We went to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, February 10 –
26, 2013, on an German tour, a dozen or so people, led by a Vietnamese guide
who learned his German in the German Democratic Republic in the seventies. On
our ongoing search for the most perfect system, we have checked out Cuba, Egypt
and now Vietnam. In April, we will we visiting the mullahs in Iran…
“Good Morning, Vietnam!” This famous movie
title is very much visible on t-shirt, hats and mugs. Robin Williams left his
mark on the country with his 1987 movie.
Touristing in Vietnam – a most pleasant experience.
Great hotels, a delicious cuisine, friendly, open people and so much to see –
the mountainous north, the beaches in the middle and the fascinating Mekong
Delta in the south. Plus interesting cities like Hanoi, Hue, Hoi An, Saigon and
Can Tho. The French colonial period is not much in evidence any more, but there
are beautiful buildings and parks in the great cities that merit attention.
Very actively attended pagodas are fragrant and welcoming sites from north to
south. Our tour had inserted a number of bicycle tours through interesting
countryside and cities or villages. That was a wonderful experience, with
children and adults welcoming us with loud “hello’s”.
Vietnam Primer: On April 30, 1975,
Saigon fell and America lost the “Vietnam War”. On July 2, 1976, North and
South Vietnam were merged to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The death
toll of the war is estimated to be between 800,000 and 3.1 million. About
165,000 prisoners died in “reeducation camps” in the South. Another 200,000 to
400,000 died between the late 70’s and early 80’s, when the “boat people” tried
to flee Vietnam. America lost almost 60,000 young men in Vietnam, and another
300,000 were wounded.
Following the economic collapse caused by the mass campaign
of collectivization of farm and factories, in 1986, reform politicians
introduced “doi moi” or renovation, which carefully managed the transition from
a planned economy to a “socialist-oriented market economy”. The Economist
has characterized the Vietnamese economic leadership as “ardently capitalist
communists”.
Vietnam has a geographic size almost that of Germany,
reaching from latitudes 8° to 24° north, level land covering no more than
20%, tropical forest around 43% of the area. The country has about 92 million
people (about half of them riding around on motor scooters, see below).
Vietnam’s economy has made tremendous progress in the last
25 years. It has been estimated that the country will maintain a very high
growth rate in the next decade, making it one of the fastest growing economies
in the world. Vietnam is now one of Asia’s most open economies. It also has
become a major exporters of agricultural products, but the share of such
products is decreasing in importance as technology-based exports continue to
increase.
War Memories: The “American War”, as the
Vietnam war is called there, is not much in evidence as one travels in Vietnam.
Yes, there is the large “War Remnants” museum in Saigon (officially now Ho Chi
Min City) that displays the horrors of the war on several floors of documents,
photos and munitions as well as fragments of shot-down airplanes, like a B-52.
Outside in the courtyard, a large display of American tanks, helicopters and
F-4 fighter planes. But in the countryside and in the cities of Hanoi and
Saigon, we saw no signs of the tremendous bombing damage America inflicted on
the country in eight years of war. But my American passport raised no eyebrows.
You can imagine my very personal reaction to Vietnam’s war
history when I tell you that I was a U.S. Army officer between 1963 and 1965
and I was discharged just as the war was getting very bad. I know of several
fellow officers who did not return from Vietnam. I also know that I would have
agreed to go, if I had been assigned to the war zone. But only a few years
later, my attitude had changed dramatically, as did that of millions of fellow
American when in 1968 and 1969, I was marching with protesters around the White
House and the Justice Department, urging the government to end this senseless
war.
The People: To our surprise, English in not
spoken well by many, even in the four-star hotels we often stayed in. We were
told that the language of the enemy was simply not taught for many years after
the war ended in 1975. But menus are in English and tourism is a major industry
that is slowly having an impact on language skills, too. We experienced the
Vietnamese as open and friendly and incredibly energetic – almost everybody
seems to have a store, even if it is only stool and a charcoal fire on a
sidewalk.
92 Million People, 46 Million scooters: City
streets, from the Chinese border in the north to the Mekong delta in the south
are filled with, yes, well over 46 million scooters. Fortunately. Because 46
million cars would simply not fit on the very basic streets and highways of
that long and narrow country. Traffic is incredibly noisy, totally confusing
and unimpeded by most traffic lights and rules of the right-of-way. But it
flows, with horns blaring – but tempers very calm with busses and cars and
trucks – and millions of scooters - coexisting peacefully.
Capitalist Communists: Taking their cue from
the not-much-loved neighbor China in the north, the Vietnamese have calmly
transcended the restrictive boundaries of a centrally planned economy and
created a largely free market place for private investment, large and small.
The country is a major producer of goods that are found in the stores of Europe
and the U.S.. While the state is still a one-party communist country, the party
is not much in evidence. Occasion posters will carry the hammer-and-sickle
emblem of the Party, in cities and in the countryside, and Uncle Ho, founding father
Ho Chi Min is honored, much like Fidel Castro in Cuba, with innumerable statues
and pictures. The feeling in Vietnam was much freer than in Cuba, with very few
uniforms in the streets and no tedious em- and disembarkation procedures
entering and leaving the country.
Pushy Minorities: We spent a few days among the
Black Hmong and other exotic minorities (Flower Hmong, Red Dao, Zay, Tay) in
the far north of Vietnam. They have one aim – getting dollars from tourists.
Their pushy and voluble approach quickly got on our nerves and made us avoid
them when possible, taking pictures of their colorful dress and headgear from a
safe distance only. There are over 50 minorities in the country, all speaking
very different languages. We were reminded, unpleasantly, of the hordes of
begging and selling crowds in Egypt and India…
Young Worshippers Everywhere: Visiting many
pagodas we noticed that they are much attended, in large numbers also by
younger people. They burn long thin incense sticks that spread their fragrant
smoke throughout. We observed rows and rows of scooters right in front of the
pagodas. Western churches should be so lucky. Ancestor worship is deeply
engrained in the Vietnamese and Chinese cultures.
Food & Drink: What a pleasant surprise!
Having tasted Vietnamese food in the U.S. and in Europe – and not finding it
very interesting – we can say that we very much enjoyed our many different
meals in the mountains, in the small cities and in Hanoi, Hoi An, and Saigon.
We followed in the footsteps of Bill Clinton and First Daughter Chelsea when we
ate a delicious lunch in a now very famous, and very simple, restaurant in
Saigon the President visited in 2000. We also remember the delicious Vietnamese
breakfasts in our fancy hotel, the perfect bowls of made-to-order soups and
much, much more.
Money, Money: The Vietnamese dong currency
exchanges at about 20,000 to the dollar. Took us a while to quickly translate
that a “Tiger” or “Saigon” or “Hanoi” beer (“bia”, as the cans and bottles are
labeled), at 30,000 dong really cost only $1.50 or €1.15. You will understand
that we had much practice doing this calculation because temperatures,
especially in the south, were often well above 90 degrees with high humidity;
Saigon is only 8 degrees north of the equator. Local wines are simple, not
expensive, but very modest. Dollars are readily accepted, with the minorities
and other street sellers offering everything at “one dollar, one dollar!”
The Year of the Snake: We were lucky to arrive
in Hanoi on February 10, the official date of the Tet New Year celebration –
which this year shut down the country for about five days. We saw thousands of
banners everywhere wishing the world a Happy New Year and the beginning of the
Year of the Snake. Nevertheless, we declined to order the snake menu in a
restaurant by the Saigon River; that menu item is there throughout the year, by
the way, not only this year – the Year of the Snake.
Vive l’Hospital Francais! The better half’s
painfully dislocated hip joint forced us to interrupt our journey, taking a
gruesome, sleepless overnight train from the Chinese border to Hanoi. Ambulance
awaited us at the train station there and whisked to L’Hospital Francais, a
world-class institution with over 40 doctors on duty. Mainly foreigners and the
wealthier Vietnamese make use of this private hospital. A non-invasive
orthopedic procedure put the bones back in the right place and we retired to a
great hotel where later we rejoined our tour and proceeded on down the coast to
Saigon, by plane and bus.
Good-bye, Vietnam! Thank you, for a great experience.
