Another Aspect of the Trip
By Peter Downes
As I sit here in this wonderful 5-star hotel in Hanoi, typing on a laptop computer, I am relaxed, safe from the worries of the outside world. It's a lot of fun to go to the hotel's pool, or sit in the hot tub. This part of the trip is fun. But throughout this trip, my fellow travelers and myself have felt an underlying uneasiness when we leave the shelter of the hotel.
It starts when we travel a few feet down the street: the children come up to us selling everything from gum to postcards; then the pedi-cab drivers come, hoping to pedal you a mile or two for 10,000 Vietnamese Dong, or 60 cents. If we take the pedi- cab, we are offered everything from illegal substances to burned CDs. Of course we decline, but almost every time we take a cab the driver offers to sell us something.
Prostitution is rampant in Vietnam, mainly because the girls don't have any other choice. The average Vietnamese income is about $30 -$50 a month. The girls have little education (kids go to school for only 3 hours a day), and no professional training. This way they can make the same amount of money in one day, and it is normally used to support the family. It is really sad to see girls our age standing on street corners. One of my fellow travelers remarked, "Why don't we just pay her to go home?"
The worst part about Vietnam is seeing children, from 3 to 15, trying to sell you meaningless things, like gum or postcards; or even worse, they just beg. They look at you in such a way that you want to give them all you own. They are good at it, mainly because they have been practicing it since they could talk. Then reality kicks in, and you realize that the kids take the money home to their parents, who use it for purposes not related to their family. I try to have some candy in my pocket when I go out so I can give it to the kids, instead of money. There are also "professional" beggars in Vietnam. Sometimes you see a really young, cute kid of about 3 years old dressed up in a suit. Then he tries to sell you something. If you look around the corner, you sometimes see a man looking in your direction, trying not to be obvious. He is the man who gets the money. They make good money, judging from the man's clothes. The kids don't get much to eat either, because they are being used for money. That is why I give them candy. It brightens their day, at least for a moment, but every second of happiness counts.
I would like to discuss Communism in Vietnam, also. We are now in Hanoi, a city very much draped in Communism. As we walked through the city, we saw many propaganda signs praising the government and their founder, Ho Chi Minh. When we visited Ho Loa Prison, infamously known as the "Hanoi Hilton," we read much pro-Communist literature on the walls. (Two of the pictures are taken of a cell where Americans were held as captives.) The words "Capitalists" and "Imperialists" were in every sentence. Then we walked outside and were confronted with beggars, children selling gum, and pedi-cab drivers asking us for a ride. We are in the most capitalist- Communist country in the world. The hypocrisy is disgusting.
Communism has ruined the economy here. Vietnam has one of the worst inflation rates in the world, and the Vietnamese Dong (VND) is roughly 15,000 to 1 U.S. dollar. Vietnam may have won her unity, but what has she won? The north Vietnamese have destroyed their country in their revolutionary zeal. And because the economy has become so bad, corruption, nepotism, and poverty have set in. I realize the desire for freedom and liberty, but they have chosen the wrong path. And because of their decision, children are raised in a society where they must beg to survive. I have truly learned something in the past two weeks that the U.S. learned over 55 years: Communism, at least on a large scale, does not work.
