Vietnam 2024

HANOI

• Hanoi
• Train Street
• Market
• Water Puppet Performance

HOI AN

• Hoi An
• The Ancient Town of Hoi An
• Ba Na Hills
• Golden Bridge

HO CHI MINH CITY

• Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
• Cu Chi Tunnels
• The Mekong Delta

VIETNAM - IMPRESSIONS

It looks like that everything is in order:

• The streets are clean.
• No beggars
• No homeless people
• No drug addicts
• I didn't even see any tattoos on the locals.

Many people warned us about stealing and to be careful how we carry our bags, especially in markets and shopping malls where there are large crowds. Fortunately, there were no problems in this regard. There were no attempts to steal in the shops, i.e., the change was returned to the last dong/cent.

The currency is Dong, although it is possible to pay in USD as well as in AUD.  I think they prefer the U.S. dollar. The guide jokingly said that they don't like Americans (which is understandable) but they do like American dollars (which is also understandable).

Traffic

It was a big surprise for those of us who grew up and live in different places. I would call it "organized chaos".

1. Sidewalks are in 90% of cases occupied by "gardens" of restaurants, exposed goods of shops (household goods, textiles, technical goods, etc.), parked motorcycles, etc., so that pedestrians do not have a chance to use the sidewalk but have to walk on the street (which has similarities with Serbia but not with Australia).
2. Vehicles do not stop at the pedestrian crossing to let pedestrians through. Pedestrians have to move at a normal pace, or even slower, to allow drivers of motorcycles, tuk-tuks, cars, etc. to bypass them and avoid an accident (I didn't notice a single incident)
3. The strangest of all, in terms of traffic, is the railway that passes through one of the busiest streets in Hanoi ("train street"). The street is full of shops and restaurants and is very narrow; The width of the street is enough to allow the train to pass and remain 10-20 cm to the side so that the train does not touch objects. A train runs from the Chinese border to Hanoi at a speed of 50 km/h.

Food

I love the normal Vietnamese food, but to a certain extent. I'm not sure I could get used to their delicacies like worms, grasshoppers, crickets...

System

In Vietnam, the Communist Party is in power, but private initiative is allowed.

I can't avoid the impression or comparison on the topic of Communism – Capitalism ("democracy", "human rights", "rule of law" and similar "sugarcoating" of the so-called "free world").

I grew up in a Communist/Socialist country (former Yugoslavia), in the last two years I have visited China, Vietnam and Cambodia. I used to live in New Zealand and currently live in Australia. I've never been to the U.S., but I get information about the U.S. on a daily basis through news, internet etc.

I noticed that in the Communist countries,

• No mass shootings occur in schools, churches, shopping malls…
• No beggars on the streets
• No homeless people on the streets
• No drug addicts on the streets

As far as drugs are concerned, the example of Australia:

• It is officially prohibited, but dispensaries are opened so that drug addicts (children and adults) can take drugs in peace and under hygienic conditions
• While in many countries the penalties for drug possession and trafficking are drastic, in Australia a drug smuggler (Corby Schapelle) became a national hero after escaping the death penalty. Australia spent my (taxpayer) money to defend her and after serving her sentence in prison in Indonesia, they sent a plane to pick her up. She has become famous and wrote a book based on which (allegedly) a film will be made. What is this message to children?

I'm not trying to advocate any system. I'm just trying to compare.

VIJETNAM - UTISCI

Utisak je da je to sredjena zemlja:

• Ulice su ciste
• Nema prosjaka
• Nema beskucnika
• Nema drogiranih
• A, nisam primetio ni tetovirane lokalce

Mnogi su nas upozoravali na kradje i da budemo pazljivi kako nosimo torbe pogotovu na pijacama i u sopung centrima gde su velike guzve. Na srecu, nije bilo nikakvih problema po tom pitanju. U radnjama nije bilo pokusaja kradje tj, kusur je vracan do zadnjeg donga/centa.

Platezno sredstvo je Dong mada je moguce placanje u USD kao i u AUD.  Cak mi se cini da preferiraju USD. Vodic je u sali rekao da oni ne vole Amerikance (sto je i razumljivo) ali vole Americke dolare (sto je isto tako razumljivo).

Saobracaj

Saobracaj je posebno iznenadjenje za nas koji smo odrasli i zivimo u drugim sredinama. Ja bih ga nazvao “organizovanim haosom”.

1. Trotoari su u 90% slucajeva zauzeti “bastama” restorana, izlozenom robom radnji (kucne potrepstine, tekstil, tehnicka roba itd), parkiranim motorima i td tako da pesaci nemaju sanse da koriste trotoar vec moraju da idu kolovozom (sto ima slicnosti sa Srbijom ali ne i sa Australijom).
2. Vozila ne staju kod pesackog prelaza da propuste pesake. Pesaci moraju da se krecu normalnim korakom, ili cak sporije, da bi omogucili vozacima motora, tuk-tuka, automobila itd da ih zaobidju i izbegnu udes (nisam primetio ni jedan incident)
3. Najcudnije od svega, po pitanju saobracaja, je pruga koja prolazi kroz jednu od najprometnijih ulica u Hanoju (“train street”). Ulica je puna radnji i restorana i vrlo je uzana; sirina ulice je dovoljna da pridje voz i da ostane 10-20cm sa strane da voz ne bi dotakao objekte. Inace, tu prolazi voz od Kineske granice do Hanoja i ide brzinom od 50km/h.

Hrana

Ja volim uobicajenu vijetnamsku hranu ali do odredjenih granica. Nisam siguran da bih mogao da se naviknem na crve, skakavce, zrikavce...

Sistem

U Vijetnamu je komunisticka partija na vlasti ali je dozvoljena privatna inicijativa.

Ne mogu da se otrgnem utisku tj poredjenju na temu komunizam – kapitalizam (“demokratija”, “ljudska prava”, “vladavina prava” i slicne “sarene laze” takozvanog “slobodnog sveta”).

Odrastao sam u komunistikoj/socijalistickoj zemlji (bivsa Jugoslavija), u zadjnje dve godine sam posetio Kinu, Vijetnam i Kambodzu. Ziveo sam na Novom Zelandu a trenutno zivim u Australiji. USA nisam posetio ali sudim na bazi informacija koje svakodnevno stizu preko vesti, interneta i sl.

Primecujem da u komunisticim zemljama

• Nema masovnih ubistava po skolama, crkvama, soping centrima
• Nema prosjaka
• Nema beskucnika
• Nema drogiarnih na ulicama

Sto se droge tice, primer Australije:

• Zvanicno je zabranjena ali se otvaraju ambulante da bi (deca a i odrasli) narkomani mogli na miru i u higijenskim uslovima da se drogiraju
• Dok su u mnogim zemljama kazne za posedovanje i rasturanje droge drasticne, u Australiji svercer droge (Corby Schapell) postaje malte ne nacionalni heroj posle izbegavanja smrtne kazne. Australija je trosila moj (taxpayer) novac za njenu odbranu i po odsluzenju kazne u zatvoru u Indoneziji salje avion po nju. Postaje poznata i pise knjigu po kojoj ce se (navodno) snimati film. Koja je to poruka deci?

Ovim nemam nameru da zagovaram bilo koji sistem; samo poredim.