My limited exposure to Vietnam this week revealed a country that is defined by simple elegance. It seemed that nearly everywhere I went, my head was turned by some small but elegant form or gesture- my bed carefully arranged each day with three flower buds resting gently on the smoothly pressed white linens; a farmer pouring rice from a basket overhead in a smooth and perfect stream of flowing grains; a young girl silhoueted in a pristine white ao dai (the national dress of a long slim-fitting dress over loose trousers) on her way to school; an old man, back perfectly straight as he pedals slowly through town on a rusty old bicycle. I was most struck by the innate elegance of this country when I was riding through the countryside on a motorbike one afternoon, and I couldn't take my gaze away from the woman perched on the back of the motorbike in front of me. She was covered from head to toe, and clearly a woman of modest means, yet to me she became the most elegant woman I had ever seen. Her posture was perfect, the scarf that fluttered from beneath her hat caught the breeze in just the right way, and the way in which she nonchalantly crooked her fingers through the bag hanging at her side reflected confidence and relaxation at the same time. She wore heels and hooked the heels over the foot rests so that her toes pointed skyward, creating an elegant angle between the knee and the foot.... such little details, but I was struck by how very uncontrived her elegance was, and that this has actually become quite a rarity in the world I seem to revolve in.