Vietnam--the up and coming New Kid on the SE Asia Block

It was a hassle getting a visa to Vietnam but definitely worth it. Vietnam is much more a country of contrasts than Thailand. Some Thais I spoke with feel if Thailand does not make some serious changes Vietnam will have a better GPA in 5 to 10 years than Thais. In reference to the other S.E. Asia countries I have been told Burma, Laos, and Cambodia are all so poor there is no competition there.

I took the advice of some Kiwi friends who had just returned from Vietnam and bought a cross country bus pass. It was $40 on generally a nicer bus & was good for 5 stops. First I will share with you about before the bus experience begins. When I landed in Saigon, also called Ho Chi Mien City it was so huge, hot and overwhelming. I hooked up at the airport with a darling Russian guy & a tall blond Italian girl. We decided due to the overwhelm we would hang together for a day or 2 or more. It worked out well. We went to the hotel together, got our rooms, dinner, & the owner booked us a 2 day, all meals, & overnight home stay tour group of the Mekong Delta for $18 bucks. We had a great time. The Delta is full of very poor rice farmers. How our boys ever fought a war in an area of endless waterways, full of dense jungle is amazing. they must have felt they were little more than duck decoys i am sure. I had a very hard time emotionally dealing with the birth defects i saw caused by our dropping of agent orange. Our hotel manager was one of its victims. I finally got lectured by some young fellow travelers on not feeling the guilt and pulled out of that funky mood.

Our trip to many different cultural and business looks at the delta area was only marred by our very brash tour guide's rousing song in praise of Uncle Ho. Actually the only really overt sign of a real tribute to communism I saw on a personal level, thank god, while I was there.

After returning to Saigon, the 3 Musketeers split up and I began my 5 stop bus tour up the coast of Vietnam. I just wanted to get really cooled off after a month of being overheated & went to Dalat, as my first stop. It is in the refreshingly clean mountains in the S. Central Highlands. Until the 50's & before it was hunted out, big game hunters, especially from France bagged, tigers, Elephants, rinos, & much more in these woods. I spent 6 cool days here. The local transportation in Vietnam really sucks. About 90% of the adults own motorcycles. I was forced to go on my first ride on one in about 40 years. Every day my very safe driver, took me to another beautiful place in the area. I actually landed a job there but the thought of getting around that way for the next semester was beyond my comprehension. I am sure my poor driver had finger nail marks in his side at the end of each ride. They are called Easy Riders and haul tourists asses all over Vietnam. Cars, Taxis, are all rare in the land of the new status symbol here. Having your own Honda.

I was finding the Vietnam people very friendly by this point. they are much noisier I discovered than their Siam cousins, much poorer, but loving Americans. I was so grateful they were so forgiving. The fact that about 2/3's the population is under 35 & has no recollection of the war helps a lot also. While I was in Hanoi they had their independence day celebration. From guess who--the end of the American War as they refer to it.

Well my next stop is a very interesting experience but I will continue with that soon.