Betty,

Yes, I did find Viet Nam much changed. I didn't realize my first visit was fairly soon after VN had opened to tourism. There was very little industry, a few large plants were springing up in the midst of rice paddies. Of course things are different in that respect today.

I kept feeling that although the traffic is still frantic, there aren't as many motorcycles as there were. That can't be right, it must be that there are many more private cars than there were in 2001. It used to be a blend of pedicabs, motos and a few taxis and cars, but pedicabs are now banned in Saigon, with the exception of a few for tourist purposes, due to traffic. The mix has changed.

A second visit to the Hanoi Hilton revealed that the extreme propaganda bias regarding the "American War" had changed. Gone were the photos of Jane Fonda shaking hands with VK leaders and photos of John McCain smiling while imprisoned (but openly flipping the bird as a symbol to those back home that things weren't quite as pictured). There is more emphasis now on how the French colonialists used the facility to imprison and torture the Vietnamese. The only photo of McCain is a one of a post war visit. The War Museum in Saigon had a very powerful and often disturbing exhibit on the War as seen through the eyes of a number of media photographers, many who lost their lives on assignment. Interestingly the War Museum was not part of any of Silversea's tours. I realized that just now as I went through my tour book looking to see if there was a name other than the War Museum.

Quite recently other nationalities are now allowed to buy property (as in homes and apartments) in VN and there is a large presence of multi-national hotel chains.