Last Day in Hanoi
Today was a great lecture day. We met with the Vice President of the Vietnam Peace and Development Foundation and he gave a fascinating talk on the history of Vietnam and its development stages from decades ago until now. Vietnam has been under 1000 years of conflict from colonial (Chinese, French, Japanese) to modern wars (American). They have also been under adverse climate change because of the amount of coastline the country has and its proximity to sea level. Climate change currently jeopardizes their export business which is an important part of their market system. In 2011 Vietnam was the #1 country exporting rice to the rest of the world.
Mr. Loi was raised during the Vietnam/American war and he gave us first hand accounts of what it was like living in rural Vietnam as American planes constantly bombed over head. He went to 13 different schools in 10 years due to the constant need to relocate because of bombing risks. The rural people would build underground schools every time they moved and his people lived in very rudimentary structures, using only small fuel lit lamps to see occasionally. I am continually amazed at current relations between our countries, since an agreement went in place between us in 1995. The resilience and tenacity of the Vietnamese is really amazing.
Mr. Loi explained the socialist practices in his country from then to now, and why they were put in place, as well as the successes and failures of them. Even in the midst of some negative statistics (23% inflation rate last year which is double from the year before), there are also positive ones: 10% poverty level in 2011 as compared to 75% in 1986, and life expectancy was 72 in 2011 vs. 62 in 1990. The GDP is still very low, around 1,400. The average service worker can expect to make less than 200$ USD in a month.
Our next visit was to the American embassy annex and we learned about the foreign affairs office and what work they do in Vietnam. All of this was interesting to me because of my interest in international affairs but I wont bore you with the details. We discussed environment, politics, economy and other aspects of how the embassy works with Vietnamese diplomats. Very cool!
After that we hopped a plan and flew south to Hue, in central Vietnam. I videoed a few minutes of the ride to Hue, however there is some background noise, etc. I tried to give you some information about what city life is like here for the Vietnamese. I am going to do a walking video one day too so you can see it better. It is a bit unbelievable that what they are living like now are the best living conditions that have been in place for many generations.
Till next time! Hope you are all doing well back in the USA.
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