Vietnam, Land of the Bo Do

Pretty quickly during those first days in Hanoi we began noticing that a rather large number of women over a certain age, probably 50 or so, were wearing a sort of flower pantsuit.  They looked like pajamas, but stylish.  They seemed super comfortable and breezy, perfect for the heat.  And we were delighted by all of the colors and designs - the variety and utter awesomeness of these is hard to describe.

We mostly referred to these outfits as flower pantsuits, but apparently they are called bo do.  They are technically pajamas, but are socially acceptable (cool, even) to wear outside one's home.  And the bo do mania didn't stop in Hanoi.  Every city we visited, from Hoi An to Saigon to Hue, there were women rockin' the flowery sweetness every where we looked.  Our delight in seeing so many bo dos may sound like we've just gotten bored on the road, but there is something totally unique and awesome about these outfits, and the near-100% wearing rate among women of a certain age.  Part of the joy we derived from all of these bo dos came from the fact that some of the colors and designs seemed to be worn as a challenge for someone else to one-up the brightness or out-thereness.   In Saigon we started to notice more geometric and abstract designs, as well as more younger ladies with bo do fever.  We also realized that a great deal of the clothing, unsurprisingly, on offer at local markets were bo dos.  It was fun to check out the rows and rows, stacks and stacks, racks and racks, of bo dos as we strolled through clothing market areas in Saigon, toward the end of our time in Vietnam.

China had some flower pantsuit action, but not on the same level as Vietnam.  It's like Vietnam saw China's flower pantsuits and raised them one hundred billion.  More ladies wear louder, more daring designs in Vietnam.  End of story.  In Malaysia, we had enjoyed checking out the many different designs of tudung (or headscarves) worn by Muslim women, which were usually more conservative and calm than the average bo do.  The tudung we observed evoked more of an elegant beauty, often adorned with jeweled clasps and rhinestone embellishments.   The flower pantsuits of Vietnam were worn more for comfort and pizazz, with possible intentions of upstaging one's neighbor or friends with the "wow" factor of each design.

It is hard to describe in writing the pleasure that the sight of a woman with a particularly loud flower pantsuit on the back of a motorbike brought us in the heat and sweat and exhaustion of a long day battling the masses in Hanoi or Saigon, but maybe this photo will help:

 

Flower pantsuit-wearing lady, we salute you!