Anyway, Vietnam is a magical place. You have to realise that Adults 35 and younger were born after the war and that you have to be almost 40 to actually remember it at all, which means that 2/3s of the population doesn't remember it. I think they've done well to preserve it as sort of a patriotic moment but not dwell on it.
Sunrise Beach as a tourist destination full of hotels is a far better legacy than it's old name of China Beach and it connotations of destruction. The ability to move on is a wonderful thing. It's a bit like (South) Korea. Remember the past but don't dwell on it. Live in the present.
The food is great, the people friendly, the beaches good. I remember wandering the streets of the tourist capital Da Nang late into the night and never having any fear of crime. Vietnam is a country that has a bright future.
Don't take this the wrong way Persia I'm not having a go at you, it's more a sad disbelief of how bad the education system and general lack of knowledge in some younger folk seems to be these days...
I was only a toddler when the Vietnam war was taking place and we were never taught about it in school, for me it is like most things in life you learn about them as you grow up, whether it be from TV, books, newspapers or just talking with folk in general...
But to say because folk are under a certain age is an excuse for not knowing about such important things that are part of history and have indeed played a major part in shaping today world is just wrong...
I wasn't born (believe it or not) when World War 1 or 2 took place, nor when convicts and children were shipped off to Australia just because they were orphans and considered undesirables by society, nor was I around when dinosaurs roamed the earth...
Point is, using age as an excuse for a lack of general knowledge about life and the history of this world is a sad reflection on society today (young and old)...
Looking to the future without a knowledge of the past is one sure way of guaranteeing history repeating itself again and then the future doesn't look so bright...
Anyway, lessons are over for today and sorry for sounding like a miserable old fart, guess it must be my age or something...
