Monday, 5Feb07
Highlights: home to Jakarta
Vietnam has done a remarkable turn-around since 1986, when Moi Boi (reform) began, which allowed all this "guided" capitalism. They have really taken to the new financial opportunities, and the amount of development here is astounding. I'm really hopeful for the Vietnamese people,, even though the layers of political obstacles are not allowed to be openly discussed or printed about.
example: the government printed a new 10,000 dong note last year. The picture (Ho Chi Minh, of course) is identical to the 100,000 dong note and the 500,000 dong note. In fact,, if you're not paying close attention to the number of zeros, it's easy to mistake them.
Many people complained about the new bill, and one audacious newspaper company dared to print some of those complaints. The government promptly shut the newspaper down for 6 weeks for openly criticizing a government decision.
Communism appears sugar coated in many respects, because the economy is doing very well... but according to some friends i met who are living here- after a while you start seeing the camouflaged repression. Another example: Vietnamese have to register with their local police department weeks in advance if they wish to travel outside their district. They have to provide a full itinerary, outlining where they wish to travel, when, and why. This is for travel within their own country, by the way. Bureacracy always has the perogative to say "no", without explaining itself. so,,, of the people i asked about their own travels in Vietnam,, the answer, 90% of the time was a polite smile & acknowledgement that they had never been 50 miles beyond where they lived now. few exceptions. It’s even more difficult for them to leave the country, as one woman explained in Saigon. Her husband is a tour guide in Cambodia at Angkor Wat, so his company gets him permission to cross the border- but he can’t take his own wife over to see where he works in Cambodia, because she doesn’t have a justifiable enough reason to go. Hmmm.
After 12 days, i was more travelled than most, and had to describe what Saigon or Hoi An looked like to most people from Hanoi.
I don’t mean to hone in on the less flattering aspects of Vietnam… I just point them out as I see them, since I’m here to learn about how life is like in Vietnam, and develop an ability to compare a few different places within the 11 country bloc we call “Southeast Asia”.
Vietnam and Indonesia are both great places. I’ve enjoyed my time in each, and it looks like a lot of examples of “success” are shaping up here. That’s great to see, because it’s so easy to form a connection with the people here when you visit. I wish the best for them.
Highlights: home to Jakarta
Vietnam has done a remarkable turn-around since 1986, when Moi Boi (reform) began, which allowed all this "guided" capitalism. They have really taken to the new financial opportunities, and the amount of development here is astounding. I'm really hopeful for the Vietnamese people,, even though the layers of political obstacles are not allowed to be openly discussed or printed about.
example: the government printed a new 10,000 dong note last year. The picture (Ho Chi Minh, of course) is identical to the 100,000 dong note and the 500,000 dong note. In fact,, if you're not paying close attention to the number of zeros, it's easy to mistake them.
Many people complained about the new bill, and one audacious newspaper company dared to print some of those complaints. The government promptly shut the newspaper down for 6 weeks for openly criticizing a government decision.
Communism appears sugar coated in many respects, because the economy is doing very well... but according to some friends i met who are living here- after a while you start seeing the camouflaged repression. Another example: Vietnamese have to register with their local police department weeks in advance if they wish to travel outside their district. They have to provide a full itinerary, outlining where they wish to travel, when, and why. This is for travel within their own country, by the way. Bureacracy always has the perogative to say "no", without explaining itself. so,,, of the people i asked about their own travels in Vietnam,, the answer, 90% of the time was a polite smile & acknowledgement that they had never been 50 miles beyond where they lived now. few exceptions. It’s even more difficult for them to leave the country, as one woman explained in Saigon. Her husband is a tour guide in Cambodia at Angkor Wat, so his company gets him permission to cross the border- but he can’t take his own wife over to see where he works in Cambodia, because she doesn’t have a justifiable enough reason to go. Hmmm.
After 12 days, i was more travelled than most, and had to describe what Saigon or Hoi An looked like to most people from Hanoi.
I don’t mean to hone in on the less flattering aspects of Vietnam… I just point them out as I see them, since I’m here to learn about how life is like in Vietnam, and develop an ability to compare a few different places within the 11 country bloc we call “Southeast Asia”.
Vietnam and Indonesia are both great places. I’ve enjoyed my time in each, and it looks like a lot of examples of “success” are shaping up here. That’s great to see, because it’s so easy to form a connection with the people here when you visit. I wish the best for them.
posted by jonathan adventures at 1:42 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home