Final Thoughts

There is much to mull over and not all my thoughts are easily determined. We have seen so much in terms of both the touristy places but more importantly, the people, and the places and the society in which they live. What I have seen much has often left many questions that I cannot so far answer. But maybe that is the answer or maybe part of the answer: I just cannot answer them yet… at least to my satisfaction.

To begin the reflections on a positive note most of the people we met were wonderful. Always friendly and helpful, many smiles and I do not recall any harsh responses. What is worth noting is that many of the hotel workers, people in the cafes and so on were young. I think that in Vietnam 50% of the population is under 25 and 70% under 40 and it is these people who will lead the country in future…..not.Like many countries, the old hands, people who can trace their roots back to the 'war', dominate the government. Cambodia is similar although the current premier Hun Sen traces his lineage back to the Khmer Rouge. However, he claims that he left them before 1979 and fought against them in the coup that ended their rule. What we also became aware of was that there was a clear split in the education opportunities for the young. Some seem either indifferent to it, or simply unable to afford it. Actually, the latter is the key factor but there are huge difficulties for them to overcome.Some of those that we met devote a huge amount of time to their attendance at different schools in an effort to improve their life chances. For some, maybe many adults young children can serve as a bonus when it comes to earning money and so they are reluctant to send them to school. On several occasions, we saw notes in restaurants that asked people not to but from children as this discouraged them from going to school.

Having said that local sellers which we came across virtually everywhere but particularly Cambodia were often a pest, rushing at you as you arrived at a site, or hassling you when you were walking. The cry, 'Tuk Tuk Madam', was incessant but one had to develop a clear strategy related to how one would respond and speak directly to them. Any prevarication and they would persist. But it was important to remain polite: all they were doing was trying to earn a crust after-all.

Whilst it is clear that Vietnam is relatively prosperous, at least in the cities, Cambodia is an incredibly poor country. Wherever we went, the evidence of poor facilities and lack of money was widespread. The vast majority of shops were local and based on homes often just a small workshop with goods for sale.Goods may be an overstatement as in some cases as they often seemed to be full of old, rusting bits and pieces of machines. Sometimes it seemed to be just a small set up on the street and when you had a row of these establishments they all seemed to be selling the same things.It is hard to understand how they could all make any money. Sometimes in the countryside you might see people selling small amounts of fresh food like fruit or a vegetable.

The market in Siem Reap was full of fresh produce which suggests that ordinary peoples diets had the potential to be healthy and there was a plentiful amount of food available but I do not know what the price of anything was. I guess some set a price for foreigners, as we were always charged dollars rather than rials.Even in Phnom Penh, the range of shops and the quality on display is significantly below what could be seen in Saigon. There were some European style shopping centres selling big TV's and so on but they had few local people in them. Otherwise what you saw away from the river front and the downtown areas were much of the same as elsewhere; small workshops full of old equipment that was being used to exact repairs on old equipment. Living conditions in the rural areas was also very poor. There was clear evidence that they do not have access to the basic sorts of features we would expect, eg safe running water, health care. However, there does appear to be electricity, evidenced by the huge high tension cables to be seen across the country,

It is quite clear that Vietnam is a wealthier society than Cambodia in that Ha Noi and Saigon in particular had many western type shops offering a wide range of goods. In Hoi An this ranged from clothes, to books and watches and so on. In many cases, they were selling what we dubbed the 'genuine fakes'. In some sense, this was fun, and we bought some items knowing they were not genuine. Thus, I have some 'Lacoste' shirts! Furthermore, most places looked better at least in the cities. Shops seemed more purpose built and designed to attract the buyer. In the rural areas, it was much less obvious and in many cases resembled Cambodia.

Another feature of life in the cities were the outdoor restaurants that were set up on the pavements. Often women would have a small stall for cooking and provide various cooked items. At lunchtime and certainly in the evening 'restaurants would appear and then the clients would arrive. The result was a heaving mass of people eating, drinking and talking. What I think was unexpected was that shortly after the evening was over the tables and chairs were cleared away and the pavement was left clear.However, it all goes to suggest that for the vast majority of the people access to 'proper; restaurants, even cafes are beyond their means.

From what we could find out the society is riddled with corruption so that there was little chance of improvement unless one had money to bride officials. This ranges from the police to politicians all of whom are believed to be on the make.

I cannot say I have read a lot so far about the history of the area. What they did appear say to me is that the area, eg Cambodia and Vietnam, have been savagely and badly treated by the USA, and others to a lesser extent, for the last 50 years or so and that irrespective of any issues related to their presumed political differences the people of both countries, but particularly Cambodia, needs our help.