I am Woman, Hear Me Roar

One of the more frustrating things about traveling through Vietnam has been coping with the extremely servile culture...towards only men. Until I pointed it out to the boys, they thought it was some kind of coincidence that I was constantly served my food last and waited upon in stores only after their demands had been met.

Not that I'm necessarily 100% cool with the Western "ladies first" tradition, I certainly have my fair share of problems with that as well. However, as a feminist (that's right, I said it; There go my chances of ever being confirmed to the Supreme Court) I found it extremely difficult to deal with my needs constantly and consistently being put behind those of my male traveling partners.

Enough ranting for now. It will be interesting to compare Laos and Thailand to the Vietnam experience vis-a-vis gender issues.