Word: nguyen
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...since 1975," she says, recalling a hasty departure with her husband and two children the week before Saigon's collapse. Tearful reunions outside the terminal at Tan Son Nhut now occur regularly, although many returning Vietnamese are nervous about how they will be received. Manila-based Tour Operator Johnathan Nguyen, a naturalized American, offers reassurances. "Overseas Vietnamese, welcome back," he exclaims at a briefing session during a stopover in the Philippines. "You will be treated like a king with your dollars...
...Nguyen's highly organized tours, planned with the enthusiastic cooperation of the Hanoi government, begin in teeming Saigon. Arriving there in the "high season" -- the relatively dry period from November to May -- can pose a few logistical problems. Travelers from the Soviet Union and East bloc countries, seeking a winter refuge, come in droves. As current allies, they have the clout to book the downtown hotels, while Americans are often relegated to the Tan Binh, a tedious, hour-long pedicab ride from downtown's central market. Among the scant diversions of the place: tasty, small loaves of French bread, pint...
With a little luck, even Americans may find themselves a spot at one of five downtown hotels that the Vietnamese generously rank as first class. The old Saigon Palace on Nguyen Hue Street may be the best of the lot, but guests must still share the "sunny terrace" on the hotel rooftop with brown rats the size of squirrels. Consequently, one does not tarry romantically over cocktails...
...hour northwest of Saigon, government tour guides fire their only major barrage of propaganda. In a lecture complete with pointer and diagrams, Nguyen Viet Hai, 33, details how ingenious Viet Cong escaped detection by U.S. soldiers by hiding out in a network of narrow, subterranean tunnels. Next, visitors are invited to go below ground and taste the claustrophobic flavor of tunnel life for themselves. The guides hasten to point out that the passageways have been enlarged to accommodate Caucasian visitors. Before the group descends, Hai recites the tunnel dwellers' motto: "When you walk without footmarks, when you talk without...
...Government is distinctly less so. Washington does not officially recognize the regime in Hanoi, and the Treasury Department enforces rules that hobble travelers and prevent tour operators from advertising. Members of the Vietnamese community in the U.S. may feel further discouraged from making a visit: supporters of Nguyen Cao Ky, former Vice President of South Viet Nam now in exile in California, insist that a trip to the homeland abets the enemy...