This photo is pretty typical of the sidewalks of Saigon. They are crowded, chaotic, torn up, obstructed, and messy. They are also orderly, organized, and surprisingly clean. Like a lot of other things in Saigon they are paradoxical. For an outsider they take a little getting used to.

I like to learn a city by walking it, but it’s close to impossible to do here. Except for Dong Khoi, the main shopping street in the tourist center, there are almost no walking streets in Saigon – and for practical reasons almost no one walks anyway. It’s hot. It’s humid. And, except for Sunday, there is almost never enough room to negotiate the narrow spaces between storefronts and the streets. read more

This is one view of Vietnam, but Vietnam is a country of contrasts, and last week Marilynn and I saw some of the extremes that exist in this amazing country.

On Friday we flew to Danang where we spent 11 hours visiting East Meets West projects with Bob Greenwood, one of the organization’s strongest and most articulate advocates. Bob is helping us adjust to changing times and develop new funding strategies for the projects that are the lifeblood of the organization. That’s his business and he’s very good at it; but EMW is in a different category than his other clients. Bob loves Vietnam. He was here in the Navy during the war and he’s been back a number of times since the country opened up to tourism in 1995. It is no exaggeration to say that people who visit this incredible country come away transformed. Bob is a classic example. This time he came to see EMW projects up close in order to better understand them. I’m inspired every time I visit the programs and traveling with Bob gave us both another chance to see them and the people they serve. read more

A Vietnamese-American friend told me recently how much the Vietnamese hate having their country regarded as Third World, an emerging market, or a developing economy. They are a proud people with an impressive culture and a history of upsetting expectations. The Chinese, the French, and the Americans have all been beaten here, and now it’s economic warfare in a global economy.

It’s an exciting place to be these days, but the truth is that Vietnam is a Third World country. In 1994 much of the population was starving and the economy was in the tank. It was at that moment that the Socialist Republic of Vietnam decided to take the pragmatic step of subordinating ideology to experiment with a market driven economy. It was a good decision for the people who energetically have worked their way back to prosperity (of sorts). read more

Headlines in today’s Vietnam News, the local English language newspaper:

WILD ELEPHANTS HAVE DESTROYED MANY HOUSES AND CROPS

TOAD EGGS DEADLY FOR CHILDREN (Story on page 4)

ONE HORNED RHINOS ON VERGE OF EXTINCTION (Story on page 6)

FOUR JAILED FOR TRYING TO OVERTHROW THE STATE (Page 1)

I had no idea toad eggs were deadly, so that was good information. The article went on to say that not only were the eggs deadly but that “toad flesh does not contain many highly nutritious elements that are good for children.” I didn’t know that either. Without treatment both toad elements “could lead to death.” Well, it wasn’t on my diet anyway. read more

Sometimes you think you know how things work. Sometimes you do. But, sometimes you really don’t.

We live in a fairly nice apartment. The view, as you can see, is not scenic but we have a maid and 24 hour security. We have a one year lease on a 2 bedroom flat. Occasionally, we have an overnight guest and twice we have let friends or co-workers stay in the second bedroom when we were away. No problem normally, but we didn’t understand how things really work until we returned after Christmas and “heard” that there was a big flap about some of our guests. In fact, it turns out that 3 of them, traveling together were turned away. But to this day the only people who have talked to us are the rejected guests. To be fair, there is a law that says guests need to be registered with the police. Depending on where you are in Europe or Asia you may have to surrender your passport when you check into a hotel. We have all come to accept that. In Vietnam it extends one rung lower and individuals have to register guests staying in their homes. Practically speaking it doesn’t happen if it’s a one or two night gig, but they are serious about longer stays. read more