Besides Miss Saigon, when talking about Vietnam, sometimes the haunting picture of a naked, horrified girl running from the site of Mỹ Lai massacre comes to mind. Vietnam War was big news in the 70s. The war between U.S. and the remnants of the French colonial government in South Vietnam against the indigenous but communist North Vietnam which began in 1955 didn't end until 1975. In 1968, American soldiers brutally killed women, children and old men in the village of Mỹ Lai. The communists won the war finally but the newly unified Vietnam remained impoverished and politically isolated. Don't expect an impoverished, underdeveloped Ho Chih Minh with beggars or poor people everywhere though. The series of economic and politically reforms that the Communist Party initiated in1986 perhaps bring much changes to the city. Ho Chih Minh present isn't Ho Chih Minh past. Some of our friends who were on their second trip to the city remarked there had been vast changes in the form of newer, higher buildings since they were last here. These days the city is vibrant and has a character of its own. Food is aplenty and it was fun walking and exploring the old, narrow streets of the backpackers part of the city as well as the new shopping malls that had sprouted and flourished. And when we reached Ho Chih Minh, we braved the hot afternoon sun to the underground food court, Asiana Food Town just across the road which offers not just Vietnamese but also international fare. 2
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