These aren't the droids you're looking for

If there is one part of travel in Vietnam that takes getting used to, it's the somewhat aggressive marketing style. "Hello, you buy something," is the typical approach we encounter.

And wherever we walk, people try to sell us all sorts of products - chewing gum, t-shirts, bootlegged books, CDs and DVDs, cigarettes, pineapple, cashews, peanut brittle, ao dais (long flowing gowns worn here), tours, hotel rooms, taxi, cyclo and motorcycle rides - to name just a few of the things we've been offered.

From our encounters with other travelers, there seems to be a couple ways of handling the near constant, albeit generally friendly, barrage of sales requests: The first is to run screaming from the country, declaring it full of rude, pushy people. We have run across several people who have succumb to this approach, call it the Dark Side. I understand, the Dark Side can be very powerful and is difficult to resist, especially as you are being offered your sixth copy of Stupid White Men by women carrying towering stacks of books during one meal. The stream of touts can seem incessant.

Yet there is another way. If you use the Force, you can move through these touts with some ease. I have been testing this approach, employing the Jedi Mind Trick when cornered on the street, in a restaurant or elsewhere. I have begun waving my hand slowly, smiling and saying, "these are not the droids you are looking for." The results have been impressive. Mostly people understand I am not interested and move on. Or I leave them confused.

As a novice, I am still learning the ways of the Force. Yet as another day begins and I prepare to head out onto the streets of Saigon, I am confident I will be presented with hundreds of opportunities to practice my skills. For this, I am thankful. May the Force be with me.