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Last week I had a chance to visit Vietnam — briefly, by any standard: one night, two days. I had travelled a lot around Southeast Asia, but this was my first time in the country. My expectations were high.
The flight was long and complicated: Madrid–Rome–Bangkok–Ho Chi Minh, with two connections, everything needing to stay on schedule. Thankfully I was flying business, so the trip was comfortable enough, and I even managed to review some cases for IESE.
Ho Chi Minh City’s airport offers free Wi-Fi for passengers, so I connected my LG G4 as soon as I could. Google Now registered where I was and offered a quick brief on what to expect after immigration: about 34 °C (Madrid had been around 4 °C) and a rather picturesque exchange rate. With a little effort, I would be a millionaire here.
That unusual exchange rate makes it hard at first to judge real costs. When you pay 25,000 for a Coke at McDonald’s, you may worry for a second whether the zeros are right.
The first thing you notice on the drive from the airport into the centre — barely seven kilometres, roughly twenty minutes — are Soviet-era red banners with stars (yes, I know how the Vietnamese flag looks) and the hammer and sickle. They sit in striking contrast with a society that feels free and, in many ways, westernised.
I wondered why so much communist-era imagery still lined streets that did not feel communist at all. I only understood it after visiting the War Remnants Museum.
The Vietnam War and reunification forged a strong patriotic feeling among Vietnamese people. They fought hard to defend the country’s sovereignty and paid a high price for freedom from direct foreign influence. Those stars and banners are national symbols of that struggle more than propaganda for communism as an economic model. Once you see that, there is no real contradiction in putting a Burger King promotion on the same stand as a hammer-and-sickle flag.
Overall, Vietnam exceeded my expectations. It is an interesting country with a rich history. Its people fought hard to shape their future, yet they were able to forgive and re-establish relations with the United States. I loved Ho Chi Minh City for its charm and openness, kind people, and tasty, inexpensive food. If I have to name a downside, it is the traffic: chaotic, dangerous, a tangle of motorbikes, cars, and buses. Truly wild.
I will definitely come back to Vietnam for leisure and would be glad to see other parts of this beautiful, friendly country.
Alex
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