My Wife's Vietnam Vacation

[Art]

Knowing a good percentage of the folks on this forum are Vietnam vets I thought I'd post a quick note on the state of Vietnam today from an eye witness. I didn't go to Vietnam, during the year of Ted I was maintaining Nike missiles in Korea. Not exactly a bowl of cherries but much less hazardous than the RVN.

One of my wife's best friend's is a Vietnamese manicurist who's married to a mid level oil exec. Well this lady travels a lot and trips to Vietnam are a priority. She's been on my bride to go to Vietnam with her for a few years now. Well this year the stars aligned work wise for the wife-cakes and she made the trip.

A quick note about "Miss Vietnam's" background. Her family were closely aligned with the Americans during the war. Some of her family were taken out by our people, some were "boat people" including this gal and got out that way. Kathy met one of her uncles who after a spell in a "re-education camp" he was put to work clearing mine fields . Well it seems Vietnam today is nothing like it was then because this old boy is now quite wealthy and the owner or part owner of several business.

So Vietnam today: Kathy and her bud went to "Ho Chi Minh City." Now Ho Chi Minh City defines the evolution of Vietnam, which today despite being officially communist is in fact more capitalistic and business friendly than the U.S. To Vietnamese in the United States the city is still Saigon. People in the southern third of Vietnam still refer to it as Saigon. Some of the stuff my wife brought back has Saigon-Ho Chi Minh City written on it and I would not be surprised if the name of the place became officially Saigon again eventually symbolizing the final repudiation of communist economics in Vietnam.

My spousal unit informed me that Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon is very modern and very clean. The people are friendly, like Americans and the streets are safe. She also said that rural Vietnam can be stunningly beautiful. It is also the land of small business. There are multitudes of "mom and pop" business, including eateries, 15-30 room hotels, transportation services (taxies, etc.,) She said food was good plentiful, and cheap (especially if you like soup ) which shows from the fact that almost all of the local people in the pictures she sent looked like they had some extra "padding." Since my wife was with a local she was able to truly travel on the cheap. Air fare on Singapore airlines was under $900.00 round trip. Adding in a tidy, air conditioned room in one of the aforementioned mom and pop hotels set her back $12.00 a day so transportation and lodging for a 10 day trip came to under $1,000.00.

When I did my research on do's and don'ts I learned the following: The possession of drugs for recreational purposes is illegal, the laws are strictly enforced and consequences of being caught can include death by hanging. Pornography sale and distribution are also illegal. As an aside, it is illegal to rent a room to a man and woman who are not married to each other or do not possess a certificate of engagement. When asked how this could be enforced I replied that I assume presentation of a national I.D. card which contains that information is required to rent a room (Kathy had to present her passport when she checked in.)

"Miss Vietnam" is from Danang and they are already talking about a possible trip there. I don't know how they'll work that out since my wife's work schedule makes travel between Sept. and May very difficult and the time to go is Oct. to Mar. which allows avoiding the monsoon-typhoon season.

It's still a country that has an authoritarian government that in some areas verges on being a police state, but the average Vietnamese guy or gal on the street seems to be doing quite well, but from what I've heard after this trip a very nice place for a slightly off the beaten path east Asian vacation.

So there it is, the viewpoint of one person on Vietnam (or at least Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon today.)