In general it was a really good trip and we lucked out with a great guide, a nice group of people to travel with, and fantastic weather (we had rain for about 10 mins one day but otherwise no rain)
Overall the Vietnamese people are kind, friendly, open and generous. We met many people from different backgrounds and economic statuses. We feel like we got an exposure to a broad swath of Vietnamese culture. People generally seemed hopeful about the future.
Generally Vietnam seems to be doing well. Clearly the economy is strong and the standard of living is improving significantly over the 50 years since the war ended. Most people seem to be thriving. Having said that, Transparency International’s 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index, which scored 180 countries on a scale from 0 (“highly corrupt”) to 100 (“very clean”), gave Vietnam a score of 41 so government officials are also thriving at their citizen’s expense.
We did feel like we were in a communist country. There were propagandist signs around. Also when we were at places like the Cu Chi tunnels the signage definitely had a pro-Vietnam/anti-American slant. Because of the communist government we stayed away from asking questions about how people felt about the government. I suspect if asked they wouldn’t be able to express their real feelings for fear of some sort of retaliation.
We found no animosity toward Americans and everyone seemed happy that we had come to their country to learn more about it. More than one person talked about the contrast between American soldiers who were forced to come to their country and us who chose to come their country. It was clear that during the war most people sided with the North Vietnamese not because they were communist or wanted a communist government but because they wanted foreigners out (they had just gotten rid of almost 100 years of French rule) and they wanted their country reunified. As I mentioned early in the blog Ho Chi Minh reached out to Eisenhower for support but his request was ignored. It makes me wonder what would have happened if we had given him our support. It probably would have saved millions of lives but of course hindsight is 20/20.
One interesting observation was the contrast between the north and south. The south was much more prosperous and westernized as a result of their exposure to the French (Saigon was the capital during the French occupation) and the Americans.
Vietnam has its challenges with its neighbors. Specially China. According to wikipedia “the two countries [Vietnam and China] remain in dispute over political and territorial issues in the South China Sea (or East Sea). China and Vietnam share a 1,281 kilometres (796 miles) border. Cambodia is closely allied with and heavily influenced by China.
In summary, the future seems bright for Vietnam. However they have their challenges with corruption and their neighbors.