Good Morning, Vietnam is the title of this blog because that is what we found, a country being reborn & revitalized after the insanity of the war and what happened in its aftermath. The policies put in place in Vietnam after the end of the war combined with a drought and the war to get rid of the genocide of Pol Pot in Cambodia all combined to hamper the rebuilding of the country. Now all of that is history, just like the war, and Vietnam is on the move with the same resolve they used to get out from under occupation by the French, then the US. You come to realize that they have been fighting for their independence for hundreds of years, from China, from France & finally from the US. You see a beautiful country with moderate weather, beautiful beaches, mountains, a plentiful ocean full of fish and rice growing everywhere. Finally the people, half of whom were born after the war, who seem to have no time for grudges or animosity. The children with smiling faces jump at the opportunity to practice their English with you and shake hands.
Like most developing countries, some parts develop faster than others. The big battle in Vietnam & especially Cambodia is corruption and control by the government. Next is infrastructure, like places to park other than the sidewalk, traffic laws & controls, garbage cans for refuse collection, environmental awareness, adequate schooling for all students and on and on. A later blog will describe life in Cambodia.
Eleanor's input: We recently returned from Vietnam and Cambodia. Before I tell you about our photos, I think it's time for a status report. We left the states seven months ago. At that time when friends asked various questions about our future we said that we felt we were beginning a process--we would go to Thailand and depending on what we found, we would decide what we would do in the future. Little did we know that we would also be finding out a heck of a lot about ourselves during this process. For me, I found out that I love retirement--time to read books--time to visit with new-found friends for a two hour lunch without looking at the clock--time to travel--just plain time to do what I want, when I want to do it. Jules, on the other hand, found out that he misses teaching and doing something productive. This is not a static thing--perhaps I'll feel differently in a year; perhaps he will change also. As for the place, surprisingly enough, we found out the most about Thailand when we left it to go to Vietnam and Cambodia four weeks ago. Vietnam, and especially Cambodia, provided us with a great deal of perspective. It may come as a surprise, but not all Southeastern Asian countries are alike. In fact, there are very great differences between them. These differences are across the board: infrastructure--level of corruption--health facilities--educational opportunities--people's attitudes, etc. Travel in Vietnam and Cambodia made us appreciate Thailand so very much more. From the simple joys of life like being able to cross the street without getting run over by a motorbike (no joke: you take your life in your hands every time you cross the street in Vietnam) to more complex needs like having government garbage collection remove bags of household waste from the sidewalks and gutters. We love living in Thailand and we especially love living in Chiang Mai. It is so easy to live here! It's not perfect--no place is but it's pretty darn wonderful. But-- there's always a "but"--we miss our family and friends an awful lot and Jules misses teaching. That is where we are and if life and its vagaries allow us to continue to follow our dreams, that is what we will be doing for the foreseeable future.
My one word to describe the vacation in Vietnam is "surreal." Yes, it was beautiful; the people, especially the youngsters, were friendly; the traffic was crazy; the sights and entertainment were great but being in places like Hanoi, the Hanoi Hilton, Danang, China Beach, Saigon--places I heard about every day for years--places associated with terrible things happening--was difficult. Fortunately, no one I loved was killed in Vietnam. But just like visiting the Vietnam Memorial is an emotional experience, so too is visiting Vietnam. And all the beautiful palm trees and oceanfront did not wipe away the past associations I had made in my mind. The undercurrent was there--I could not divorce the past from the present--it was something I had to deal with on a very personal level. It all happened a lot of years ago but when you are there, the memories flood back.
As you can see from our pictures, the present is a wholly different matter. We saw almost no evidence of the war outside of the war museums. Vietnam is still an emerging country--most of the economy is based on agriculture and fishing. We saw so many farming and fishing villages that they all run together in my mind. Our pictures show the sights of Hanoi, Halong Bay, Hue, Hoi An, Dalat, and Saigon (Ho Chi Mihn City--HCMC)--ancient ruins, beautiful bays and beaches, street life, village life, life on the water, museums, temples, orphanages and schools, and the present celebration of Tet, the lunar New Year, in Saigon.
I strongly recommend that you go to Vietnam sooner rather than later because change is in the air--pretty soon the tourists will transform it and progress will wipe away the vestiges of the old Vietnam--see it now.
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| Good Morning, Vietnam |
