"By Ilene Cox
For the Daily Facts

For the next couple of weeks I'll be in Peru, visiting Lima, Cusco and Machu Picchu. My dear friend, Carolyn Groves, recently visited Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar and graciously offered to recount some of her experiences in Southeast Asia. I know you will enjoy the articles as much as I did.

My favorite question to ask seasoned travelers is, "what has been your favorite trip?" The usual answers are Africa, India, China, Egypt or Antarctica. No one has ever mentioned Vietnam; yet Vietnam and Cambodia are becoming the newest destinations for American tourists. Approximately 250,000 people visited Vietnam last year, and the projection is for that number to triple in the next few years. Before it got too crowded, my companion, Carl Soucek, and I, decided to visit Southeast Asia. We were not disappointed.

We landed at the airport outside Hanoi and traveled for about an hour to reach the city. We passed rice paddies attended by peasant women and dozens of small villages dotted the landscape. But what really caught our attention was the traffic; I though China was terrible, but nothing can compare to Vietnam. There are 80 million people living in Vietnam, and one million own motorbikes. It can only be termed chaotic. As far as I could tell, there are no apparent traffic laws every man for himself.

Everything is carried on the back of bikes boa constrictors, live chickens, dogs, doors, people. We even saw three little pigs in a cage I think these pigs were truly "going to market."

Children ride sandwiched between parents; sometimes the children are even sleeping. Beeping assaults the senses. It felt like a miracle when we arrived at our hotel. I was truly thankful we arrived in one piece.

Hanoi is a bustling city. The wide, tree-lined boulevards and gardens reveal the French colonial influence. Temples are everywhere. We were off to see Ho Chi Minh's house and tomb. The Vietnamese people revered Ho Chi Minh and affectionately called him "Uncle," which goes along with the family atmosphere in the country. "Auntie" and "Uncle" are terms used to show respect to the elderly. Ho Chi Mihn has been preserved like Chairman Mao in China and Stalin in Russia. The tomb is usually open daily for viewing, but unfortunately was closed during our visit for a touch-up.

Yearly they refresh him so that he is presentable. He personally wanted to be cremated, but his wishes were not respected; he was shipped off to Russia and preserved for future generations. So all we got to see was a rather plain looking building overlooking a large square and gardens; a meeting area for the people during festivities and celebrations.

Just around the corner we visited the beautiful French Colonial statehouse where official functions were held during Ho Chi Minh's reign, and are still used for official functions today. Ho Chi Minh never lived in the house. His main residence was a small, open-aired wooded structure on stilts that overlooks a small pond where, it was said, , he derived great pleasure in feeding his ducks. He liked the simple life.

You may ask if there is a Hilton in Hanoi? Yes, there is, and I have pictures to prove it. We did have an opportunity to visit the old French prison that was built in the 1800s known to us as the Hanoi Hilton.

Most of the prison has been torn down, but part of it has been turned into a museum, primarily to remind people of the brutality by the French to the Vietnamese people during the French occupation. It got very quiet as we toured the museum. We saw the cells, the shackles, the guillotines you could almost hear the agony and pain that has been absorbed into these walls.

In one room we saw pictures depicting the life of our servicemen during their imprisonment pictures of them eating a great Christmas meal, receiving mail, doctors attending their physical needs obviously all propaganda. John McCain's flight suit is encased in a glass exhibit along with pictures of him while he was imprisoned there. In 2002, Sen. McCain visited Vietnam with his family. That must have been an eye opener for his children, as it was for us.

After a lovely Vietnamese lunch and a break from the humid, hot weather, we were off on a pedi-cab ride around the "old town" section of Hanoi.

Pedi-cabs are man-powered bicycles with seating for two people. We traveled among the one-way streets, where each street is known for what they sell one whole street sells just shoes or will sell just spices. In the beginning I was very nervous about the bustling traffic careening in and around me, but eventually I forgot about it and just enjoyed the friendly people and the sights and sounds of daily living. A great experience!

We had a few hours to go shopping so we jumped in a pedi-cab and took off for the local shopping area. One dollar can get almost anything in Vietnam.

They love our dollars. You have to understand that they are only two generations away from the Vietnam War, so these lovely people are focusing on the future, and not what happened in the past. Shopping is a bargainer's dream wonderful hand crafted items, particularly textiles. For $5 we bought four T-shirts; one of them had the saying, "Good Morning, Vietnam," from the Robin Williams movie too funny. The Vietnamese people are open to making money any way they can. You have to admire their industrious spirit. Good ol' American enterprise is alive and well here or should I say, Vietnamese enterprise is alive and well and flourishing in Vietnam. In this shopping area you will often see stores that are shared by several families, each selling something different so as not to compete with one another.

One of the most delightful experiences I had in Hanoi was on this shopping trip. After cautiously crossing a street, I witnessed a daughter standing over her seated mother, pulling out her mother's gray hair! I smiled and laughed and they laughed. Vanity is also alive and well in Vietnam.

In the evening we went to see the world famous Hanoi Water Puppet show. This production has been all over the world. The puppets are attached to long poles and individuals behind the stage maneuver them in the depiction of farm life planting rice fields, fishing, and boat racing.

Musicians' sing and play instruments for an added dimension to the production. They are truly amazing to watch.

It had been a very busy day and we were tired. Join me next week on our visit to Ho Chi Minh City.

Redlands resident Ilene Cox is the owner of Redlands Travel Service.Vietnam quickly becoming a tourist destination"

http://www.redlandsdailyfacts.com/Stories/...2152049,00.html

Just see what Nonviet think about our country...

Not include, cambodia has ton of brothels.

Let it be clear .. I'm NOT a communist supporter nor 100% approved what They have been doing. But I'm willing to give them a chance. My blood is boiling ... when I see ... go figure. I'm a Viet Nationalist with the real meaning. Anything
is good for Vietnam and Its People ...I will go for it. Meanwhile.. I saw a little improve in economy. But political is far from good.

I'm going to Vietnam someday to see the Chi Chi tunnels. I think that was an amazing feat.

I don't care whether it is Communism or Democracy that controls Vietnam, as long as the country enjoys political and social stability and economic progress then I'm happy. I'm sure the current government's repression is still better than having 3 million Vietnamese killed.

I propose that all overseas Vietnamese should invade an island that belongs to Vietnam and hold that Island and make it a 2nd Vietnam. Just like Taiwan with China. Then we can show our mainland brothers and sisters that our way of governing is better and then maybe they might join our cause?

vietnam doesn't have many big island lol

Then just take some small islands. There aren't a lot of overseas Vietnaemse so a smaller island is much more easier to defend than a bigger one.

Yea lets Invade Phu Qouc and call it our own

Yeah we can get the rich Vietnamese overseas to fund us with weapons and boats. Then we can invade an island that isn't occupied and then try to grow plants and agriculture there. Then with U.S support since we are a democracy our country can have a better standard of living and make the mainlanders realize their way of governing isn't good and maybe the Vietnamese people will revolt.

What are you talking about? Phu Quoc is our island.

I mean't us Viet kieus , we take it from the Viets..

We want to invade it to set up a 2ND Vietnam that is more democratic and allows more freedoms. Just like Taiwan is to China.

And maybe Vietnamese people will see our standards of living are much better and they might revolt and make Vietnam a democracy again.

That sounds like a good idea. But Phu Quoc is so small and close to mainland. We will be imperiled if Vietnam decides to invade us.

lol we could get rich overseas Vietnamese to fund our war effort and besides a lot of revenue that Vietnam gets is from overseas Vietnamese.

Besides Vietnam's navy probably isn't good enough to launch a full scale invasion against millions of overseas Vietnamese who decide to live on this island.

Now if we were leaving on the mainland yeah we should get worried but we are surrounded by water.

Build a man-made island

We can get the Canadians to help out

So your planning to set up an veitnamese version of taiwan. But wasn't taiwan kind of big though. And they had their own natural resources.

We must acquire some destroyers, corvettes and cruisers. An aircraft carrier would also be good to defend our island. Let's see, we also need Aegis dectection system and Patriot anti-missile systems, just to be safe.

Let's post an intricate map and its surround countries

lol Overseas Vietnam sent billions of dollars to their relatives. Those same billions and we might even get more if more patriotic Vietnamese are willing to give more, can be enough to get a sizable defense as well.

Also a democratic Vietnam might be in the interest of the U.S to give us discounts and they might help invest some money into the economy of the 2ND Vietnam.

Look at Taiwan and how rich they are now.

And we should go nuclear, as the ultimate deterrence and makes us the beacon of Vietnamese Democracy.

Thats pretty cool, we need more democratic countries in South East Asia.

We also might be able to get sympathizers and some Vietnamese army soldiers might defect to our side. Just like what happened in Haiti when rebel forces took over the country and the corrupted government had to leave.

Then when we have an army big enough we can take back Vietnam little by little and add more sympathizers to our cause and the people will revolt and join our side.

Yes, we must be prepared for a long and hard war.

lol how ironic this time we are the guerrillas and the communist are the ones with the upperhand. LOL We will win if we have the people's support and give us safe harbour for our rebel forces.

Actually Vietnam is a great location for tourist. The only thing that prevent tourist to visit Vietnam is WAR. yes WAR. But war is over, I even planned to visit Vietnam if I got cash.

Excellent imagination

Why don't u guys invade Spratly Islands :-/

Invading Phu Quoc island might make people in Vietnam mad at you dudes
And you all will be killed before you are getting strong enough

If you plan to go to Vietnam then you should visit Hue, it is so beautiful there! it is the only place that you can experience 4 seasons in one day. it feels like winter in the morning, summer at noon, spring in the afternoon, fall in the evening. It is the best place to be if you're in Vn.

If you invade the Spratlys you would have 6 countries mad at you.

Yeah but how are we invading Phu Quoc Island? Is it not a Vietnamese island? Are we not Vietnamese? How are we invading our OWN island? So they can't be mad that Vietnamese are controlling their own island right?

I don't think he should go to Vietnam considering what he has said about Vietnamese. Just let the Vietnamese know what he said and he wouldn't make it out of the country alive.

lol most Vietnamese are forgiving people. Hell most of them have already forgotton about the Vietnam war and have forgiven the Americans and want to be friends with them.

If Vietnamese can forgive those who killed,raped,tortured and help make their country poor, I'm sure they would gladly forgive Huaren.

Listen to Bryon NSQH.

LOL I know, Vietnamese are forgiving people, not like certain people.

Where will you get your natural resources to support your newly created country?

lol , u guys have excellent imagination !! we Viets overseas cannot retake Vietnam without a LONG , BLOODY war against the Vietcongs

How about the Filipines ?

Actually Vietnam currently had a tourism BOOM. Yes other countries like Indonesia and Phillipinies have gone down in tourism after sept 11 like most of the world because people are afraid to travel.

But Vietnam is one of the few countries to have a tourism boom because Vietnam is a terrorist free country and people aren't afraid to go to Vietnam and because of Vietnam's rich history.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/2632849.stm

Vietnam sees tourism boom

"A boom in the number of tourists visiting Vietnam is providing strong revenues for the country.

Major private and government-owned hotels are reporting high occupancy rates and the national airline says passenger numbers increased by 80% last year.

The Vietnamese tourist authorities expect last year's strong growth to continue in 2003 with the General Administration of Tourism forecasting almost three million foreign tourists over the year.

Meanwhile, many other countries in the region are coping with empty airline seats and quiet hotels.

Countries like Indonesia and the Philippines are trying to find ways to bring tourists back to resorts cleared out by the threat of bombs or kidnappings.

New image

Vietnam is capitalising on its reputation as one of the safest destinations in Asia, a business ranking given by the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy in Hong Kong last October.


Vietnam's rich history is a selling point

There's also a surge in interest in a country which is emerging from a stereotype framed by years of war.

Vietnam is modernising, opening up and developing its economy.

It has also begun running tourism campaigns to encourage foreigners to see what it has to offer.

Five star beach resorts, golf courses, adventure travel and centuries of history are pulling in more tourists from traditional markets as well as new ones.

They include France, Japan, the United States, South Korea and Thailand.

Downside

Vietnam's national tourist office says foreign visits exceeded 2.6 million last year, generating revenue of more than $1.5bn.

This year the target is 2.8 million tourists, a figure which jumps to 17 million if domestic tourism is included.

It's difficult to independently check the Communist Government's tourism figures, and it is hard to say how well Vietnam's infrastructure will cope with a continuing increase.

But Vietnam's economic development is increasing the gap between its richest and poorest people.

One of the biggest challenges could be to ensure the benefits of tourism are shared."

We will reclaim the land from the surrounding water and enlarge Phu Quoc, just like what Singapore is doing now, but on a larger scale.

i don't think that most vietnamese had already forgotten about the Vietnam war
BTW the only reason why we want to be friend with the americans right now because we want them to be our trading partners.

.. n u guys can swim 2 VN anytime u wanna visit ur relatives .. nuoc mam phu quoc -yum!!

I don't think you could do it that way :-)

Propaganda is a much better way, but the way Viet Americans are doing is cetrainly a bad way. Viets who are not living in Vietnam always talk bad about the Viet government --> bad impressions. Do you like a person always talk bad about u ? NO.

I haven't taken any Pol class, so I don't understand what Democracy or Communism truly is. Could you explain those for me ? Don't just show me the reasons that Communism countries are poor. There are many reasons for a country to be poor. I want to understand why some guys support Communism and some other guys support Democracy. There must be reasons.

How about NO, you will be massacared if you ever try that.

Why would we have a long bloody war? We just need to occupy one island and probably one that is abandoned and after we are sucessful we can convince other Vietnamese that our way is better, maybe convince many Vietcongs to defect to our side and smuggle Vietnamese refugees to our side.

Overseas Vietnamese have won lots of awards in mathematics, computer science,music whatever.

We can use our talents to make a more sucessful Vietnam and show that communism is just slowing us down.

Of course we should have NO NUKES. Since Nukes are too costly and by U.N law any country that has creates a nuclear weapon gets sanctions and I'm afraid that we might be tempted to use the nuke on our own people if the Vietcong try to attack us so it is better if we just forget about nukes.

It would be cool if the government of Vietnam sees how sucessful we are and then they reform and we can be reunifed with them again without killing anyone.

lol , yum ??

LOL are you kidding? Vietnamese have forgiven and forgotten about the Vietnam war. Did you see what happened when Bill Clinton visited Vietnam? The city was crowded with thousands of Vietnamese wanting to shake his hand and were admiring him.

I've read so many reports of Americans going to Vietnam and saying they have nothing but postive things to say about the Vietnamese because they are so friendly to them and actually told them they forgiven them for the atrocities they did during the Vietnam war.

Did you know about 60% of Vietnamese today were born after the war or were too young to remember it? So most Vietnamese don't really have a grudge against them and besides Vietnam has been a country that has been at war most of it's existence, so one war with the Americans is just a small blip on the many wars that Vietnam has been. Which is probably why Vietnamese are really forgiving with the Americans and most Vietnamese have forgiven them for the war.

Palawan Island looks good too

I myself will go back to the Philippines and protect it. The filipinos are an very nationalistic people, if you ever try to take over the philippines we willwipe you out of existence.

Then You'll be the first one down