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| Viet Nam evokes many different images to many different people. Some imagine the French colonial serenity depicted in movies like Indochine. Others imagine a brutal jungle war and burned-out landscape struggling with years of unrest. Almost all of these images are far from the reality that is Viet Nam today. | |
| In the past ten years, a relaxation
of government restrictions and an opening to investors, scholars, international
organizations, and tourists have resulted in many people coming to Vietnam to experience,
firsthand, a country slowly easing itself into modern times. Since the early 1990s, numerous changes have been introduced to the country under Doi Moi, or Reform. For politics and the economy of Viet Nam, this means improving both political ties and economic dealings with the rest of the world. For the people of Viet Nam, it has meant much greater awareness of and access to international standards in education, technology, healthcare, business practices, industry and agriculture, increases in foreign currency, and a yearning for popular culture. Viet Nam stretches 2600 kilometers from tip to tip -- roughly the length of California -- but is extremely narrow; most of the country is no wider than 200 kilometers. The terrain changes dramatically from north to south and interior to coast. The cool mountainous region of the northwest bordering Laos and China boasts mountains rising to 3143 meters, while the tropical monsoon climate of the southern Mekong Cuu Long delta helps to provide most of the country’s rice crop--thanks to the fertile "nine dragons" river area. Traveling north to south in Viet Nam one will observe seemingly endless paddies of rice crops -- the shade of green varying by variety and readiness for harvest. Upon closer look, one finds that Viet Nam is home to diverse flora and fauna -- from pine trees to palm trees to mango swamps -- and as many as 12,000 species of plants, 250 species of mammals, 770 species of birds, and 200 species of reptiles. |
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