Disturbing

Posted by EmmaS (1253 days ago)

On Saturday, my fiance and I were walking around Ngoc Khanh Lake in Ba Dinh, in Hanoi. This guy walked towards us and as he passed my fiance (6'3" westerner!), kicked him viciously in the side. He then carried on to attack my fiance, kicking him in the head and body repeatedly, and as we tried to get away, he went to pick up a piece of concrete with a pole in it. Thankfully, some local people managed to slow him down and we escaped.

Needless to say, after 2 months in Hanoi, we are completely shocked that this would happen in our neighbourhood, in broad daylight, with many people watching, and with absolutely no provocation.

But my questions are:
1. Has anyone else had an experience like this?
2. WHY?!! We are trying to figure out what the point was.

Posted by qqqqq (1253 days ago)

I dont think things like this happen for no reason. Maybe your fiance was having an affair with the mans sister and he saw you with him and was angry? Ask him what he might have done to provoke this anger.

Posted by EmmaS (1253 days ago)

I can see your point, but my fiance and I are extremely close and there would never even be the opportunity for anything like that to happen - apart from the fact that I trust him implicitly. I could tell by his reaction (and mine) that neither of us had seen this man before. I do wonder whether maybe it is a "westerner" thing - maybe his girlfriend left him for a westerner? What was shocking was the viciousness of the attack - my fiance didn't even look at him as we walked past.

Posted by ldldjr (1253 days ago)

I have not heard of any such attacks. I would assume that this is an isolated incident. Why did it happen? Only the attacker knows.

Did you report it to the police? Not that I think that reporting it would result in anything, but not reporting it will definately not result in anything.

Posted by byebyeseattle (1253 days ago)

Jesus. I am very sorry to hear tham EmmaS. I hope your fiance is ok. I've been to VN for the third time now, and I have heard of anything like this ever happen to a Westerner...come to think of it, I have never heard of anything like this, period.

Posted by BHB (1252 days ago)

Yeah that sucks. May well have been on drink or drugs, you never know. Never heard of anything like that before.

Posted by wishtoremainanonymous (1251 days ago)

I've had trouble in Vietnam before. Twice I've had people try and break into my hotel room at night, and one time at a nightclub in Nha Trang I had two locals start trouble with me whilst I was with my girlfriend (also a Vietnamese national). Its not nice but it happens, and I still feel safer there than in Britain.

Posted by EmmaS (1251 days ago)

Thanks for the sympathy and feedback, everyone. The police may put a uniformed patrol person near the lake. I've now heard from a Vietnamese friend that there is rumoured to be a bit of a drug problem around there, so maybe that is it.

I am somewhat relieved to hear that this IS a rare incident. I, and it sounds like everyone here, have always felt very safe in VN.

Posted by > (1246 days ago)

Why didn't he fight back? If he is 6.3" then surely he would be bigger than the Vietnamese guy??