Will Vietnam change too much?

Posted by Mari Nicholson Dec 8, 2006

The coastal area is changing quickly as more and more 5* hotels open. The latest is the Nam Hai right on China Beach near the UNESCO heritage site of Hoi, a former trading port in the 18th century. Former old Chinese merchants’ houses are now attracting tourists. The town is halfway between Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi and the hotel of pool villas and luxury rooms has views of the Cham islands, two pools and a spa.

Hanoi, a city graced by small lakes where the locals stroll in the evening and the most Vietnamese of the cities, a far cry from the former Saigon, Ho Chi Minh city which is brash and aggressive. On display is the flight suit of Senator John McCain of the USA who was shot down during the Vietnam-American war and spent time in The Hanoi Hilton, an ironic coincidence, as the prison has now been demolished to make way for the luxury Hanoi Towers, a hotel and shopping complex.

Half the population of 84 million were born after the war, and many are still being born with the deformities attributed to Agent Orange, the toxic herbicide sprayed by US forces against Vetnam’s jungle canopies. Areas destroyed by fire have been converted to rubber plantations and rice paddies and time has erased the scars. The Chi Chi tunnels, an intricate network of supply routes, are now one of the country’s leading tourist attractions.