Vietnam is enthralling, intriguing, beautiful. We were charmed by friendly, smiling people, overwhelmed by the scenic beauty of the Phong Na National Park, fascinated by morning song-bird practice in the park in Ho Chi Minh City, delighted by delicious food, from (probably) the best baguettes ever to stir fried goat with spicy sauce to pho, the ubiquitous tasty noodle soup. Ice in beer was a surprise, but hey…

 

It’s a young country – according to the World Bank, in 2007 more than half of its 83 million people were under 25 years old. And it’s looking forward, changing rapidly. Ho Chi Minh City, alongside its colonial era buildings, has increasing numbers of fancy hotels and soaring office blocks. But the past, as William Faulkner famously remarked, ‘… is never dead. It’s not even past’. Phong Na village, on the Ho Chi Minh trail, is in the most heavily carpet bombed part of our planet. Just last week, some children found an unexploded bomb (now safely defused) in a garden.  And included in the ‘must see’ list for Ho Chi Minh city are the War Remnants Museum, with its harrowing exhibitions from the time of the Vietnam war, and the Cu Chi tunnels that became a complex underground city…

So much more to think about, so much more to find out…

I suspect we’ll be back!