[Vietnam]

Utterly perfect weather. We periodically climb off the boat and fool around on various islands. We hike on some, explore caves on others.

Huynh tells me of his desire to work for one of the new hotels. Getting any sort of entry job requires an enormous bribe to the manager – roughly $500. It turns out that most jobs require such pay-offs, eliminating the possibility of such work for people like Huynh.

Where ever I go in the developing world, this is the story. At one level, it’s corruption. But at another level, it’s the inevitable shadow economy. There is almost always this hidden element, and it’s not so much about top officials getting rich as it is the structure of an entire economic system. A complex – and rational – system of private pay-backs and fees has evolved within businesses and government organizations of every sort that are not able to pay living wages.

Huynh takes out his wallet and shows me letters and pictures from a young English woman he had met. They seem to have become romantically involved, although I can’t tell for sure. But what is typical are the huge hopes he has pinned on her. She has led him to believe that she will help him. This seems to mean money, marriage, or a visa out of the country.

It’s another story that I’ve heard again and again. People who have made friends with a tourist and hold big hopes that this new and special relationship will somehow help them to transcend the constraints on their lives. It usually doesn’t happen.