Gold & Silver : Revisiting : Huy Pham

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Huy Pham talks about
returning to Vietnam

Revisiting
- Huy Pham -

"Over here, [in Australia] people just put their heads down and work hard and try to make a good life for themselves. Even though living in Vietnam is really where they want to be because that's their homeland, and Vietnamese also have a very strong bonding to the land as well, this is where all their ancestors lived and they always look after the ancestors graves as well. So to some Vietnamese it's a big shock that they have to leave their homeland. And of course they are very sad to not to be able to look after the graves of their ancestors which is the Vietnamese culture."

"Ha Long Bay is always a place I wanted to visit, because over here, you see Ha Long Bay on TV a lot."

"Ha Long Bay is always a place I wanted to visit, because over here, you see Ha Long Bay on TV a lot. One of the James Bond films, 007 was filmed in Ha Long Bay as well. So after seeing the film I really wanted to go back to see Ha Long Bay. I think it was on the second day of my trip, I went there with my mother and the other people on the tour. It's a very beautiful place. I find it quite peaceful, just the setting, you see the rocks and the mountains, and you see on the water, the boats on Ha Long Bay as well, just the shape and the colours. It's, just very unique, Ha Long Bay."

"... you have to understand why these people are being nice to you, and so on, it's just for the sake of the dollar, to get by..."

"Many foreigners, they see Vietnam through TV programs, like shows like Getaway and The Great Outdoors, and the country is promoted as having friendly people, they are very lovely and they treat you very nicely, they have beautiful smiles, and the food over there is great, it's cheap, just beautiful scenery and so on. But you know that's just on the surface, you have to understand why these people are being nice to you, and so on, it's just for the sake of the dollar, to get by. If you were to live in the country, then you would have a completely different experience than if you were a tourist."