Vietnam

Jan 11, 2013   //   by David   //   Blog, Vietnam  //  4 Comments

Only 30 years ago most of Vietnam’s population lived at, under or near the poverty line. Today the percentage of people living below the poverty line has dropped below 20%. The intervening years has seen Vietnam move from a completely agrarian society to a partially mechanized society. This movement to more money and more technology is most pronounced on the road. The poor ride bicycles. The middle-class (most urbanites) ride motorbikes. The elite drive cars. all the cars we saw in Vietnam were new. This is not a country where your 1970s car goes to die, that’s Africa. This is a nouveau-riche, upwardly mobile, wannabee state. Consumerism is coming, along with increased wealth. It is easy to project where Vietnam’s consumer economy will be in 20 years time. Unfortunately it is equally easy to predict the state of the roads in 20 years when people can afford cars. There is motorbike gridlock now. Traffic jams will be endemic. Invest in consumer goods and income producing property. Vietnam is independent, intelligent and driven by the god of wealth. How driven by wealth? On the gate posts of traditional homes stand two dogs. Yes, dogs. Not lions or dragons, Dogs. Because the sound of a dog’s bark, wooh, is the same sound as the word “rich”. It’s an advertisement for ambition.

There are 91 million people in Vietnam. It seems that 70 million of these are street vendors all of whom are determined to approach me with a deal, all the time. They are all genuinely friendly and don’t get annoyed when I talk to them about all kinds of stuff not related to a sale. But after 8 hours of continuous sales offers one gets saturated (thanks Romi). The other 20 million people live in the Mekong Delta. They seem genuinely surprised when a tourist is interested in their wares. Visit the Mekong Delta. It’s genuine, interesting, attractive and fun.

The government of Vietnam is controlled by a communist party. Really it’s more party than communist. There is no free medical care nor free education. If you can’t afford to go to school, you don’t go. (That is unless you are a member of the 54 recognized minority ethnic groups for whom schooling is free. That is in order to Vietnamize the minorities.) Nothing is free. Income tax is 10%. There is no sales tax. There is a big brother who gives directions over a loudspeaker in each village and town.

The North Vietnamese are very proud of their heritage. The southern Vietnamese are equally proud to be Vietnamese but not necessarily communist. Central Vietnamese seem apolitical. A clash of political cultures between north and south seems imminent. I think that the Southerners want a welfare state. The Northerners will march to the tune of their leader, whomever he is. If the communist party begin providing services a clash will be avoided.

4 Comments

  • That’s more like it! Nice piece.

    • Nee man. Nie so snaaks nie. ‘n Meisie wil glimlag. Vietnam – moenie lag nie?

      • Wie het gelag. Goodkoop.

  • Hi guys,

    Hope you are having a good time. Let’s try Skype soon. H