Vietnam

Vietnam was a fascinating country with an interesting French colonial legacy intermixed with a distinctly Vietnamese culture. The food was an example of this.  One delicious meal that I had was a type of Vietnamese sandwich made on a French baguette with French paté but covered in local vegetables, spices and sauces. Other dishes feature noodles and fried rice. Fashion is also a big deal. The streets are lined with designer shops such as Chanel, Gucci and Dulce and Gabbana. However, a Vietnamese refugee from our voyage who had visited the country a few years earlier said that the development has been unbelievably quick. The economic growth has been exponential and this is mainly due to the government’s changing policies. Although Vietnam is still a communist country they allow free trade, which has helped to diminish poverty. We were in Ho Chi Minh City, which is named for the famous communist leader of Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh led the independence movement in Vietnam against France. After the French left, the country was split into North and South Vietnam so Ho Cho Minh worked for reunification and he was the father of modern Vietnam. However, Ho Chi Minh used guerilla warfare and very harsh measures on American prisoners, torturing soldiers for information and out of spite. The Vietnam War is a complex issue and I was able to see a perspective on the war while I was in Vietnam that was very different from the story taught in American schools. I visited the war museum in the capital and it was very biased in favor of Vietnam and showed images of atrocities committed by American soldiers while in Vietnam. The museum also dealt with the aftermath of Agent Orange. Agent Orange was a chemical that was sprayed onto the foliage in Vietnam by the U.S. military because it destroyed the plants, revealing the positions of Vietnamese soldiers. Unfortunately, Agent Orange had a devastating effect on both the soldiers who administered it and the local people who inadvertently took it in through the air, drinking water and crops grown in contaminated soil. It caused a widespread outbreak of cancer, burns and other health problems. It also meant that the next generation of Vietnamese children were severely affected because women who ingested the chemicals could pass them on through birth defects to their children. Despite this grim past Vietnam has been recovering and seems to be much readier to move on from the war than America. Economic growth and development continue and hopefully Vietnam has a bright future ahead.