Vietnam recap
My Vietnam entries were all over the map so will try to summarize them the best I can.
From what I have learned Hue where I first stopped is near the DMZ between what was the communist North & the Republic in the South, sort of explains the different attitudes as Vietnam borders China to the north where people also have an attitude problem whereas the re-education of the south kind of got lost in the shuffle Clinton dropped the US embargo in 1995, a mere 15 yrs ago. So the people there are friendlier. At least that’s my thought.
Saigon has oodles of tourists & while the economy is good there still is no MacDonald’s or 7/11’s which might account for the great food but there are KFC’s which is NOT a bad thing!
Also the gov’t, on the surface anyway seems to have hit on a workable solution between state owned enterprises & the private sector as evidenced the private produce boat for sale at the floating market.
As I have already made clear Saigon is an intriguing city & should be on everyone’s bucket list. So in general the economy is doing well as is all SE Asia, tourism is up, the food is great. Definitely worth a visit, if in the area but wouldn’t recommend a special trip just to visit Vietnam. Then again running a produce boat to one of the floating markets still sounds like a cool plan!
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Tags: Travel
busman7
I guess the communist take over hasn’t been all that bad for the south. It seems that Vietnam isn’t really “red” communist, but more a shade of “Pink”, much like the former Yugoslavia was.
IMHO pink is probably a good word as the system isn’t truly communist any longer, more socialist in Vietnam, Laos & China although China has some serious human rights problems in Tibet, seems to be working.
Actually for the average person running a small business it is far ahead of what we now have in Ontario where the small has absolutely NO rights, a sad joke of a health care system & a costly education system.
Really amazing how far Vietnam has come in 15 years from Saigon residents having to go to the central post office to make an international phone call to the present where Wi-Fi is cheaper than Ontario & no MacDonalds is not necessarily a bad thing LOL