My first trip to Vietnam was in 1990 on a consultancy to work with a team to put together a proposal for Vietnam. The trip started in Hanoi and ended in Saigon. That year, Saigon was dark as shops closed early. Nguyen Hue Boulevard was dim and the little souvenir shops in the center of the road didn't seem well lighted. The major mean of transport were an occasional taxi but mostly it was the cyclo (three wheeled bicycle taxi) that the tourists took to navigate around. Then, the Saigon Floating Hotel, Majestic, Continental, Caravelle and Rex were the better known hotels.
That first trip was followed by many more trips. With an average of four to six trips a year, I must have made more than 50 trips to Vietnam. Everyone who has frequented Vietnam would agree that urban development in Saigon has been quite rapid so that over time, Saigon has reclaimed its old decadent self. The city has seen a steady rise of new hotels, bars, great restaurants, shops, cars and motorbikes.
I have close friends in Vietnam and I find that the Vietnamese are very much like other Asians -- hospitable, sensitive, caring, kind, and sincere. Like other Asians, they also give presents to friends and they are so lavish with gifts, a trait they perhaps imbibed from the Chinese. But I tell my friends that all that disappear when they ride their motorbike. A Vietnamese on a motorbike becomes a completely different person: he/she is aggressive. Perhaps it is a survival rule in motorbiking in Vietnam that scares the tourist trying to cross a busy city street.
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