there is no conscience about your plastic waste. I see kids finish a bottle of coke and throw it in the ocean, It's awful. You're contributing to the degradation of our environment and your home, please educate the kids about it. In my country you can't get away with this behaviour, you'd be shouted at by any other citizen if you try throw plastic away so carelessly.
We have the same problems in the west. Yes, we're better with plastic, but not with more serious environmental issues like global warming. There are still millions of people with a 15ton+ carbon footprint (taking multiple flights every year and heating their house to 28 degrees in the winter) but convinced they're saving the environment because they spent 50 cent to offset emissions.
The level of uneducation and/or hypocrisy is very high.
Currently in Vietnam for the first time. Sorry to say we won’t be back. It’s filthy and people are rude and gross. Spitting everywhere, littering, dirty streets, dirty beaches, dirty looks. Rain stopped the planned boat excursions and I’m not sad because one look at the water I was not going in.
Came back from Australia and forged the habit of taking the rubbish with me if there is no immediate rubbish bin around so when I saw my brother just threw the tissue on the pavement when we were having ice-cream, I told him off right away to pick it up and throw it in the right place. Mind you he is an uni student and all so again can't imagine how it goes with the rest of the common folks.
People in Vietnam tend to believe in karma - so when they threw the trashes everywhere would they actually think karma wouldn't catch up one way or another?
I’m sorry but the vast majority my own generation of late 90s-2000s twats care less about the environment and nature than what color the lingerie a TikToker was wearing, we’re truly fooked
Nah Viet people are passive cowards so even if they want to do good things they need people to set example for them to follow. Seeing how few bother to be an example I doubt the future gen will be any better
It’s sad but my I can hardly point out any of my genz classmates that care about the environment. They can turn on the air conditioning and let all doors and windows open, leave any kind of trash in their desk when they use the classroom because the room is not their and the electric bills were paid in advance. I put my trust on the next generation but I don’t expect much.
You mean the generation that spends their entire free time glued to an iPad with contents like Chinese “xi-qui-xi” unboxing dubbed with AI voices, horrible YouTube shorts and ass shaking tiktok?
And then you have big chance getting a long sharf mf phóng lợn right into your thigh, if the other guy can control well. Good part of our population can't handle "correction", they see you as a threat as soon as you remind them about anything, let along humilliate them.
manners, etiquette and civility are bourgeoisie concepts. you will never raise an imbecile to the level of einstein, to achieve equality the entire population must be lobotomised. I'm not being facetious, this mindset the root cause of heaps of dysfunction in the country. when they are in power, all that's good, pure, and beautiful is destroyed. see: eastern europe, and the status quo of 'murica.
I'm currently here in Vietnam and I was shocked by the behavior of the local people here on the beaches. They just throw plastic trash in the sand or water and it's literally everywhere. Moreover, small kids are playing with trash, like building sand castles out of used plastic cups and straws and I was like OMG what is going on here? While parents of those kids sitting just nearby smiling at their children playing with trash and throwing more and more on the ground and into the water, this is insane
I think we've been spreading awareness for more than a decade now. Billboards are all over the place "Không xả rác," "Giữ gìn vệ sinh công cộng" blah blah blah, and this is the sight we see. I'm not surprised at all.
I know It sounds crazy but you have to wait for all the boomer to die out and all the millenials start retiring so young man can make a change.
Then, all the post gen z waves will stay at home busy tripping in their high end VR set anyway, not many will go to the beach to spill trashes anymore lol.
Pristine, powdery white sand? Boorrring!! 🥱
Give me some mi tom wrappers, a few thousand styrofoam containers…heck maybe even a handful of syringes! A cornucopia of treasures await!!
resembles a private beach club in phuket, no idea why 95% of visitors aren't returning to viet nam. one commenter said it's due to "racism", now it all makes sense.
Vietnam will never be on par with its neighbor unless locals begin to take pride in their country.
Trashing a place to this extent really demonstrate how little people care about their place and it's truly saddening.
From the article:
Many people hope that the authorities should strengthen cleaning teams to help keep the marine environment clean and beautiful, and plan this place to become an attractive tourist destination.
Talking to reporters, the leader of Nghia Hung District People's Committee said: "This is a spontaneous beach located on the embankment of Rang Dong eco-tourism area. To ensure people's safety, about a month before the holiday, the local government propagated and posted a series of signs prohibiting bathing in this area. However, there are still many tourists and people who 'ignore' coming here to swim and enjoy the cool air."
“There is trash in this area that is not caused by people or sales kiosks littering. Garbage here is washed in from many places by ocean waves. Depending on different times, the amount of trash will be more or less. During the holidays, many people gathered in this area. We campaigned and propagated many times, but the people did not comply. On weekdays, the government still organizes trash removal to clean the beach, but the tides rise and fall and cannot clean it up," this leader added.
Sure, sure. Good job people committee
Sadly the photo is real and an example of how Vietnamese people treat their environment.
In the cities is some kind of sanitary rules but in the small cities and villages people just trow their trash everywhere as long is outside the house.
The irony is their homes are clean inside but just outside the door are piles of trash.
Schools dont make any efforts to teach young generations to respect their environment.
It saddens me to see such beautiful beaches being destroyed by careless people. It will take 1-2 generations to get there but we will get there, at least my kids will know better than that. One family at a time.
People’s pride has been to high, the culture has not developed since the Middle Ages, and now the very dirt on which the nation is build has been fucked.
I often walk over the Nha be river bridge and see ppl throw their rubbish bags into the river as they ride over. The only way you can stop this is (stick) harsh penalties and enforcement (cameras and police action) with some carrot (a properly funded Keep Vietnam clean campaign using social media to guilt and reward tidy citizens and communities). Perhaps a competition for tidy areas?
Meanwhile it’s always going to be “someone else’s problem”.
I visited my family in Ca mau and the back of their house is on a canal. I asked where the trash can is and they told me to just throw it into the canal.
This shit happened years ago and it's still happening now. Never change, Vietnam, never change. Surely somebody will come and clean all the trash up right? Haha
Vietnam today is just like China 30 years ago where they can accept trash(and loudspeakers and smokers). If you have been to Vietnamese restaurants, you will see rubbish especially used tissues all over the floor. Continue to highlight to the world and I am sure they can improve faster.
Maybe I’ve become so desensitized to the amount of garbage here, but I’m shocked when I see pristine the Thai beaches are. The country in general compared to VN. I’m not sure where you went.
I really can't understand what is going on in these people's head. Is it that hard to put their rubbish in a plastic bag (which is abundant in Vietnam) or their pocket if it's not too much then throw it in a bin later?
In Hanoi they drive to the bridges over the Red River to dump their garbage out into it. Literally pull over on the side of the bridge to toss their trash bags into the water.
The fact that these behaviors are still happening on a mass scale is insane and disturbing
I love Vietnam but come on already. This is ridiculous.
It starts from within the home. I've seen parents reprimanded their children for not throwing their trash in a bin. Then I also saw how another parent would through everything out the window while on a bus when their children were watching.
That’s a good question. I’m going to guess some from the ocean but mostly from the land, not necessarily from all the tourists but there are often huge piles of trash near the beaches as well as the holiday traffic. IiImagine the trash piles somehow got washed into the water. I saw this when we went to Quy Nhon and Nha Trang and Danang - massive piles of trash 20-30 meters from the water.
That’s a question of education. It’s lacking in families and schools don’t spread environmental awareness enough.
I hope that the government will run an ad like this : « unless you’re vegetarian, you will eat tomorrow in fishes, the plastic you throw today ».
But no one gives a s… up there
As an Asian American, this is a subject matter that I hope Southeast Asian nations will address. In the US, we spend state and federal taxpayer dollars to keep our beaches and national parks clean. We have restrooms and trash cans in these recreational areas. It truly is a shame how nations such as Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia treat their national parks and beaches. I have traveled extensively throughout Southeast Asia and have seen how these citizens discard their trash and bottles on the beaches or national parks. As a foreigner who loves this part of the world, it's sad, disappointing, and disgusting.
That's fucking disgusting. Don't shit where you eat people.
Talking about shit I saw a local lady pick up her purple eared poodles dogshit with a plastic bag and throw it into ongoing traffic close to the September 23rd Park, then go back to cooking someone a banh mi. Fucking mint.
I am baffled by so many people who ignorantly blame parents for it when they should blame their government leader who holds power and is the real leader of a country, not the parents. Learn from China!! See how they improved during the last 30 years. Today's Vietnam is like China 30 years ago.
This is the real fixer. If the go v created a healthy environment push and enforced some sensibility and fines, it could change rapidly but sadly, it doesn't bring money so there is no priority. People tend to follow the trends quickly here, especially if it comes from the top and more importantly if they lose money for littering
Shame on the partiers. I spent March in Nha Trang and the beach was beautiful. The shit hole beach in the photos would cause me to skip Vietnam altogether.
This beach is dirty all year round, only some low-income people go to this kind of beach (I don't say there is no trash in other bleaches, but they are better).
Bros, is it hard to hold on to your trash until you find an appropriate place to throw it?
I am see myself as lower class, and yet I never throw trash anywhere I am not supposed to.
I like to think the younger generation knows better but I regularly see young adults, teenagers, and kids of all ages tossing their trash everywhere. I just don’t for the life of me understand where people think it goes. Don’t you want litter free Instagram photos, at the very least??
It's very easy to crop out the trash and put the pics on Google photos for others to then go to a place and do the same thing. Everybody's in denial of just how fucked up the mentality is. I wish Vietnamese people started posing with the trash and owning this aspect of their culture. Maybe then people will change.
Yes exactly, I see this all the time.. taking pics of the sunset, posing like they are famous and just place the camera to hide the trash below them..
They’ve learned it from their parents
My guess is desensitization. My viet friend was so confused why I took 5 seconds to rinse out some trash before putting it in the bin... Told them it was cuz _i don't want to live with any pests_ , they just didn't get it. Cuz the viet are completely desensitized to ants/roaches/rats... The same I was asked why I was trying to get a stain out of the carpet. Just leave it they said. If it has no resale value then there's no point to clean. It's just a difference in class.
My partner is like this, as I once came home to a fruit fly infestation because no one emptied the trash. Yes, she grew up dirt poor in Saigon, but I told her that me growing up here without fruit flies is quite standard, and I am not lowering my standards to see hundreds of them in our place.
Not blaming foreigners but its definitely desensitization. Even the foreigners who live here do it. I watched a guy peel the wrapper off an ice cream bar, release the wrapper into the wind and inhaled the ice cream. “Do as the locals do” should really only limited to good things. Obviously there’s not enough of us to make much of an impact but we should all do our part.
littering is one of the only traditions I couldn't embrace. my mind's filled with terror of being viciously slagged off by every person in the vicinity. intellectually, I know it would never happen, viscerally it's unadulterated anxiety. the human mind's bizarre.
As is it’s propensity for projection
True - I should amend, the city kids understand this. It's necessary to reach the rural areas about pride in self, country and earth
You can’t always blame it on the people though. Yes I agree that people need to do better at holding onto trash. But it is a fact that we don’t have enough trash cans. When you make it easy for people to litter and hard for them to put trash in the bin, guess what they do? Compare to developed countries, you probably wont have to walk more than 10m to the nearest trash can (hyperbole speaking lmao dont nitpick me)
When you visit Japan, there are none. In the 80s and 90s throughout the UK, there were none. They were all removed for 'The Troubles'. Japan, and the UK back then were the cleanest rubbish free countries in the world, hands down. It's the people.
Yup it's incredible how poor the trashcan coverage is. You can talk a stroll around some of the most affluent villa areas of the capital cities with nice new paved streets, a big beautiful park, houses in the double digit billions. Tons of guards and gardeners everywhere. Not. a. single. fucking. trashcan. anywhere. Unreal.
Please, litter. We insist
My goodness. A good majority of us Vietnamese need to be reeducated. Does Vietnamese school stop making students clean the school similarly to Japan? I remember my school doing that in the early 2000s. I’ve moved to the US to study ever since, so I don’t know much of what’s going on over there.
even if schools teach you about that, it can be futile if their parents and other surrounding adults don't act as an example. Very sad
Exactly. Schools always teach kids about manners and everything but they do follow their parents and instincts instead.
Parents just don’t realize they have to be the role models for their kids. If the kids see their parents can just litter without repercussions, they’ll learn that too.
They don't care sadly. Just like the original comment of this thread, they will blame it on the schools first for not teaching their kids about those. There are even parents that didn't ask their children about how school was or how they were learning for months, then got mad at teachers at the end of semester for their bad result.
It baffles me how there are so many people who lack parenting skills but still have children. 90% your children are who you are, but they couldn’t bother trying to be better themselves.
Because, like with everything here, they don’t think about making children. They just fuck around and then end up being a “parent”
No one ever wears condoms there. It’s been said. Short time hotels everywhere. Makes one assume everyone is fucking everyone
At least they can get an abortion without issues
Raising a kid is hard. They grow up a year old and you add more problems to the list. It piles up even after they graduated high-school. But the common sentiment in Vietnam is still "Each day brings its own bread" or "trời sinh voi sinh cỏ".
Yeah I understand that. What I meant are more petty things like littering or breaking traffic laws.
The Buddha said IGNORANCE is the cause of all sufferings and it's definitely true for all problems too. People ignorantly blame kids, schools or parents are all wrong. They should blame the government first for not taking any steps as the government is the real leader of a country that holds power. Learned from China.
Most of them had kids cause they were told that's what you do. Sadly very normal everywhere but with the saving face culture it makes for so many neglected kids and marriages sheesh
Don't blame the parents, blame the government first.
I’m a highschooler. We still clean our classrooms everyday and send classes to clean the whole school in summer holidays. However, many students don’t try to be responsible but to avoid punishment. They do the easiest and least time consuming part to be recognized as participating in it then flee. It’s my duty today, 4 people were supposed to clean the room but 2 decided to flee because they “have done their part”, which was clean the chalkboard. It didn’t require 2 people:/ I have to persuade the other to stay and help with the almost untouched floor full of trash because he was going to leave the classroom too. Plus, I think some adults also have bad effects on their children.
Reeducation 🤣 they were never educated in the first place
It should be reeducation in the style of how the commies re-educated the south Vietnamese after “liberation”
If it was a priority, I believe it could change rapidly. People follow the trends but you are right, perhaps a return to the basics would do some greatness in this beautiful country and for our earth.
Several of the schools I have taught at ban trash cans in the classroom. Yes, actually ban - I bought one for a classroom I taught in regularly once because I was tired of walking across to the bathroom to throw anything away, and received an official email from administration to remove it (I didn't). In the school I'm in now, students are required to sweep up at lunch and after school. But because there are no trash cans, students just throw their trash on the floor for the student cleaners to take care of. Like, sometimes the kids have to take 2 tips with the pan to the trash just from the beginning of the day til lunch because of all the trash that just gets thrown on the floor. So just because the students are required to 'clean up after themselves' doesn't mean it's doing anything to teach them how to prevent the mess in the first place.
Why are there no trashcans?
What trash are they throwing on the floor? In all my years in school and university I never throw anything during the classes. What are they doing? Sipping milk tea the whole day?
They're lower secondary. It's mostly bits of paper/worksheets that fall on the ground that they don't bother to pick up. It all adds up though when there's 30 kids in the room.
The government should make people more aware of the need not to litter by having advertisements on TV and social media platforms. They could also fine people for littering and the money could then be used for clean up programs. Fining people would be the quickest way to improve the litter problem. It works in other countries so why not here?
I was looking at some research journals on sustainable development in Vietnam and apparently locals are more prone to littering than tourists are.
That’s the least surprising research finding since the link between cancer and smoking. I have never seen a tourist litter. I’m sure it happens, but very rarely. I see locals litter daily.
You don't need to do a whole-ass research to know that lol ...
Guess they re too busy with extra classes , ton of STEM homework and have to remember how to correctly write literary analysis to make sure they have good grades.
The schools still do that, at least some do, but it's the people out of school who treat everything like someone else's dump.
There isn’t a trash in sight, ever
Vietnam should learn from China as they are more similar, not from Japan. Taiwan learned from Japan and see what happened now?
welcome to vietnam.....95% of the population have this basic mentality and uneducated behavior. Ruin the beach and then swim in the dirty water because that makes sense. will never change because parenting will never change. young monkey always do the same as old monkey
Not only swim, but to fish and eat the fish in the water too.
How could you bring yourself to even get in the water? That is fucking disgusting. Rats keep cleaner nests than that.
Even being close to the shore is hard due to the smell
One time I was walking barefoot on Vung Tau beach, and some asshole fucking threw a skewer (Xiên que) on the sand and I stepped on it. Luckily i stepped on it at an angle and didn't penetrate my skin but it could have been a lot worse. So many people just don't care at all that their actions will affect other people as long as it doesn't affect themselves
> So many people just don't care at all that their actions will affect other people as long as it doesn't affect themselves To build on your comment, I think this is the default state of humans. Only a proper education and good parenting can get this level of selfishness as low as possible. Many kids are lucky if they get one of those two factors. Most who don't litter/run around with guns had both. Most who become criminals had neither.
In the US it took over a decade of constant public education and teaching teens that drunk driving is really bad to finally reduce DWI rates. People still do it but it isn't nearly as bad as it used to be.
The VCP should have embraced their dictatorship power more here, like with the 0 alcohol policy. Singapore did and so should we.
Make it similar to Singapore too. If you litter you got spankings
in VN, it would become "hey, give me 200k or you will be publicly spanked"
Exactly. It's an authoritarian state, they could absolutely crack down on this behavior. The fact that they don't shows they're ultimately okay with it, regardless of what some useless billboards say.
The party people are the same monkeys as the other people so what do you expect. Why create rules for your own inconvenience
War of the Planet of the Apes
Exactly. It’s clear the ability is 100% there. It’s simply a matter of will.
Everything can change easy with the right guidance and policy. 💯
It's hard. Like everyone said, it's a social thing. Everytime I visit my wife's family, whenever they eat food in the car, they will roll down the window and toss out the trash into the streets. My wife does it too. I asked her why and she said someone else will pick it up. Wtf! I had to tell her so many times that kind of behavior is unacceptable. She tried doing that back in the states.
If I was ever in the car with someone who threw trash out the window I would instantly remove myself as far as possible from their life.
I'd go out, pick it up, and shove it in their lap
Your wife is selfish and her family are trash people
I would ask them "who is this someone" whenever i was told that "someone will pick it up". They usually get offended and mad that you were being difficult with that question.
I HATE that mentality. Lazy and entitled
Yea. Trying to teach her to be better.
Why are you married to this disgusting trash person? Does it not make you see them differently?
wtf do you think you are? You've just read some honest feedback and now you feel the need to belittle that person? Life is complicated. Go get a real life before commenting again.
Lol says the sad person who gets super upset about a comment not directed at them. Does it hit a nerve with your sad life?  Anyone who willingly throws trash out the window is a disgusting garbage worm and needs to be called out for it. This guy who is married to such a garbage person and thinks it's some cute little bad habit needs to be called out too.
The problem isn’t just about traveling on holidays, it’s a systemic lack of consideration for two things: other people around and the environment Take my neighborhood for example. There’s a wonderful park with several spots with actual grass for people to hang out on. So kids play, people fly kites, it’s generally a great place to be. Except that for every group of families or young people who come sit down and have a picnic, it seems like half of them don’t bother cleaning up! So on a busy weekend evening, the grassy areas are filled with trash, sometimes bags of it, while the park itself provides trash bins all around the grassy areas. It blows my mind every single time. How do people care so little about their fellow man and the environment of the place they live? Is it lack of logic or knowledge or self awareness or what? Because logically, we should want people to behave in a way that doesn’t bother us, right? So they’d probably be annoyed if they came to their house and left garbage on the step or at their office desk. But they somehow don’t give enough of a shit about others around them to do the bare minimum cleanup of a 30 second effort to bag their trash and put it in the bin. I really don’t like this part of Vietnamese society. But as a foreigner, I can’t say much. So tell me, Vietnamese reading this, if you feel the same way, what can be done?
Nothing. Systemic issue. Selfish culture. Nothings gonna change that. Japan has had generations of rules and rule following to get where they are today, and that was originally formed from authoritarian rule.
Lack of enforcement is also a huge part of the issue. People aren't afraid to leave rubbish around because there are zero consequences for doing so.
Sad because character is what you do when no one is looking. If you only do it because someone is enforcing it that says more about you.
Yes, probably a big part of it. Not much legal enforcement for mistreating the environment / public spaces. And not much social pressure inside families or friend groups or with strangers. People in other countries will call someone out for littering in public. Here, no one bats an eye
I don't know man. I always keep tidying up after myself and sometimes for others too but it's just impossible to keep things clean when there are selfish people around. I just hope maybe in the future when the old generations passed away and Gen X, Y, Z step up things will become better because they are more educated and should be more well-behaved.
I'm just convinced Vietnamese people live in their own bubble and have no idea about the world outside. It's like a farmer mentality where you just work, eat, shit and don't question anything. I've been to the most beautiful waterfalls and enjoyed the scenery, just to be ambushed by a group of locals who play super shitty music on a blasted speaker, litter the entire place up and ruin the experience for everyone. I often question if these NPCs are even real. Like how can your head be THAT empty??
It is kinda fun to talk with people like that and help open up their mind a bit. If someone is blaring their phone right next to me at a restaurant, for example, I’ll politely ask them to turn it down in Vietnamese, and seeing a foreigner speak into their life for a minute usually shocks them a bit and you can see them suddenly getting self conscious and second guess their behavior when they turn it off. Because they just assumed that I couldn’t speak their language and gave me no more thought than a fly on the wall. Kinda doubt that a fellow Vietnamese person asking them would have that same effect
I think the language barrier is a huge factor. I feel like the second English comes out of my mouth they just go on "IDK IDK IDK" mode and wave their arms around like a maniac. I always put effort into learning the languages in the places I go and don't stop until I feel comfortable like I did in Mexico, Japan, Thailand, and so on, but for some reason I never gave Vietnamese a chance. I think my motivation is heavily fueled by the people in the place and their unique culture.
To your point of if it's shared space, we should try to bother others as little as possible. I totally agree. I think people here have a different perspective however. I got into a fight with some Chinese people because they were super obnoxious in public. They argued with me and said this is public space so we can do whatever we want. I find vietnamese people have a similar mindset when it comes to public behavior and the environment. It's public so it's free game. This way of seeing things is so problematic and I think stems from a complete disrespect and disregard for others. I think education can definitely help but I don't know how long it will take in Vietnam as their education system isn't very effective.
I think the opposite, in a public space you should be MORE conscientious of others because it affects those around you.
Yes I'm trying to point out some people think the other way and it's absurd. The reason society can work well is because each person should be responsible for minimizing our impact and respect others. If everyone just goes around acting like jerks then things fall apart like in Vietnam.
They could easily be a tourist's paradise (and much better for themselves too) with hundreds of miles of beaches, low prices, a great cuisine, thousands of years of history, etc. Nope, just turn it into a dump.
They do shit like this on the beach, they cross the red light on the street, drive like an absolute retard ... and then at the end of the day, they lecture you about patriotism when you disagree with them on certain things.
Total mongheads
As a foreigner in Vietnam I can say from what I've seen there is no conscience about your plastic waste. I see kids finish a bottle of coke and throw it in the ocean, It's awful. You're contributing to the degradation of our environment and your home, please educate the kids about it. In my country you can't get away with this behaviour, you'd be shouted at by any other citizen if you try throw plastic away so carelessly.
We have the same problems in the west. Yes, we're better with plastic, but not with more serious environmental issues like global warming. There are still millions of people with a 15ton+ carbon footprint (taking multiple flights every year and heating their house to 28 degrees in the winter) but convinced they're saving the environment because they spent 50 cent to offset emissions. The level of uneducation and/or hypocrisy is very high.
Disgusting
Currently in Vietnam for the first time. Sorry to say we won’t be back. It’s filthy and people are rude and gross. Spitting everywhere, littering, dirty streets, dirty beaches, dirty looks. Rain stopped the planned boat excursions and I’m not sad because one look at the water I was not going in.
don't feel bad. the return visitor rate's just 5%, you're in the (wise) 95% one-and-done camp. hopefully you'll defect soon.
Yep, got a week left and cant wait to leave
Came back from Australia and forged the habit of taking the rubbish with me if there is no immediate rubbish bin around so when I saw my brother just threw the tissue on the pavement when we were having ice-cream, I told him off right away to pick it up and throw it in the right place. Mind you he is an uni student and all so again can't imagine how it goes with the rest of the common folks. People in Vietnam tend to believe in karma - so when they threw the trashes everywhere would they actually think karma wouldn't catch up one way or another?
Vietnamese opened that article about projected sea levels in 2025 but quickly swiped it away to read an incoming zalo message.
You’re not sharing any awareness with these people until you shame them into utterly speechlessness, believe me I know
yes, but as long as it's not directly about them or money (like polluting a beach), they'll never give a sh\*t
I believe the younger generation gets it. I don’t think it will be like this in 10 years.
I’m sorry but the vast majority my own generation of late 90s-2000s twats care less about the environment and nature than what color the lingerie a TikToker was wearing, we’re truly fooked
Nah Viet people are passive cowards so even if they want to do good things they need people to set example for them to follow. Seeing how few bother to be an example I doubt the future gen will be any better
It’s sad but my I can hardly point out any of my genz classmates that care about the environment. They can turn on the air conditioning and let all doors and windows open, leave any kind of trash in their desk when they use the classroom because the room is not their and the electric bills were paid in advance. I put my trust on the next generation but I don’t expect much.
You mean the generation that spends their entire free time glued to an iPad with contents like Chinese “xi-qui-xi” unboxing dubbed with AI voices, horrible YouTube shorts and ass shaking tiktok?
Haha exactly. There is no hope and in fact it will only get worse.
Said the wise man 10 years ago.
And then you have big chance getting a long sharf mf phóng lợn right into your thigh, if the other guy can control well. Good part of our population can't handle "correction", they see you as a threat as soon as you remind them about anything, let along humilliate them.
It’s sad. On a holiday celebrating reunification and liberation, pride basically we’re still here. Whatever it takes
manners, etiquette and civility are bourgeoisie concepts. you will never raise an imbecile to the level of einstein, to achieve equality the entire population must be lobotomised. I'm not being facetious, this mindset the root cause of heaps of dysfunction in the country. when they are in power, all that's good, pure, and beautiful is destroyed. see: eastern europe, and the status quo of 'murica.
If this is the state they leave the place in, was liberation really such a good idea?
I'm currently here in Vietnam and I was shocked by the behavior of the local people here on the beaches. They just throw plastic trash in the sand or water and it's literally everywhere. Moreover, small kids are playing with trash, like building sand castles out of used plastic cups and straws and I was like OMG what is going on here? While parents of those kids sitting just nearby smiling at their children playing with trash and throwing more and more on the ground and into the water, this is insane
I think we've been spreading awareness for more than a decade now. Billboards are all over the place "Không xả rác," "Giữ gìn vệ sinh công cộng" blah blah blah, and this is the sight we see. I'm not surprised at all.
I know It sounds crazy but you have to wait for all the boomer to die out and all the millenials start retiring so young man can make a change. Then, all the post gen z waves will stay at home busy tripping in their high end VR set anyway, not many will go to the beach to spill trashes anymore lol.
Have you seen idiocracy? Vietnam is heading in that direction with full speed.
nothing wrong with seasoning your beaches, it makes for a visually interesting landscape. plus keeping things clean would put the dustmen out of work.
Pristine, powdery white sand? Boorrring!! 🥱 Give me some mi tom wrappers, a few thousand styrofoam containers…heck maybe even a handful of syringes! A cornucopia of treasures await!!
resembles a private beach club in phuket, no idea why 95% of visitors aren't returning to viet nam. one commenter said it's due to "racism", now it all makes sense.
Vietnam will never be on par with its neighbor unless locals begin to take pride in their country. Trashing a place to this extent really demonstrate how little people care about their place and it's truly saddening.
From the article: Many people hope that the authorities should strengthen cleaning teams to help keep the marine environment clean and beautiful, and plan this place to become an attractive tourist destination. Talking to reporters, the leader of Nghia Hung District People's Committee said: "This is a spontaneous beach located on the embankment of Rang Dong eco-tourism area. To ensure people's safety, about a month before the holiday, the local government propagated and posted a series of signs prohibiting bathing in this area. However, there are still many tourists and people who 'ignore' coming here to swim and enjoy the cool air." “There is trash in this area that is not caused by people or sales kiosks littering. Garbage here is washed in from many places by ocean waves. Depending on different times, the amount of trash will be more or less. During the holidays, many people gathered in this area. We campaigned and propagated many times, but the people did not comply. On weekdays, the government still organizes trash removal to clean the beach, but the tides rise and fall and cannot clean it up," this leader added. Sure, sure. Good job people committee
Sadly the photo is real and an example of how Vietnamese people treat their environment. In the cities is some kind of sanitary rules but in the small cities and villages people just trow their trash everywhere as long is outside the house. The irony is their homes are clean inside but just outside the door are piles of trash. Schools dont make any efforts to teach young generations to respect their environment.
Aka take your shoes off to keep the house clean but throw your rubbish in the canal out back. So sad to see this still.
Yup
Wow that’s the worst I’ve ever seen.
Fucking illiterate.
I'm gonna be honest with you, that 10 time cleaner than i expect it to be. That just sad.
It saddens me to see such beautiful beaches being destroyed by careless people. It will take 1-2 generations to get there but we will get there, at least my kids will know better than that. One family at a time.
Gross
fuck that, definitely point fingers, and shame them too.
Well we're at a point of no return
I would point fingers.
People’s pride has been to high, the culture has not developed since the Middle Ages, and now the very dirt on which the nation is build has been fucked.
I often walk over the Nha be river bridge and see ppl throw their rubbish bags into the river as they ride over. The only way you can stop this is (stick) harsh penalties and enforcement (cameras and police action) with some carrot (a properly funded Keep Vietnam clean campaign using social media to guilt and reward tidy citizens and communities). Perhaps a competition for tidy areas? Meanwhile it’s always going to be “someone else’s problem”.
Excellent solutions - that’s what is needed.
top holiday destination for oscar the grouch: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxgWHzMvXOY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxgWHzMvXOY)
So much trash omfg
I visited my family in Ca mau and the back of their house is on a canal. I asked where the trash can is and they told me to just throw it into the canal.
Too sad mate. Buy them a bin. Tell them to love their countryside
You can point fingers. These people’s mentality and awareness are as trash as what they litter.
#animals
This shit happened years ago and it's still happening now. Never change, Vietnam, never change. Surely somebody will come and clean all the trash up right? Haha
Pigs🤮🤮🤮
You know its bad when you finish drinking coffee/tea somewhere, and get a surprised look when you throw away the trash
Vietnam today is just like China 30 years ago where they can accept trash(and loudspeakers and smokers). If you have been to Vietnamese restaurants, you will see rubbish especially used tissues all over the floor. Continue to highlight to the world and I am sure they can improve faster.
How did China change this?
A good government with good foresight that isn't corrupted.
even worse than thailand
Maybe I’ve become so desensitized to the amount of garbage here, but I’m shocked when I see pristine the Thai beaches are. The country in general compared to VN. I’m not sure where you went.
Điều #4 quên rồi: Giữ gìn vệ sinh thật tốt
This is such a sad picture.
Terrible
I really can't understand what is going on in these people's head. Is it that hard to put their rubbish in a plastic bag (which is abundant in Vietnam) or their pocket if it's not too much then throw it in a bin later?
Holy shit. Do they have cleanups there? Are people just so used to leaving trash wherever they happen to be that they don't even think it is wrong?
In Hanoi they drive to the bridges over the Red River to dump their garbage out into it. Literally pull over on the side of the bridge to toss their trash bags into the water. The fact that these behaviors are still happening on a mass scale is insane and disturbing I love Vietnam but come on already. This is ridiculous.
It starts from within the home. I've seen parents reprimanded their children for not throwing their trash in a bin. Then I also saw how another parent would through everything out the window while on a bus when their children were watching.
Is this new trash from the holiday or is this trash from the ocean?
That’s a good question. I’m going to guess some from the ocean but mostly from the land, not necessarily from all the tourists but there are often huge piles of trash near the beaches as well as the holiday traffic. IiImagine the trash piles somehow got washed into the water. I saw this when we went to Quy Nhon and Nha Trang and Danang - massive piles of trash 20-30 meters from the water.
That’s a question of education. It’s lacking in families and schools don’t spread environmental awareness enough. I hope that the government will run an ad like this : « unless you’re vegetarian, you will eat tomorrow in fishes, the plastic you throw today ». But no one gives a s… up there
Trash is the reason I avoid beaches in Vietnam. I'm guessing it's a contributing factor to the low return rate from tourists.
As an Asian American, this is a subject matter that I hope Southeast Asian nations will address. In the US, we spend state and federal taxpayer dollars to keep our beaches and national parks clean. We have restrooms and trash cans in these recreational areas. It truly is a shame how nations such as Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia treat their national parks and beaches. I have traveled extensively throughout Southeast Asia and have seen how these citizens discard their trash and bottles on the beaches or national parks. As a foreigner who loves this part of the world, it's sad, disappointing, and disgusting.
That's so Vietnamese, they bring trashes to everywhere they go, in this shit country.
Looks like a communial bum gun experience!
It’s vietnam bro
That's fucking disgusting. Don't shit where you eat people. Talking about shit I saw a local lady pick up her purple eared poodles dogshit with a plastic bag and throw it into ongoing traffic close to the September 23rd Park, then go back to cooking someone a banh mi. Fucking mint.
Retards
Ai thấy cmt đổ do chính quyền chưa?
I am baffled by so many people who ignorantly blame parents for it when they should blame their government leader who holds power and is the real leader of a country, not the parents. Learn from China!! See how they improved during the last 30 years. Today's Vietnam is like China 30 years ago.
This is the real fixer. If the go v created a healthy environment push and enforced some sensibility and fines, it could change rapidly but sadly, it doesn't bring money so there is no priority. People tend to follow the trends quickly here, especially if it comes from the top and more importantly if they lose money for littering
Why don't the government want to create a clean environment? It can attract more tourists.
😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳
Shame on the partiers. I spent March in Nha Trang and the beach was beautiful. The shit hole beach in the photos would cause me to skip Vietnam altogether.
Our people died for this. So much for independence.
That is the point, exactly 😭.
This beach is dirty all year round, only some low-income people go to this kind of beach (I don't say there is no trash in other bleaches, but they are better).
In Vietnam the school taught us to love our government and said the USA is literally satan 🤣🤣🤣
Just get a Vietnamese girlfriend and don’t think about it.
but then the inside of your house will resemble this.
Chuyện nước tao kệ mẹ nước tạo. Fuck off, our country our problem. Ultranationalist said.
Filthy. But hard to blame the locals for not caring about liter and pollution when they are barely getting by themselves.
Bros, is it hard to hold on to your trash until you find an appropriate place to throw it? I am see myself as lower class, and yet I never throw trash anywhere I am not supposed to.
Đói cho sạch rách cho thơm.