Vietnam travel guide

Ironically, it was once Vietnam began to fight for its independence that the country became divided. In 1941, in response to the Japanese invasion, followed by France’s re-colonisation of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh’ Indochinese Communist Party (ICP) organised the Viet Minh guerrilla army to fight for independence. The Viet Minh defeated the French, but the country became divided, with Ho Chi Minh’s Communist stronghold in the north, and a republic in the south. The conflict between the two halves of the country marked the very beginnings of the Vietnam War, as well as attracting the attention of the United States, who began to send in troops to crush the spread of Communism.

By 1967 there were half a million American troops in Vietnam. Some 60,000 were killed – along with possibly millions of Vietnamese, including many hundreds of thousands of civilians. America eventually withdrew in 1973 as the anti-war movement grew, and the North Vietnamese troops invaded South Vietnam in 1975, finally uniting the country as a socialist republic in 1976.

Recovery was sluggish. Many hundreds of thousands fled the country, becoming known as “boat people”. The US trade embargo was not lifted until 1994, and the horrific damage caused by the spraying of Agent Orange rendered much of South Vietnam’s farmland unusable – as well as causing up to 500,000 children to be born with birth defects. The Vietnamese Red Cross estimates that up to a million people in Vietnam today are deformed or suffering from diseases linked to the toxin.

Outside of its cosmopolitan cities, modern Vietnam remains largely traditional, with around 70 percent of its population still living in the countryside. Tourists will have to track down references to the War, with a daytrip to the theme park-like Cu Chi Tunnels, or a tour of Ho Chi Minh City’s disturbing and graphic War Remnants Museum – formerly known as the “Exhibition House for US and Puppet Crimes”.

Though liberty has increased, Vietnam is one of the world’s last remaining single-party communist states. In recent years there have been disturbing steps to curb free speech, including controlling blog content and online discussions of foreign affairs, jailing journalists, and sentencing activists for displaying pro-democracy banners. Whether the modern world can provide Vietnam with more freedom and development – or simply more ways to oppress its people – remains to be seen.