Vietnam cover-up

In Saigon, Anita and I noticed many people riding motos wearing face masks; we assumed it was to filter out polluted air, even though the air seemed fine.

We wondered why the masks were so large, some continued down over the neckline onto the shoulders and chest.

In Hanoi, we noticed even more women wearing face masks than in Saigon.

Some of them were wearing not only masks, but also helmets, huge sunglasses and lightweight windbreakers with extensions to the arms, covering the hands.

We asked a young man traveling on our tour to Halong Bay if he could explain all the cover-ups. He responded women in Vietnam are serious about protecting their skin from the sun, they do not want to get dark skin. OK, that makes sense; all of the skin creams advertized appear to have a whitener in them.