Notes from Vietnam

Posted by Jennifer W. Miner Jan 1, 2007

We thought Vietnam was somewhat off the beaten path, but tourists abound. Hanoi has American tourists and Central Vietnam (Hue, Hoi An) has northern Europeans - Germans and Swedes especially.

I've seen absolutely no rancor from people here towards Americans, even though several thousands of people continued to be maimed by residual landmines, years after the US pulled out.

The first post-war government re-organization was to put everyone on a coupon-based economy, with coupons for obtaining goods and food distributed according to A thru N, with top Party cadres being A and streetsweepers being N. Only A category got enough to eat. For a full

decade, the biggest desire was to have a full stomach. Then, in 1986 the Party realized their Soviet-like system wasn't working, and they had their own sort of perestroika, so that by 1990 the country was in good shape - farmers were paid according to how much they produced, people were no longer hungry, money was being saved, and Vietnam is now exporting rice (and other commodities and products). The people don't really care about democracy (don't tell Bush!), but are primarily concerned about having material comfort and a promising future. The Party is irrelevant to their daily lives, as long as it stays out of their way and allows them to work, play, travel, etc., without restrictions. The extended family is the basis of societal structure. They take care of each other, help each other out in times of need (such as chipping in for health care expenses, college tuition, day-care).

Curiously (to me), there is no national health care. Only government employees get medical care as a fringe benefit, and that's only for the employee, not for the rest of the family. Everyone else is on their own. A medical crisis is expensive compared to our own costs. But, again, relatives (and neighbors, if necessary) chip in to help a family in crisis.

Literacy is now 97%, comparable to the US.

Happy New Year, everyone! We celebrated here in our Hoi An hotel last night with a tasty banquet and overamplified traditional music and lion dance, then went to bed early.