WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE SUMMER 2017

A VIET NAM POSTSCRIPT
A SAN DIEGO RADIO MAVERICK SEARCHES FOR A COUNTRY’S SOUL
Story & Photography by Stacy Taylor
Waves of goose-stepping
soldiers and boastful
displays of missile
launchers, as we
recently witnessed in Pyongyang? Glum
internal-security apparatchiks keeping a
watchful eye on anything non-conforming?
A grim population of robotic drones,
their shoulders to the wheel, grinding
out 12 hours workdays? A stark unavailability
of consumer goods?
Actually, none of those clichés turned
out to be reality. No soldiers, few cops, a
friendly, albeit reserved, population, and
stores, galleries, and boutiques dealing
in luxury goods. In the center of Saigon
is a 5-story shopping mall, named Saigon
Centre, “your fashion destination”, that
makes the Century City Mall in L.A. look
like a flea market.
In the southern coastal area, the beaches
are lined with high-end resorts, mostly
catering to European tourists, fancy,
French-inspired restaurants, and beachfront
Tiki bars, along with the quaint
fishing villages you would expect to see.
Mui Ne beach, near the fishing town of
Phan Thiet, is the kite surfing capital of
the world. Yes, commies kite surf.
Most of the tourists I bumped into in the
more affordable beach areas were Russians
, by and large a dour and humorless
lot, clad in their uniforms of tanktops,
baggy shorts, and rubber flip flop
sandals, swilling beer and vodka from
mid-morning on.
The streets are alive with motor bikes and
shoppers on the streets of Saigon.
104 WDT MAGAZINE SPRING 2017