Coming from Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) to Mekong you can’t help but to notice the extraordinary socio-economic differences.
I know there are incredible inequities in every country - I have seen some of Eastern Europe, Africa, India and just some of South America.
What struck me on this recent study trip to Vietnam was the incredible and scary differences between the rich and the poor, and the rising influence of America, China, Japan and Korea on a country that has spent almost its entire history being occupied by these same nations.
Australians are well-liked in Saigon. I don't think we are as kind to each other as the Vietnamese though. I was to be seduced by the beauty, kindness and helpfulness of the Vietnamese.
When I was sick one day, total strangers came to my aid with peppermint oil and massages – not wanting nor expecting a penny in return.
On the two hour drive from Saigon to Mekong the landscape is mostly rice paddies, workers looking like they are in a set from Apocalypse Now.
The real shock awaits me at Mekong. Four people (totally for my trip alone) took me on a tour up the Mekong Delta and along the narrow rivers where the napalm had destroyed entire villages and wiped out scores of families, but now is lush and overgrown again. The cost for 4 people, a boat and a return trip from Saigon - $8million Vietnam Dollars or around $90 Australian. A fellow traveller told me I should have bargained them down. I just couldn't bring myself to do so.
The villagers live in dirt, literally. They sell whatever they can find; they scrounge around to make enough to feed their families one meal at a time.
This is a communist country, and yet the divide between city and country people is so sharp and marked.
These dirt-poor peasants in Mekong earn an average of the equivalent of $300-500 a year (a year!) whereas in Saigon they can earn twice as much - $1,000 a year if they are lucky.
There is no public education, so about 70% of the population is poorly educated, if at all.
There is no public health, and the government has cracked down on people who go to hospital and run away before the bill is presented.
My Mekong guide, a history professor, had an experience recently. His daughter-in-law was due to give birth, so he went with her to the hospital. The hospital demanded $1million Vietnam Dollars up front. This is about $45 Australian dollars. He couldn’t pay. He tried to borrow it, his friends couldn’t help him, so finally she gave birth at home with just the family to care for her and the infant.
He was very angry with the government about this. He offered his security card and driver licence but these were not enough as security
Given all this hardship, I expected a bitter and unhappy population. On the contrary – they are friendly, kind and gentle. They exude kindness.
Back in Saigon I went to a Sunday buffet at the hotel. It was packed with wealthy local families and many expats. The expats were fat (I am a big man, but they outclassed me by at least double), the locals were thin, but the atmosphere was riotous. The buffet include all the Moet you could drink, French wines and German beers included.
The feast was incredible. It would have been impossible to taste just a tiny bit of everything available. And there outside the window sat the beggars and the street vendors trying to make a dollar for tonight’s meal.
Finally, I took a day tour of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), to see the effects of centuries of occupation.
China appears to have had the biggest positive influence, and America the biggest negative one. While they want tourism to save the economy, they not-so-privately tell us they don’t like Americans because of the war.
The war of the 1950’s to 70’s is living on in the memories of anyone over forty, and the Vietnamese regard it as yet another invasion of their country – this time by the Americans. I am glad they don’t remember we were there as well.
The streets of Saigon are terrifying. Imagine a sea of motor scooters coming straight at you, but you are told not to run, but walk slowly and consistently, and they flow around you. It’s true. Red lights mean nothing, just walk slowly.
I can recommend it to everyone.
