It has been 12 years since my last visit to Vietnam, and my goodness has it changed. It kind of reminded me of the same sort of transformation that China saw a decade earlier (and kind of fitting given how much manufacturing is shifting to this country).
Ho Chi Minh City really cleaned up - and in more than one sense! While it was still a sprawling metropolis with rivers of motorcycles, the low rise dilapidated buildings have been replaced by fancy new high rise condominiums and offices buildings. Traffic had gotten significantly worse, with higher density, and more cars, but still not yet as bad as some of the other ASEAN metropolises.
The food was always great, although now it is a whole lot more diverse - both with new experiments and takes on what modern Vietnamese cuisine is, as well as some fusion concepts. The coffee culture, which was legendary to begin with, similarly saw new creations (at least new for me) like egg lattes.
Hanoi definitely still had its slower charm, and still felt more like a European city than an Asian one.
The people were still nice, although there was this sense of new urgency or energy, like they were sprinting towards something - maybe moving towards building something greater, or something else I couldn't quite put my finger on. I will definitely be back more often and can't let over a decade go by again before getting to know this country better.
No comments:
Post a Comment