I have heard that Vietnamese people will go to great lengths to help a friend, and certainly a family member. Paradoxically, I have also heard that they will not go out of their way to help someone in distress, such as in an accident.
I have personally experienced many small acts of friendship from Vietnamese I have met, and they always show a genuine interest in you from the first time you meet. Luckily, I have yet to see an accident in Viet Nam over the first eight months we have been here. However, I understand there are many motorbike accidents everyday.
In this case, I was out for a walk and turned the corner right after a motorbike lost its load of live shrimp. They were flopping all over the street.
As you can see, though, several people jumped in to get their hands dirty picking up the shrimp to toss back into the bins.
