It was a heavy heart that I left the tranquility of Vung Tau and the wonderful company I had there.
The ferry was jam-packed but my foresight in buying a first class ticket helped me have an even more comfortable ride. The ride, which was less than 2 hours, is scenic particularly after the ferry crosses the mangrove and enters the river.
The serenity of the riverine villages reminded me so much of the backwaters of Kerala. How I envy those with simplier rural lives in places like those villages. Of course, the Vietnamese in these parts have had anything but an easy life.Almost everyone lost a loved one in the war of independence. The Americans used chemical weapons and agent orange, which still causes cancer in the country!
Yet, with over 60 percent of the population being born after the war, those days seem like a distant memory. Vietnam looks forward and ahead and the country is poised to be a major economic regional powerhouse in the years to come.
The ferry was jam-packed but my foresight in buying a first class ticket helped me have an even more comfortable ride. The ride, which was less than 2 hours, is scenic particularly after the ferry crosses the mangrove and enters the river.
The serenity of the riverine villages reminded me so much of the backwaters of Kerala. How I envy those with simplier rural lives in places like those villages. Of course, the Vietnamese in these parts have had anything but an easy life.Almost everyone lost a loved one in the war of independence. The Americans used chemical weapons and agent orange, which still causes cancer in the country!
Yet, with over 60 percent of the population being born after the war, those days seem like a distant memory. Vietnam looks forward and ahead and the country is poised to be a major economic regional powerhouse in the years to come.
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