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What an amazing country. 1/30th the size of Canada, with a population of over 85 million. 80% of people live in rural Viet Nam. In 1945, the population was approximately 20 million, and the country has been in wars for close to 30 years since then. Viet Nam has been occupied for approx 1000 years by the Chinese, and French. These are tough, hard working people that are now looking to make a better life for themselves and their children. The French called this, Cambodia and Laos “Indochina”, because it was the merging of Chinese and Indian culture. Viet Nam more heavily influenced by China, and Laos/Cambodia by india.

The first thing that hits you whilst looking out the airplane window, are the lush green rice fields, transected by roads. The majority of houses seem to be huddled along the main roads. Once you land, the next thing that is striking is how narrow the houses are! Over 50% of houses in Hanoi seem to be approx 3 meters wide! Imagine, 3 m wide! Why? Because most people want their house to be on main streets, with the possibility of having a business on the ground floor, facing the street. Land is very expensive in cities, especially along main streets. In the countryside, land along main roads is very expensive as well, and most people want their homes on the road. What is very expensive in terms of land is the frontage onto the street. Hence, the 3 m wide houses everywhere. The cost of property decreases rapidly as one goes away from the main street. Properties with frontage on secondary and tertiary streets that are not business friendly are worth much less. Land is officially owned by the government, but individuals and corporations can have certificates allowing them to exploit the land they are on. The system of how to “buy” land is VERY complicated, and beyond the scope of a blog. Needless to say, it involves a lot of brown envelopes filled with cash…

Buddhists (of Chinese and Thai origins) account for about 75% of people, Taoists and Confucianists 10% and Christians, 10%. Buddhist temples are dedicated to Buddha’s, Taoist temples are dedicated to genies, typically water, heaven and nature (land/forest), as well as disciples of these genies. In Taoist temples, you will see sacred animals: Lion (happiness), Phoenix (immortality), Dragon (richness, prosperity and power) and tortoises (longevity). Buddhism is philosophical in its teachings, Confucianism is a rigid philosophy in life more than a religion, and Taoism is more a religion than a philosophy. Now you know?! At the entrance to temples, there is a doorframe that also includes a 30 cm high barrier above the floor. This forces you to look down on the ground to make sure you don’t trip over the barrier. The real reason for this ground barrier is to force you to bow your head out of respect for the temple you are entering. Clever eh? Prior to 1954, it was said that there were 5 ethnolinguistic groups in Viet Nam, this according to the Museum of History in Hanoi. 4 were patriarchal, and one was matriarchal. Now, the museum of history in Saigon says that there are 8 main ethnolinguistic groups, and 54 different sub ethnic groups.
On the 14th of January, Viet Nam will celebrate the Tet, their New Year (same as in China). During that time, the entire country is in a very festive mood. It is a HUGE affair, with cities decorating main streets like we do on Parliament Hill for Christmas. We were 2 weeks away from the lunar New Year whilst we were in Hanoi, and thousands of people were at temples, burning effigies of money, clothing, cars, and anything their ancestors may need for their after life.

The Japanese have been giving a great deal of aid to Viet Nam lately. They give the country sizeable loans, often under the condition that Viet Nam hire Japanese companies to develop large infrastructure projects. Hmmm. Wonder what they want out of all of this?! Viet Nam is a net importer of goods, and has a foreign exchange imbalance. This country has over 1800 km of coastline on the South China sea, and is know for its beautiful beaches, and low cost skilled labor. The country is only 50 km wide at its narrowest, and 600 km wide at its widest. No map in Viet Nam calls the South China sea by that name. Viet Nam is always concerned China will invade it, or any of its islands. This has happened in the past. The Vietnamese think that if they call the maritime area to its East “the South China sea”, this will be a blank check for the Chinese to take over whichever island they want.

Our first stop was Hanoi, the capital. “Ha” means river, and “noi” means “in the interior”. The river adjacent to Hanoi is called the Red river. It used to cause floods in the city in antiquity. Hanoi celebrates its 1000th anniversary on Oct 10th of this year. Whilst in Hanoi, we stayed at the Hôtel Sofitel Legend Metropole. Magnificent property, fantastic staff. A must visit.

Hanoi’s population is about 6 million. It boasts over 20 lakes within the city limits. This cities’ streets are a grid of organized chaos. Somehow, motorcycles, cars trucks, cyclos, bicycles, and pedestrians seem to merge at busy intersections like nowhere else. Walking across the street as a pedestrian is quite an experience. The organized chaos appears much more efficient than traffic governed by traffic lights. But, driving is not for the faint of heart. And, the almighty horn is one of the most important features of any vehicle. Import duty on cars is, like in Malaysia, are extremely high. Over 100% once all taxes are considered. Though this is a communist country with one political party, there are a large number of expensive imports. To stimulate business, the government offered tax reductions on import cars until December. The import duty has gone back up 12% to its original high level, and auto imports dropped by over 70%. Ouch.

Folks, it is easy to be a millionaire here. After changing $200 USD, I was walking around with approx 3.5 million Dong, the local currency. For a mere $60,000 USD, you can be a billionaire! The economy has been sluggish in the last 2 years, and inflation has been high. In 2009, the official inflation was between 60 and 75%. Many Vietnamese people think it was higher based on their eroded buying power. The Dong, the local currency, was devalued 3 times in the last year. Electricity is very expensive, and has increased dramatically as a function of how much you use. If you use under 50 kilowatt per month, the cost “only” went” up 10% after adjustments for inflation. But if you have more than a few lights in your house, the increase was dramatically higher. Gas costs approx $0.90 CAD per liter. If you have a vehicle and get pulled over by the police, it is cheaper to pay the officer directly (into his pocket) than put up with the grief of wasting ½ a day to pay your fine at the Ministry office, plus the official cost of the infraction. If you don’t have the proper documents for your vehicle, it costs $ 5 CAD, if you are not wearing your helmet whilst riding your motorcycle, $10, and another $10 if you are speeding. Average salary needed to survive in an urban environment is approx $400 to $500 CAD per month. If you have kids, you’ll need a minimum of $100 to $150 CAD on top of that. This means you are living hand to mouth, in paltry conditions, with no wiggle room. Being “rich” here means that you own a house, a motorcycle, and don’t have to worry about finding money to eat. Though it is a communist country, the parallel economy is what makes things move. It is all about relationships, and $$$. Corruption in Government is a mega problem, at all levels, even at the top. It is very lucrative to hold a position of importance in the Government here. Corruption totals over 10% of the cost of business. In Africa, it is much higher. If whistle blowers stand up to point out corrupt practices, the whistle blowers get thrown in jail because they gave up State secrets, or any other excuse. Journalists, intellectuals, government officials are terrified of saying anything.

Pollution is a big problem. Many people drive their motorcycles, bikes or even walk around wearing cotton masks over their nose and mouth. Bicycles and motorcycles are used to carry an amazing array of stuff they were never designed to, from eight 20 liter water bottles, to the equivalent of 5 huge bags over one meter in diameter filled with stuff, to 1.3 m by 1.3 m window frames. We even saw a couple riding their small motorcycle whilst carrying an electric washing machine! With the world economic downturn, tourism is down approx 30% over the peak in 2007. Notwithstanding, as said before, expensive foreign cars can be seen everywhere. Must be lots of rich folks living here…

In the colonial section of old Hanoi, stands Ho Chi Mihn’s mausoleum. Ho Chi Mihn was Viet Nam’s President from 1945 till his death in 1969. He spoke 8 languages fluently, and had lived over 30 years abroad, in the U.S., France, Russia and China. Ho Chi Mihn’s body is conserved in a mausoleum, and is amazing to see. Through a very costly Russian preservation process, one can see Ho Chi Mihn lying on a bed in a glass enclosure. His face and hands look like he has only been exposed there for a few days. Lenin’s body is preserved in a similar fashion in Russia.

China has a significant influence here in Viet Nam. It is feared by the Vietnamese who have been occupied by the Chinese for so many centuries.

After visiting temples, pagodas, the market, and museums, we left Hanoi for Ha Long Bay. As we drove out of Hanoi, we saw a Canon factory that must have been 3 to 4 Million square feet in size! HUGE. The drive is interesting, as we cross kilometer after kilometer of rice fields, and towns. The rice production is very much a manual affair. We saw thousands of farmers bent over in water filled fields planting rice plants. In the North and middle of the country, they have a maximum of 2 harvests a year. In the mountains, only one, and in the Mekong Delta near Saigon, 3 to 4 a year. For a period after the wars, the government regulated rice production. Output dropped, and they had shortages. The government then liberalized the market, rented rice fields to farmers, and allowed them to sell to whom they wished. Now that farmers have financial, capitalist incentives, Viet Nam is the 2cd largest exporter of rice in the world, behind Thailand. Officially, 65% of the population was employed in agriculture in 1997. By 2007 the number had dropped to 52%. Today, it is under 50%. There are apparently over 9,000 where different handicrafts are produced. The handicrafts produced in the country are absolutely amazing. I can’t understand why they don’t export more of their production into North America. Beautiful stuff!

Ha Long Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Diving from Hanoi to Ha Long Bay takes 3 ½ hours to cover 170km. This is a 1500 sq. km area with 1,969 limestone islands, of which 778 spread over 423 sq km are protected by UNESCO. Spectacular, a must see on your bucket list! Many of the islands have caves and natural arches, but one island boasts a set of 3 linked caves that is amazing. The first cave is approx 137 steps up from the water level, and is approx 1000 sq ft. The next is 2000 sq ft, and the third, over 9000 sq feet, complete with stalactites (the ones on the ceiling). We took a 22 hr overnight cruise on the Emeraude. Wonderful views. Unfortunately, the area has been used as a marine dump for a very long time. The water surface is littered with garbage.

Da Nang
Site of the famous Viet Nam war U.S. military base. It was the location where the first U.S. Marines landed in March of 1965. The beach in the Da Nang region is about 50 km long, one of the top 10 beaches in the World. Today, Da Nang is a city of approx 1M. It is famous for “China beach”, where GI’s would come for R & R before being shipped back to the US after their tour of duty.
The various wars over the last 55 years has been brutal on Viet Nam. From 1945 till 1954, they were battling the French. From 1955 till ’65, a covert war by the Americans, then from March 08th 1965 till 1972, full scale war with the US and its allies. From ’72 till 1975, the U.S.’s retreat. Then came the war with China backed Cambodia (Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot). China was pissed that Viet Nam chose the Soviet Union to be its protector over China. So, once the Vietnamese army was busy on their SouthWest border battling Cambodia, China invaded the North Viet Nam border cities. That didn’t last more than 18 days because the big Soviet Bear, who as I said was Viet Nam’s protector, began flexing its muscle by amassing troops along the Chinese border. China also suffered hundreds of thousands of casualties in that short period of time. Ah, World politics, and power struggles.

During the time the French, and U.S. soldiers were here, 50,000 mixed bloods were born out of wedlock. These children created big problems for the parents of the pregnant girls, not to mention the girls themselves. Most of these children ended up in the States or France.

The Da Nang / Hoi An region has been used by the Chinese, Japanese and French as a port for centuries. Also by an advance people called the Cham (pronounced Sham). There is significant land development by the Da Nang beachside. They are building superb golf courses, and are attempting to make this region a tourist haven. South of Da Nang is the charming old city of Hoi An. Its old neighborhood is composed of Chinese architecture houses, and colonial style houses. All have some type of business on the ground floor, as they did hundreds of years ago. Very popular with tourists.

Hue
This small city was formerly the site of Viet Nam’s capital, from 1802 till 1945. This city was destroyed 3 times during the wars. Close to Hue we visited two mausoleums, that of Minh Mang and king Du Duc.

Saigon
A city of 8 million people, and 3 million motorcycles! Saigon, or Ho Chi Mihn city as it is know today was once the Pearl of East Asia. It is a modern, prosperous looking city. The buildings and homes in the centre town area look like they are from a country totally different from Hanoi. French influence was more prevalent here than in the North of the country. The centre town has wide avenues, is clean, and looks prosperous. As one drives away from centre town, the districts look increasingly like a developing country. Some water canals radiating from the city are used as open sewers, with all sorts of guck being dumped in. It was over 35 degrees Celcius when we arrived, you can imagine the perfume from these moats.
Feb 03rd is the anniversary of the Communist party. This year they are 80 yrs young. Several interesting museums to see, the Museum of Vietnamese history, the one sided War Remnants Museum (renamed twice to avoid upsetting the Americans and the Chinese, and the ex palace of the South Vietnamese President.

The Communist attitude sometimes reverberates in Museums. You see, we were visiting the War Remnants Museum just before noon. At noon, a siren sounds, followed by an obnoxious Museum official yelling for all to get out, “the museum closed!!!” No-one listens, so they shut the power off, extinguishing all of the lights! They then hurry everyone out. You must return after 1:30 pm is you want to finish your visit.

Ben Tre
We went for a 1 ½ hour drive to Ben Tre, a city located on the Shore of the Mekong River. The Mekong is 4500 km long, and traverses 6 countries. It takes its source in Tibet, and is heavily dammed in China for hydroelectricity. On the way between Ho Chi Minh City and Ben Tre, we stopped at a very unusual temple. It belongs to the Caodaism religion. This is unique to Viet Nam, has about 2 million followers, and is a blend of Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Christianity. The temple architecture, and décor reflects the mix of its origins. It does not include Islam. Did you know that many Chinese influenced Buddhist temples are adorned with crosses that look just like a Nazi swastika? Yes indeed. We could see these in temples in Malaysia, and Viet Nam. The difference is that the Nazi swastika was rotated clockwise 45 degrees. Crosses seen in temples here are always square, and have one of its faces parallel to the ground.
Further down the road, as we passed the rice fields, we asked how many types of rice are produced in Viet Nam? Over 100 varieties! Long grain, short grain, white, brown, dark, soft, hard, sticky, non sticky, and hybrids of all of the above. The rice produced in the Mekong Delta region, 3 to 4 harvests per year, are largely destined for the Export market. The main agricultural activity here is Rice, Fruits and Fish, in that order. Aquaculture (fish farms) is quite popular. When looking at the water the fish are raise in, we have become meat eaters! I know what you’re thinking, we might change our minds if we saw how they feed and slaughter the animals…

Houses along the road from Saigon and the Mekong delta are about 3m wide here as well. The funniest are the homes located in the middle of a field, on their own, and 3 m wide! Weird.

Củ Chi Tunnels
The tunnels originated during the independence war against France, and are now located on a Vietnamese military site, North West of Saigon. During 1955 and 1965 when the U.S. invaded Viet Nam, the cold war was raging. The U.S., Soviet Union and to a lesser extent China, were infiltrating every country they could to influence their ideology. During that period, the CIA was manipulating groups and events in a number of countries, as were the Soviets. Here, the CIA attempted 3 times to have the South Vietnamese government fall with a Coup d’Etat. It worked on the 3rd time. In 1965, when the U.S. troops invaded Da Nang, and expanded their activity throughout Sout Viet Nam, the tunnel network was expanded and used as a hideout, base of operations, logistics distribution centre, etc by the Vietnamese resistance. Cu Chi is located about 35 km from HCM (Saigon) city in straight line, but is over 70 km by road, and takes a 1 ½ hour drive from downtown HCM.

On the way to the tunnels, one passes a large rubber tree plantation. Several square kilometers of rubber trees planted in perfect rows. Rubber trees originated in the Brazilian and Peruvian Amazon. Seeds were smuggled out of South America, and brought to Malaysia, Viet Nam and a few other countries around the World. Within 20 yrs, Asian produced rubber was cheaper to harvest because the rubber trees were planted in rows on efficiently laid out farms. In the Amazon, the trees were growing in the wild, and the trees were not located side by side.. Rubber compound is harvested by scratching the bark of the rubber tree in an oblique line angled down about 45 degrees. The French call rubber trees “hevea”. This is done in the morning, and the white liquid is collected in small bowls. During the afternoon, the white colored liquid is harvested, and brought to the processing plant. Michelin was the main buyer of the rubber produced here in Viet Nam. I don’t know how big the rubber industry in Viet Nam is, but in Malaysia, it totals over $1.3 billion USD per year, with about 70% being the production of rubber gloves.

Right by the plantation was an artisan had set up a small roadside studio, by laying a blanket on the ground, laying out a few of his works, and by making himself at home with his tools. This sculptor was busy carving out a sculpture of Buddha. He was holding the carving between his two feet, and carving with a knife in one hand, and hammer in the other. I had never seen a carving held between someone’s feet before. Sure wouldn’t want your knife to slip off of your work?! Ouch.

Right around the corner was a small coffee plantation. Our guide floored us with the next piece of trivia: Did you know that Viet Nam is the second largest exporter of coffee in the World after Brazil?? Wow, I would never have guessed. The country, and especially the coffee re-sellers sure don’t tell us!
The brochure for the tunnels has this to say about this site:

“The Củ Chi tunnels are an immense network of connecting underground tunnels located in the Củ Chi district near Ho Chi Mihn City, and are part of a much larger network of tunnels that underlie much of the country. The Củ Chi tunnels were the location of several military campaigns during the War with the Americans, and were the Viet Cong’s base of operations for the Tết Offensive in 1968.
The tunnels were used by Viet Cong guerillas hiding spots during combat, as well as serving as communication and supply routes, hospitals, food and weapon caches and living quarters for numerous guerrilla fighters. The role of the tunnel systems should not be underestimated in its importance to the Viet Cong in resisting American operations and protracting the war, eventually culminating in an American withdrawal.

American soldiers used the term "Black echo" to describe the conditions within the tunnels. For the Viet Cong, life in the tunnels was difficult. Air, food and water were scarce and the tunnels were infested with ants, poisonous centipedes, spiders and mosquitoes. Most of the time, guerrillas would spend the day in the tunnels working or resting and come out only at night to scavenge for supplies, tend their crops or engage the enemy in battle. Sometimes, during periods of heavy bombing or American troop movement, they would be forced to remain underground for many days at a time. Sickness was rampant among the people living in the tunnels; especially malaria, which accounted for the second largest cause of death next to battle wounds.”

They estimate that 10,000 Vietcong’s died here. The living conditions in the tunnels was horrible
The site has been changed since its origin, as dangerous hand dug, isolated tunnels had to be shored up to allow tourists to visit. This site is a great propaganda tool, but worth the visit. One can see the tools improvised by the locals to booby trap the jungle. It is amazing how far men go to kill one another. The visitor can climb down into one of the tunnels, and slither through for 20 m or 40 m. Anyone my size finds it rather tight! If you choose the 40 m run, the tunnels go down to about 6 m deep! The tunnels were originally built on 3 levels. Level 1 was 3 m underground, level 2 6m, and level 3 was 9 to 12 m deep. Some tunnel sections were only big enough to allow a small Vietnamese to slide through. There is no way the average North American could fit through those sections. Ventilation ducts were bored, and vented out into the forest inside fake termite hills. Needless to say the air quality was horrible. Also, it was not unusual to find snakes, scorpions, and a few other exotic creatures in the tunnels.

The site also includes a shooting range! You can shoot M 16 or M 60 machine guns, AK 47’s, K54 and K 59’s, M 1 Carbine and M 30’s. They sold the rounds (bullets) in packs of 10, and any old idiot like me to fork out the cash, and go shoot the gun of his choosing. I chose the AK 47. 10 rounds, $17 USD. Highway robbery, but then, when’s the next time you’ll get to shoot one?! A few minutes after me, a big Russian fellow bought 50 rounds for the M 60 machine gun. He blew $100 in seconds! A group of Israelis were visiting the site as well. They looked at the shooting range, and did not show the slightest interest in shooting anything.

Well folks, that’s it for Viet Nam! Could have written so much more on this fascinating country. Next Stop, Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. Phnom means hill, and Penh was apparently the name of a famous woman who lived in the 16th century. Our writings on the Phnom Penh region may be a little scarce, because the French guide is so difficult to understand, that we may get 50% of what he says.

Cambodia
Cambodia is a small country of only 12M inhabitants. Phnom Penh, the largest city in the country, with a population of about 2M. It is so much less crowded than Saigon, or Hanoi! The first impression is that the city is clean, with a nice variety of modern buildings, and old colonial buildings. There are an unusually high number of Lexus SUV’s, especially used RX 300’s. The unusual thing is that the local distributors stick “LEXUS” decals 30 cm by 1.5m on the side of the vehicles. Just like some pick-up trucks back home. Rather tacky in my mind, but…

Cambodia evolved over three periods. During the 1st to the 6th century, the Funan Empire controlled this region. Between the 7th and 8th, the Chenla empire, and between the 9th and 15th, the Angkor. The word Angkor is derived from “nagara”, the Sanskrit word for city. In the 10th century, the Angkor Empire used the Siem Reap region as their seat of Government, but the capital was moved to Phnom Penh in the 15th century by the Kmer because Ankgor was located too close to Thailand, its ever potential enemy. Cambodia is heavily influenced by India, and China. The Buddhism practiced here is Chinese influenced, or “Big Vehicle Buddhism”. During the 11th to 13th centuries, Cambodia was known for its rich commodities, exotic wood, rare wild game, precious gems, rich rice crops, and boundless fish reserves. During this period of opulence, many impressive temples were built.

More on Phnom Penh later.

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