The Return Trip 2000 – 9
Impressions

What were we looking for on this return to Vietnam? It's hard to say. Our reasons may be as different as the five individuals we are. To see this strange and foreign place at peace rather than at war - sure that was part of it. To learn something about the people that we never really had the opportunity to come to know back them - yeah, that too. To see if they are better or worse off than they were. All of those things, but the return was probably as much about us as it was about them. In a way a try at finding what was lost here.

Struggling through the oppressive heat and humidity of Saigon, Cu Chi and Tay Ninh was even harder than I remembered. How did we ever do it? Being 22 instead of 54 was surely a help. But still, it was more oppressively hot than I remembered. There weren't any bugs though. A strong argument in favor of checking into a three star hotel instead of stretching out in a pineapple patch or rice paddy. And the roads are better. Another convincing argument, if we ever needed one, for keeping armored personnel carriers and tanks off the Interstates. But the improved roadways don't mean lower travel times. The population explosion has seen to that. Typical of many parts of the developing world the hope of jobs has brought people by the hundreds of thousands to the cities. As we noted in one of the updates Highway 1 between Saigon and the Mekong Delta is nearly wall to wall people. And so it is between Saigon and Cu Chi. And houses and shops line the roads wall to wall crowding the traffic so badly that sometimes only one out of four lanes is usable. There were some stretches of road in the mountains around Dalat with open countryside and the area near Tay Ninh was a lot the way we remembered it once you got away from the main road and the town itself. But with the explosive population growth it seems like that won't last for long.

Cramming 77 million people into an area smaller than California is quite a feat. They have a ways to go. Electricity seems to be everywhere but sufficient sewer capacity is not - especially around the cities. So some of the houses look better than they did 30 years ago - solid brick and mortar structures instead of grass thatched hootches - but the quality of life looks worse. None of us recalls a lot of litter during the war. Now it is everwhere. It is so bad that it seems there must be a national campaign to cover the entire landscape with plastic bags until the soil itself is tinged light blue. Maybe that's what comes with greater prosperity. In the old days even something as trifling as a plastic bag was a prized possession that was used over and over again, never finding its way into the rubbish heap. Now they are cheap and plentiful and are strewn across the landscape everywhere you look.

 And TV. Everybody has a TV. Even those remaining grass hootches have a TV antenna sprouting out of them. Still no real basic services like hospitals, ambulances and fire protection. A fact that was driven home today when one of the Cyclo drivers we've befriended had an eplipetic seizure. No calling 911. Got epilepsy? Learn to live with it. It's not that people are insensitive. Far from it. As the seizure came on him this morning his buddies rushed to his side to hold him. It was partly to keep him from hurting himself but also a demonstration of true compassion as they stroked his hair and comforted him through the worst of the spasms. Maybe the authorities can start thinking about a health care system now.

There are some encouraging signs though -- like the orphanage we visited. A real grass roots project that, fortunately, gets foreign support. A neat and tidy place with enough staff to make a difference in the lives of the children in their care. They do so well in fact that five "graduates" of the orphanage have gone on to college and technical careers. Not a bad track record.

So that's a thumbnail impression of them. What about us?

Rick Everett probably said it best. He said we had come full circle. That coming back and seeing the few places we still had access to and could remember seemed to be like closing a chapter of our lives. We all seemed to agree that the trip had left us feeling different, more resolved. That there was no longer a sense of unfinished business in the backs of our minds. The emotions are still there, sure. Strong ones. They'll always be there. But seeing the landscape again and seeing the changes that have taken place has reinforced the sense that the war is long past. The Vietnam we left is hardly here anymore and with each passing year more and more of it disappears. More than anything else this trip has reminded us all that for us Vietnam wasn't just a place. It was also a time and that time is gone.

We've enjoyed the trip back. Better travelling companions would be very hard to find. I hope you've enjoyed coming along with us.

Larry James