Back to ‘Nam

I’m in Vietnam this week for work. Here’s some almost-appropriate music to listen to while you read this post:

So far, Vietnam seems like what I imagine China felt like 15 to 20 years ago before it was completely overtaken by investment and development. In Hanoi, you will find the same crazy moto-dominated traffic, lines of make-shift stores that sell pirate iPhones next to plumbing supplies, and questionable street food vendors that you would find in China. But Hanoi doesn’t seem to be nearly as modern (or should I say western?) as Shanghai or Beijing. There is no public transit, the taxis don’t seem to be regulated in any meaningful way, and there aren’t any of the modern super malls like you would see in Xujiahui in Shanghai.

But I don’t think things will stay like this for very much longer. China developed so quickly that visitors who returned after two or three years away would barely be able to recognize areas they had visited before. I don’t know if investment will strike Vietnam that quickly, but I’m sure this place is going to look completely different ten years from now.