To the Docks!

It has been a few days since our tour through Central Vietnam, and still the jury remains out on the verdict. In the mad rush of Saigon, my mind has been anything but sequestered for deliberation.

The countryside, although lush in foliage, lacks the audacity of being a natural wonder. Visit any of the national parks in America, and Vietnam would pale in comparison. The land here is useful, and therefore utilized. Little remains of the natural beauty that once was; trees make way for roads and skies fill with power lines. Rice paddies stretch into the horizon, the mainstay of country life. Field hands tend to their crop, backs hunched, conical hats shading them from the sun. Everything is done by hand. John Deere would be a hero here.

In Vietnam excess has never been allowed to ferment, corked by the dam of discord. The remaining pagodas are small, and with the exception of a few Buddhist idols, things remain so. Perhaps it is most telling that one of Vietnam's most popular tourist attractions, the Cu Chi tunnels, cannot even be seen. 75 miles of 5 by 3 tunnels, dug one handful at a time, mirrors the country's long and dark history.

A succession of war and revolt, division and unification, spell out the country's existence. The nation's north-south conflict goes back hundreds of years, apparently an ongoing, generational conflict only recently resolved. Fortunately, countries need not live in the past. And it is the people which offer this country promise.

Industrious, the Vietnamese people can feel the growing pains of their country. As their economy grows, so too does their hope. Everyone wants to start a business, to join the emerging middle class, to make it rich. What was once unthinkable is now a dream, and excuse them for trying to cut their way in line to get there, but they will get there. Even with a 200% tax on imported cars, you can see the odd Mercedes or Lexus cruising the Saigon streets, parting the sea of motorbikes. A new generation of businessmen, learning the fine points of capital economics, will ensure the continued growth. Despite the ongoing piracy, the tide is coming in. But are there enough boats to go around?