In 2002 I spent 5 weeks traveling from north to south in Vietnam and absolutely loved it. Before arriving I wondered whether or not there would be any hostility towards Americans and from the northern villages on the Chinese border right down to the Mekong Delta, the people were openly friendly and loved Americans. Well, Bush wasn't really held in high regard though they loved Clinton who had visited Vietnam not so long ago. Unlike their communist neighbors in SE Asia, Vietnam had a thriving middle class which was great to see.
Not everything was perfect and the government still runs re-education camps and the communist party was commonly referred to as "the mafia" because of their business dealings but overall I loved the Vietnamese and loved the country. Seeing the victims of Agent Orange there and in American VA clinics as well really pissed me off leaving me to wonder about the honesty of Bush's saber rattling at the time about Saddam and chemical weapons.
As Vietnam celebrates the 30th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, a few pieces of this story really stood out and just made me laugh. Vietnam has really moved on, as you can see from this tidbit about their celebration parade. I had visited a Western style grocery store in Saigon which was full of Vietnamese dressed in their "Sunday best" but with 2-3 items in the shopping cart but curious to see what the store was all about and to enjoy the airconditioned environment. I had a cart that was semi-filled and took looks of shock and amazement.
Many of the parade floats were sponsored by American companies including VISA and American Express. One float featured women pushing shopping carts loaded with supermarket goods.
