|
David Mitchell
Jack,
I also have heard interesting stories about Vietnamese attitudes towards us. I have met 2 American, and 2 Vietnamese Americans who have traveled back to Vietnam as tourists. These four people all report the same interesting attitude towards us - that the Vietnamese harbor very little resentment towards us, but they still despise the French. We forget sometimes, that was about 100 years of brutal colonial, racist abuse.
But one Vietnamese American lady had an even more interesting expereince. She and her sisters (born in the U.S.), go back every few years as tourists and can freely enjoy all the sites (including great French and Vienamese restaurants). They still have relatives in Saigon. Her parents (born in Vietnam) have gone a few times but must report in at a local police station every single day. And her Grand parents simply will not go. The grand father was an ARVN General and has been told he would be arrested if he ever sets foot in the country again. A strange tale of three different generations.
Another middle aged lady told me she was about 6 years old, living in Saigon, when the TET offensive was going on. She ran out into the street to see what all the excitement was about and was exposed to live fire. Her mother had to run out and grab her and was wounded slightly while carrying her back into their home. A little different from life on Yaronia Drive.
Interesting that the booming economy followed the first few years of Communist "collective" economic system which collapsed. Since they transitioned into a "Capitalisitic" system and allowed foreign investment the economy has gone bonkers. You would have first hand knowledge of that. Now it seems they face problems of overdevelopment, even in the Delta, where rice paddys are filling with silt and canals are experiencing growing pollution issues.
But the Governement is still jailing "counter revolutionaries". Human Rights Lawyers and some Catholic priests are still being jailed on occasion. There is a site where those stories are reported on an ongoing basis.
I had a huge shock some years ago when I looked at Vinh Long on Google maps. Vinh Long was a small city of about 30,000 people on the banks of a large split of the Mekong. There was one dirt "highway" from Saigon and furhter south into the Delta - with no bridge - only boats - to cross the river. I could hardly beleive what I saw. A 4-lane super highway with an enormous suspension bridge across the Mekong. And traffic - mostly buses and motorcycles, crossing this huge span of highway.
And the photos of gowth, even in smaller towns, with luxury hotels along the river was amazing! The "capital" of the Delta is Can Tho ("can - toe"), which was about 100,000 people back then. I believe I read somewhere that it is now a miilion and a half people!
|
