Vietnam

I've been fascinated by Vietnam since I was a kid and the U.S. were helping South Vietnam fight for freedom against the communist North. In first year university, my roommate was a bona fide draft dodger- he'd tell us stories of how evil the North Vietcong were and how the U.S. needed to save the south (and the whole world, come to think about it). Communism was bad and America was good. But by 1975, the U.S. was losing big time, there was huge resistance back home and they pulled out. The war took the lives of over a million Vietnamese soldiers and civilians and over 200,000 American casualties before it ended and the communist flag was raised:

Fast forward 41 years- what's it like today? I think you would find it hard to describe it different from a lot of capitalistic countries. When you look at the street merchants, it seems cash is king and privately owned businesses are everywhere:

It's true that Vietnam is a one party state ruled by the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV). And the government has strict control on dissension and freedom of speech and press. That said, it's business as usual.

In doing some research, I was actually amazed at how aggressive the country has become. Vietnam started its transition from a centrally planned to a market economy in 1986 and economic growth averaged 6.7% a year up to 2011 After a brief lull, growth is back. It now has the fastest-growing middle-class in South East Asia and the government plans on becoming a modern and industrialized nation by 2020.

Some other interesting facts. Population wise, Vietnam is a very 'young' country, even compared to Canada:

About 44% of the population are under 24 years of age and another 44% are 25-48 years of age i.e. nearly 90% are under 50 (compared to about 60% in Canada).

We arrived in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam on the eve of their National Independence holiday:

Did you know that Vietnam was ruled from the 18th century by the French till 1945?  Hanoi has a population of 7.7 million with Vietnam as a whole having 90 million. We're right downtown, in the Old Quarter. The narrow streets are every which way and getting lost has become easy even with a map on your iPhone and good old paper maps. Still, there is so much to see and do, it's a fascinating city- more to follow.