Word: vietnamize
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...thought returning to Vietnam would be difficult. After all, my first attempt had not gone well. In October 1974, I left the country newly married to Nguyen thi Phuong Nga and for a new assignment in Rio de Janeiro. I had just completed two years in Saigon for TIME, reporting the chaotic endgame of a cruel war. Six months later, with Communist forces close to overrunning the country, I headed back to Saigon to try to bring out Nga's parents, five sisters and her brother. We had arranged visas to the U.S. for them from Rio, but they needed...
...Twenty-five years passed before I made it back to Vietnam. In 2000, I finally landed at Tan Son Nhut and discovered there was nothing difficult about returning after all. Vietnam and its people had been transformed. The outward scars of war?checkpoints, gun emplacements, soldiers?had disappeared, and the mind-set of war had melted away...
...returning to Vietnam is a lively, exhilarating experience with moments of giddiness. Wandering through Ho Chi Minh City earlier this month, I was charmed to see that painters were touching up the already-glistening white and gold trim on the old Saigon City Hall. Nga and I were married in that wonderful confection of a building. Could it be that the good comrade city fathers were refurbishing it in honor of our visit? A silly thought. No, they wanted it to look beautiful for the celebrations taking place this week to mark the 30th anniversary of the fall of Saigon...
...taxi and cruise in a sea of motor scooters through neighborhoods dotted with shops selling bright clothes, utilitarian furniture, the latest electronics. We join a friend and his wife for dinner at a charming restaurant tucked away on a quiet residential side street. It serves splendid food from central Vietnam, a new sophistication in itself. Ten years ago, our host could not find a job. His wife kept the family afloat by running a small day-care center. Today, he operates a brisk business raising orchids for export. Other Vietnamese friends of ours have similar hopeful stories...
...take care not to overstate the case. Many people in Vietnam are crushingly poor and work long days on the street or in the fields to eke out a sparse living. They do not dine in the new quaint restaurants that now grace Saigon. When we traveled to the far north of Vietnam, near the border with China, the houses in the countryside reminded me of those I had seen in my travels in Ethiopia. My wife's aunt, a professor of social work in Saigon, reminds us that Vietnam is only beginning to cope with serious social problems like...