Vestiges of Communism

Some parting Vietnam observations... many are reminders that the country was controlled by communists not too long ago...

1. The "news" is important: Every morning in Hanoi, we'd be awakened first thing in the morning by a loudspeaker blaring the morning news throughout the streets. It turns out that back in the days under communist rule, this is the way the government would "share" news (read: propaganda) with the masses. This holdover from the old regime was a "good morning Vietnam" wake-up call each day.

2. Everyone gets a job: Under Communist rule, everyone was entitled to a job. Therefore, any job that could be done by 1 person was divvied into 3! This was still evident in many places: a) On the freeways, for example, cars stopped about 500 ft. before the toll booth just to collect a ticket. 500 feet down the road, the driver would give this ticket to the toll collector and pay the bill. b) At the airport, you'd hand your passports/visas to a gentleman at the left of a giant booth. There would be an assembly line of people to his right, many who literally only had to press a rubber stamp into the visa and pass it down the line! c) Finally, at the departure gate, you'd hand your card to a lady responsible for inspecting your visa. Five feet later, you would hand your paperwork to another lady whose sole responsibility would be to inspect your passport. Not exactly a model of efficiency.

3. No sex!: While speaking with many of our tour guides, we found that Sex in the City would NOT fly in Vietnam, as much of the programming is still heavily controlled and monitored by the government. Whoever is running their FCC must be in love with Keanu Reeves (or Sandra Bullock... or maybe even Dennis Hopper?), as Speed was on almost every evening for an entire week!