I walked tonight to the water puppet show. Along the way, just by the lake I noticed a young Vietnamese girl, reasonably well dressed, about 17-20 years old picking up rubbish with tongs and filling up some huge dumpsters. She was not missing a single piece.
I had not seen one person in Vietnam pick up rubbish... including tourists.
I watched her with interest for several minutes and eventually I had to go and talked to her.
I discovered that for years every Thursday night she took a break from her study and would clean the area around the lake "because she wanted her city to be pretty". I asked her and found that she was not paid for this and nobody had asked her to do this. I was so impressed I shook her hand and told her how amazing I thought that was. I left and watched her a few more minutes.
Soon it got the better of me and I went over to give her 100000 vnd for herself. She flat out refused to take it - I was stunned. I insisted and tried to force the money into her hand and walk away. She chased me with the money to give it back. I saw her drop the money and turn to pick it up. I made my escape. She shouted "thank you mister"
That was quite a touching moment really.
