As I mentioned in my previous post, it is extremely difficult for me to summarize my trip. I was just asked this morning what I did when I was over there, and I struggled with my answer. The problem is that no one will recognize the names of many of the places I visited. And until I began planning the trip, I didn't known either. I hadn't heard of Hoi An or Phu Quoc, or even Ha Long Bay. It just goes to show that as Americans, we know so little about this part of the world. This is the real tragedy because we spent nearly a decade fighting a war there. Of course, this is probably the answer as to why we know so little. It isn't exactly something people want to talk about. And as many view the war as a mistake and a scar on America's image, people would rather just forget. And they have.
Greg will tell you the same, but the number one response I got when I told people I was going to Vietnam was, "Why?" There is a widespread feeling that the Vietnamese hate Americans. Not true at all. They have definitely moved on. To understand that, we'd have to study history - something Americans are rarely bothered to do. The Vietnamese had been struggling for independence long before the American war. Near the end of WWII, even Roosevelt told the French to make no attempt to retake Indochina after the Japanese were defeated. Of course, our paranoia of Communism changed all that. In short, the Vietnamese view Americans as naive. Perhaps even well-intentioned, but stupid. And the stupid comment is geared toward the government alone because much is made of the American public's opposition to the war. American protests were important in Vietnamese propaganda as we saw at the Hanoi Hilton Museum and at the War Remnants Museum in Saigon. Beyond that, I have heard from numerous people (more so in the South), that the Americans are actually missed, but not for the reasons you'd think. It has nothing to do with U.S. soldiers fighting to protect South Vietnam. In true Communist fashion, it has to do with money. The Americans did wonders for the economy in the south and tipped very well. Once they left, all that remained were a few Soviet tourists who tipped dismally. After all, people in Saigon still refer to their city as Saigon. The only people who call it by its official name of Ho Chi Minh City seem to be party officials and flight attendants. I don't know if I'd go so far as to say the Americans are the reason that the south is so much more prosperous than the north, but I'm sure it didn't hurt. Just look at my comparison photos of Saigon to Hanoi below.
Saigon
Hanoi. Any questions?
Therefore, the problem with making generalizations is that internally there are contradictions. Would you rather America be judged simply by San Francisco or Mississippi? Exactly. What Greg and I witnessed in Vietnam is a transformation taking place - even within the span of our trip. You see, Vietnam hasn't had much time to come into its own. The Soviet Union was propping it up with money up to the early 90s. Vietnam had little incentive to engage in international trade or competition. But after the Soviet Union collapsed, Vietnam found itself without a sponsor and was forced to wake up. In just 20 years, the landscape changed dramatically, but it certainly has a long way to go. The reason people drive motorbikes has little to do with parking or traffic congestion. The fact of the matter is the VAT which fluctuates between 100-200%. To simplify this, it could cost you $40,000 to buy a base model Toyota Corolla. That's basically a life savings in a country where nice hotels are $20 a night and dinners are $1.50. The motorbike traffic results in rampant pollution - imagine yourself at an enlarged version of Disneyland's Autopia. Greg's hacking cough was testament to this. Unlike China, though, Vietnam doesn't try to deny its poor air quality. Face masks are extremely popular - coming in all sorts of designs and colors - particularly in the South. The North, in comparison, was a bit more reserved. Many wore old military helmets as protection from the sun and fashion tended to be more earth tones. It was not uncommon in the South to see people wearing USA jackets, American flag shirts, and hats with NBA teams on them. One might think that globalization is taking root, but not quite. McDonalds, the Starbucks of China, is virtually nonexistent in Vietnam. Fast foods, as a whole, are quite literally a foreign concept. This is a country where its culturally acceptable (and required) to shout and gesture to get service and the bill. Doing all at once would cause great confusion.
Vietnam is a communist country. Vietnam is not a communist country. But aren't they all? Vietnam is communist in the sense that one can operate a hotel and only let out one room a night and stay in business. And shockingly, there are no homeless people (that we saw). But as in all communist countries where "equality" is the ideal, someone finds a way to get ahead. So in the sea of motorbikes, a Mercedes E-Class beeps its way through (keep in mind the 200% import tax). Even in Saigon, where the economy seemed to be more "open," high-rise buildings were reminiscent of China with dozens of unoccupied floors. For Greg and I, prices were ridiculously cheap. Remember the 10¢ beer in Hoi An? But for locals, many things are still out of reach. When we were on Phu Quoc, Greg discovered that the tour promoters who walk the beach (not a bad job to have) make just $3 a day. Convert that to American cost of living and it would be as if I was making around $17 a day.
The fact that children are out selling to tourists rather than in school should not be that alarming. One only has to sell a bottle of water, a few postcards, or some other trinket to make more than $3. After all, what is the incentive of going to school and perfecting your English to make $3 a day when all you need is "Hello! One Dollar!" to get ahead. One young man who talked to us each day on Phu Quoc told us how he wanted to save up to go to Washington, DC someday. At $3 a day, it's going to take a while. It's a rather unfortunate setup, where those who work hard have the fewest incentives. But that's the irony of communism. Along with a communist government, comes paranoia of popular dissent. Ho Chi Minh and Le Duan were far from the despots that Stalin and Mao were, but very harsh precautions were taken to prevent the regime from external threats (roundup of everyone who supported the Americans during the war for example). Nowadays, things are more open with one key exception. Facebook. Facebook took off when a Vietnamese language version became available a few years ago. Recently, it has been blocked with no explanation given. This greatly troubled Greg and I because we could not figure out why. Sites like the Washington Post and the BBC worked fine. So did Twitter, Google, and Bing. Facebook makes it easy to stay in touch with people - perhaps family members in Da Nang or Nha Trang or perhaps . . . Vietnamese citizens who fled to America - settling in Orange County before the communist takeover.
I think it goes without saying that the Orange County lifestyle is a bit more desirable than living in Da Nang - and it would be my guess that the government doesn't want its people to know the extent of that affluence. But people in the South already know about the Vietnamese in Orange County - dropping names like Westminster and Garden Grove as if they've lived in SoCal their whole lives. Keeping in mind that the U.S. dropped an absurd amount of ordnance over Vietnamese towns and cities, defoliated the Mekong Delta causing generations of deformations, and napalmed the jungle, . . . the place that most Vietnamese aspire to visit is the United States. For me, it gives me this feeling of simultaneous guilt and pride. When we visited the VC tunnels at Cu Chi, our guide prefaced our tour with, "This video doesn't say the nicest things about Americans, but it's history. It's over." I would say this summarizes the Vietnamese attitude toward Americans. If they do go to school, they probably read a limited view emphasizing B-52 strikes, Agent Orange, and My Lai, but also that the American public was opposed to the war. Statistics may be warped and the math a bit fuzzy, but the Americans are not demonized.
Ramble, Ramble, Ramble. Perhaps I should make a conclusion. I have talked a lot about the war, when the reality is that the war has nothing to do with present-day Vietnam. It is very difficult to imagine that a war was even fought there. It is a country with untouched beauty and much to offer. Tourism is in its infancy. People are friendly - even if they are just trying to sell a t-shirt. Their driving is godawful, but probably better than your average Chicagoan.
Things like traffic signals and lines are merely a suggestion. Why wait in line behind someone, when you can cut them off? We have flaws of our own, as I was immediately reminded by the inefficient customs procedures at LAX. Capitalism and democracy don't ensure a pleasant and efficient process. I also remarked to Greg during an inefficient experience in Vietnam that I felt like I was at a CVS in D.C. So it's not an argument of us being better. We're just different. As much as one can read about Vietnam (and I had a lot of downtime at work), it means nothing until you get there. That may sound like a cliché (particularly due to American soldiers coming home and telling people they wouldn't understand because they weren't there). But it's entirely true - especially because the books I read were basically false. The Mekong Delta was not that agrarian - home to several decent size cities. Cat Ba Island was not the isolated island with no internet that the guidebooks depicted. And on that note, there was not a single night that we didn't have internet. You would be hard-pressed to find a hotel with wi-fi every night for over 2 weeks in the U.S. unless you stayed at a Super 8 every night. Vietnam is both ahead and behind - a complex mix of old-world habits and 21st century technology culture. It is no longer this mythical land of rice paddies and helicopters. That era is over and a new Vietnam has emerged. It is our turn to move on from our past and be able to recognize that a change has taken place. It is more than overdue.
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