What Being The Only Man In A Vietnam Tour Means

On our recent Vietnam trip, I was the only man in the tour group. Out of 15 people, 14 were women. Other than our guide, all were women except for me. Of the tourists, all but me. What does this mean?

Well, it means that if there is a vaguely humiliating demonstration, you will likely be selected to participate. For example, say you are at the rice museum and they are talking about farmers so poor that they could not only not afford a tractor, they could not afford a water buffalo to which to attach their plow and had to pull it themselves. Your local guide will then pull you from the group and make you pull the plow while an eighty-something little Vietnamese woman beats you with a small stick.

Yup. That’s about the long and short of it.