The Vietnamese people in the North of the country were extremely hospitable. It’s custom throughout the country to invite visitors for a shot of corn liquor.
This custom kept surprising me:
The shot glass has been offered to me by a policeman at a restaurant;
a poor farmer invited me and my family (total strangers) into his home and offered us a shot of the corn drink after we had drunk a cup of burning hot water without tea.
we drank shots with our host at the homestay.
and these young men at a market invited me and my boyfriend to drink with them even though it was before noon.
The drink had to be emptied in one gulp. Thereafter, the participants would shake hands with one another.
The gesture seemed to the Vietnamese way of making friends and showing hospitality.
It was a fruitful way of communicating without a shared spoken language.
Maria's Ethnography 