Posted on 11/25/2007 9:02:23 AM PST by MindBender26
Tourists are allowed to go just about anywhere they want to go except some parts of the highlands where they are still having arguments with some of the “minorities.” Old battlefields are mostly unrecognizable except, sometimes, for the little round lakes made by bombs. There is nothing left of the American presence at Cam Ranh. It is a beautiful and clean small town now. You would recognize Monkey mountain if you see it from the right angle but there are no Quonsets left or airstrip.
Go back. Get out of Sai Gon. Take the tours. You should go for at least 3 weeks. A month is better. Take those tours for the first week then just ride the buses or the train and visit the smaller towns and cities. Sit in the cafes. Walk around. Talk to anyone who will talk to you. Many have some English.Don’t feel obligated to marry the daughters that will be offered to you once mothers have scoped you out and determined you are a worthy man. Do NOT stay in western or Japanese hotels. Stay in the mom-and-pops or even in a motel (they exist and are all very new) if you run across one. Eat in the stalls, avoid uncooked food. Ride the cheap buses, the overcrowded ones that break down. The interaction is much better than on the modern air-conditioned ones. Ride the hard seat trains- same reason.
Don’t spend too much time chasing ghosts. Meet the people. It is hard to leave.
You just rent that car (usually a small van) and go. The government will mostly not care much about where you go. You are free to go pretty much where you want to go. Pleiku is usually hard to get to because there is often a bit of “unrest” thereabouts. The Viets still have not got the hill people figured out.
There is not much left of old US installations at all. Everything has been salvaged- recycled. Viet Nam is just about the most pleasant way to spend 2 weeks or a month there is. It is still cheap. For a little while longer.
When I go back I hear nothing at all about “Western Imperialists.” The commies are too intent on being America’s friend. They have made many changes due to American pressure and will make many more. They will balk at the point where they see they must lose their jobs. They will lose them anyway, eventually.
It doesn’t matter what you did in the war. IT DOESN’T MATTER. Mostly they are not interested. My afsc would have got me arrested in 1990. Now no one cares. The war was fate. It happened. It was terrible. Folks don’t want to talk about it. Sometimes old veterans, from either side, will talk about it. The old NVAs and VCs will surprise you with their attitudes toward the war and America. “I fought the French and the Americans for 22 years. If we had lost the war this would be a rich country today.”
Different attitudes now. 15 years ago they wanted to go to American where money grows on trees. Now they want to go to America where they can work hard and keep what they make and send their kids to college. More and more educated young folks want to stay right there where they see a good future and where there is money to be made.
The most beautiful women in the world are mostly in Thailand and Viet Nam.
I'd opt for a hotel at the coast - springing up like flowers. Great service, food & swimming. You can get a driver there who speaks English and who'll take you anywhere you want to go.
Please post pix!
Thanks, and good traveling.
Your words have painted a beautiful picture of Viet Nam and its people. I just may have to go with my husband on his trip there next week.
Thank you so much.
My daughter went back with me this year. She loved it. We stayed with my friends and the hostess determined that my daughter had not been properly raised and proceeded to teach her how to go to market, wash clothes, etc. my only interaction with the authorities derived from my staying in a “poor” man’s house instead of a hotel. They could not understand that. They followed me around some. I bought one of them coffee when I spotted him going into a cafe. He was embarrassed but wanted to talk. The army uniforms are the strangest shade of green there is. You can’t get it on film unless you develop your own. The labs will always “correct” it.
My daughter calls Vietnamese army green “bright olive drab.”
Viet Nam is one place in the world where a young lady from Boston can travel alone, ride the buses, walk narrow streets, etc, safely. Much safer than Boston.
Glad to hear it. This old lady from South Dakota should feel quite safe there. I travel alot, and quite honestly, I’ve felt safer if so-called “third world countries” than I have in much of Europe and even in this country.
Thanks for your enlightened posts.
bump
Wow, this is a really interesting thread. Someone ping me when you get back, can tell us how it went? Hope the trip is everything and more than you hope.
Click on my screen name for a travelogue from 2003.
I was there in 2005! Not sure if this was soon enough for you. Are you wanting to vacation there? If you do. I recommend it. It is a wonderful country. The people are so nice. I think that Americans need to begin vacationing there because it will be a destination for Europeans and Americans within the next 10 years. The U.S. Navy already have an occasional ship pull into port there.
Ok. More information after actually reading your post. I was in “Saigon” also. I did go to the camps and they are fine. They have some American equipment there that was perhaps taken or Americans just left it there. Wait until you see the tunnels. Not one American could fit into the holes that the Vietnamese had to go through. They showed us some touture items that they used. Not good. Those North V’s were pretty nasty. Well new time. I am 38 so I don’t remember the conflict that America and Vietnam had like those over 60. Same with the Vietnamese people. Nobody discusses the conflict anymore.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.