I came back to Viet Nam after 17 years. For two weeks, I spent most of my stay in Sai Gon. I managed to fly to Hue and visited the countryside of Binh Chanh, in Long An province. Viet Nam had become too much and too little. Too many people, dust pollution, traffic, beggars, flies, karaokes, coffee shops, shops of all kinds, noise, homeless people, trash and heat. Too little change in catching up with the rest of the world in terms of urban planning, population control and health care. Then again, I was only a tourist in a country portrayed in travel brochures as welcoming, exotic and revitalized.
Traffic was a nightmare -- and a revelation. I'd been told that a lot of Viet Kieu (Vietnamese from abroad) would come back and die because of traffic accidents. I myself had one minor collision, witnessed several major ones and came real close to a fatality just crossing the street. Riding Honda motorcycles was both a form of transportation and recreation. From teen-agers to working girls, that was how one went cruising in the evening. Those with bicycles were of a less desirable class. Even the motorcycles had a first, second and third class of their own. Taxis were readily available and reasonably priced for tourists (the Vietnamese could not quite afford that convenience yet). Cyclos and cyclo drivers appeared to slowly become obsolete. The fare was usually bargained, but I decided not to do that. Although one time in Hue, because a companion and I didn't state clearly the price we would pay (actually we did, but we had some detour along the way) we were charged 500 times the agreed amount. Unpleasant words were exchanged. We finally paid $4 for the 20-cent fare. Some cyclo drivers would ask if you'd like to take a prostitute.
About prostitution -- apparently the oldest profession prospered and thrived in the reunified Viet Nam. There were private houses, girls freelanced on Hondas and men asked tourists, "You like girls, young girls, 15, 16?" There were also men catering for male services, though not as rampant.
What else? The foods, the fruits were excellent, provided you knew where to eat and what. Among my favorites were coconut ice cream (served with vanilla ice cream and dried fruits inside the coconut; its milk was poured into a glass), an authentic com am phu ( a rice dish from hell served with well-flavored pork) and thanh long ( a truly beautiful looking fruit with fuschia skin and soft green spikes with white kiwi-like meat except much sweeter).
The postcard images of Viet Nam were there. What I found unsettling was the sharp contrast of wealth and poverty. I saw luxurious hotels, villas and poorly constructed shelters co-existing on the same stretch of land. I saw children selling lottery tickets and beggars. Taking my friends' advice, I never gave money to them. "More would come and harass you, so just ignore them," they said. Except once, my friends and I were outside an attraction in Cho Lon, the Chinese section of Sai Gon. All of a sudden, I heard a man's cry. I turned around to see an old man with a skeletal body, pouring out tears and words of anger. "I'm so starved," he said. "I just asked her for some money to buy a piece of bread. She didn't have to curse me like that. I'm an old man." He cried and cried. Just that once, I gave money. The rest I ignored and was surprised to discover how indifferent I had become.
I came back to the United States with another perspective on life. I had a whole stack of photos, sceneries mostly -- typical for a tourist -- images of a Viet Nam that was both familiar and foreign, a little guilt, much fun (due to friends), a few art objects and a lot of questions with no easy answers.
Not much makes sense to me anymore since I've been back -- like America's involvement, abandonment and reunion with Viet Nam. Or why so many people had to die in the war, in the flight for freedom, in the concentration camps and the desperate souls who killed themselves when forced to return to Viet Nam from a Hong Kong refugee camp. Why, when I think of my Vietnamese identity, do pride and shame go hand in hand?
I strongly suggest visiting Viet Nam at least once. Go for whatever reason, but go. Go and see that Viet Nam is more than a tourist attraction, much more than a government, exactly a poor country but no longer a war. Oh yes, don't give money to beggars, avoid eye contact (or you'll end up giving all your money away). Be extremely careful with the traffic. Bribe when you have to. Bargain all the time, (maybe not with old hard labor people if you can). And even though nothing happened to me, just to be on the safe side, don't drink the water.