Third-world countries suck

I don’t know how people do it but Vietnam is so poor and dirty.

That’s why the President call it shitholes.
Life is already hard here…

How what people do it? Locals or expats? Do what?

Some context, please.

Lack of acceptable sanitation facilities in most places does indeed make it a literal shit hole country. I’m in the country for a death in the family matter and I don’t know how people can visit comparable places like Mexico, Cuba, India etc. I suppose it’s attractive to spend literal pennies on the dollar.

It’s probably because I’m a self loathing aspirational racist that I don’t like the third world conditions and seek to abandon my ethnic heritage as a jungle Asian.

I find the pace of change, both economic and social, a source of energy and hope that is lacking in most developed countries, where things feel much more ossified.

I personally haven’t found sanitation to be such a huge issue in Asia (haven’t been to India yet). You need to be aware, but it’s a only mildly different mindset than that in the US (where hand washing is obsessive). Carrying a small bottle of self drying hand sanitizer and a bottle of purified water does the trick in effectively all situations, for those especially concerned.

Bribery and corruption is rife at all levels of life here but seemingly less so than when I first visited in the late 90s for the first time when the communist regime firat opened up to foreign investment.

I think a rise in corruption is pretty typical in most ex-Communist countries that are reforming ownership systems. Even eastern Europe had issues with this at an arguably much higher level of development when they finally reformed.

It’s definitely a problem in aggregate - was it’s impact on your recent time there significant?

What is your perception of changes in average quality of life since your last visit a few decades ago? The data certainly make it sound like a big improvement.

I love travelling. Food, mountains, beaches, crazy cities. However, having been across a good (for me) share of the earth, I’m no the snotty ‘world traveller’ looking down at people that choose to stick to North America. Canada is pretty damn cool, and freaking huge, and we maintain our natural environment better. The US for all its ridiculousness, has a wide range of cultures and geographies to explore too.

As someone who was born and lives in a third-world country, I can’t disagree. There are good things about my country, sure, but it sucks in so many different ways it isn’t even funny.

Are you living there or visiting? My wife and I loved it when we spent 4 days in Ho Chi Min City on vacation. Sure no one could understand a damn word we said (and vice versa, even the hotel staff just sorta shrugged at us) but the food was great, some of the festivals going on at the time were great to watch (we went around chinese new year), and everything was cheap. I really don’t remember thinking things were dirty or lacked sanitation but we never really left Ho Chi Min City except for a few specific things (like the vietcong tunnels).

Just you wait, Rei. Vietnam’s next smartphone will really turn things around.

I actually just got back from India a month ago. As far as sanitation, it was mixed. Most of the time it was fine. Occasionally there were problems.

Notable was a trip to Pundicherry and, not to have too explicit details, I was having gastrointestinal distress at one point while I was at the botanical gardens. I found the restroom and… no running water, no toilet paper.

That was horrible.

Also I never could adjust to the water wand and just stuck to paper.

That said dog and cow shit was everywhere. Like walk with your eyes down because you literally have to otherwise within 30 seconds you’ll step in one.

I’m half Guatemalan. I don’t have especially happy memories of my visits. The Civil War really tore the country to shreds back in the day, and it’s never exactly recovered. Rampant, hyper-violent crime (which has gotten massively worse as Mexican cartels have swooped in to take advantage of the virtually nonexistent law enforcement and horrific corruption at all levels of government), a cratered economy, abysmal sanitation standards, ineffectual government at best, casual disregard for the Mayan descendants living there and the country’s natural bounty. . .

Also, everything smelled vaguely of corn and this particularly pungent hard cheese called queso seco. Which might sound nice at first, but after a month or so, it’s incredibly obnoxious, thinking surely your brain has gotten used to the corn-feet-smell in this house, only to enter the next one and find it even stronger.

I love (some) of my family there to bits, and there’s certainly beautiful and cool shit there, but man, you couldn’t pay me to risk life and limb to visit again until they sort their shit out.

I mean, mind, more than half of this is directly the fault of US interference over the years, but while I’ll gladly play the blame game from an academic standpoint. . . I still don’t wanna go :)

For a brief moment I felt guilty for the amount I spend on first world gaming hardware and software and the chasm of difference to the living monthly wages of family still here. That and I finally learned the full story about the epic sacrifices and risks they took as boat people in order to find a better life for me.

Seeing the shores where our flimsy escape-by-night boat broke apart and learning about how my mother faced rape from thai pirates, countless hardships and disease plus betrayal from a family member who threatened to kill me were all sobering moments.

Garbage is everywhere here. It’s gross.

We recently went on a trip to India for a week, and such a beautiful area (near Jodhpur). But my one recurring complaint was indeed the vast amount of trash all over the place. It made a really beautiful and interesting place seem… less beautiful and interesting.

To be fair, the fancier areas where they expect tourists do not have trash. But it was everywhere else, and unavoidable. :(

I have often wondered why people litter in beaches and scenic spot and always attributes it to “awareness” but I think this writer nail it. It’s probably “someone else’s job” mentality and feeling of entitlement of the urbanites.

It’s not just urbanites. When they’re barely eking out an existence they can’t be bothered to save the planet. Combined with lack of any formal and efficient government collection infrastructure outside of tourist traps leads to the same thing in Vietnam as India.

Most of developing Asia is bad in this respect, I think more so that Latin America. While I tend to really enjoy the adventure in developing countries, garbage is a definite eyesore. I’m my experience it’s more often about aesthetics/nuisance than being a genuine public health concern.

I think that urbanites find garbage handling it below them, and the less well off just don’t know any better. A real shame in both cases.

Yeah a problem in India is a lack of waste receptacles. Often, after eating something from a food stand, I would have to carry the garbage for a mile or more to a waste bin. I always made the effort, because just tossing the cup or wrapper was Wrong to me. But given the effort I had to take at times, I totally can grok why they don’t.

It was unfortunate certainly. And big tourist spots like beaches could get pretty bad. Actual paid tourist spots, like historical sites, tended to be better. That 10x local ticket price pays off, I suppose.