Dick wrote this piece before his wedding. It's more about life in Vietnam.
''I've been reading a book called "The Girl in the
Picture" by Denise Chong. It's the story of the
girl, who at the age of nine, was the victim of a
napalm bomb dropped by a South Vietnamese pilot on
children and elderly civilians. Her picture, running
naked from a cloud of smoke, was reproduced all over the world. Her name is Kim Phuc. The story is a gripping account of her experience and her life after and is of particular interest to me because it deals with conditions here in Vietnam after the end of hostilities and the complete takeover by the
Communist North.
''As recently as 1990, this was a country in the grip of
typical Communist mismanagement, with all of the
corruption and scarcity and civil rights abuses one
could imagine. What is fascinating and inspiring is
the distance this country has come into a modern
economy and standard of living in a few short years.
Don't misunderstand me, there is still a long way to
go and extremes of poverty are evident everywhere, but food is plentiful (where as recently as 10 years ago people were starving) as are most consumer goods and the basic necessities are available at very low prices.
''There is still widespread corruption as well
but to have come from the extreme conditions described in Ms. Chong's book to the attractive and popular tourist destination Vietnam has become in less than 15 years is an amazing achievement. Also worth
noting is the fact that the book I refer to has a good
deal of critical description of conditions here after
1975 and it was purchased in a regular bookselling
stall without censorship. Of course this could just
be a slip-up?
***
''Tet is the Vietnamese term for the Lunar New Year. Tet this year came on Feb. 8 and I had the privilege of observing and participating in the most important days of the Vietnamese year as a member of a large, prosperous and loving family where the in-laws of in-laws are considered close members of the clan. Unlike our nuclear families in the West.
''Preparation for Tet starts long before the Holiday
itself. Weeks before, one sees a variety of sliced
vegetables laid out in the sun in wide shallow baskets
to dry. These will later be washed and form an
ingredient in a traditional Tet dish. Closer to the
day, women begin cooking large batches of food which will be served to the inevitable round of visitors who come to exchange New Years greetings and give gifts, particularly small red envelopes containing money, for the children.
''In Nha Trang, there were a large number of bright
colored lights put up in time for Christmas but these
were in fact, for Tet. Just installed early by the
tourist businesses for the benefit of guests. These
were left up and added to by an enormous number of
additional lights and decorations. There are certain
traditional ingredients to the celebration of Tet
including watermelons, colored pussy willow branches, red Chinese lanterns and hanging decorative balls and flowers in vast profusion, crysanthemums up to four feet tall, flowering trees that are just blooming, many of them wired to push them into beautiful shapes, and bushes of small oranges in pots. Several days before Tet, the main streets are lined with vendors who have been cultivating these things in the country and for whom their Tet sale is their livelihood for the year. We bought two orange bushes, a huge flowering Japanese cherry plus a couple of smaller ones and a couple of unusual yellow bloom trees. Cleaning and renewing the appearance of the home as best you can is another tradition as is acquiring some new items. Dung brought a variety of cut flowers home from a trip to her dentist in Saigon, which included beautiful orchids. She is an artist with flower arrangements and the house is a riot of color.
''On Tet eve, we went by motorbike with Sa, a friend
from Canada who is visiting her mother and father, to see the end of the flower market. She insisted on
buying us a large flowering tree for our new house.
Then she went home and gathered up some more of her family in a taxi and came back to our house and we all walked down the beach, wading in the warm surf that was rolling in with the tide, to the main plaza in the beautiful park that runs for miles along the shore, where the whole town was gathered for a spectacular, 30-minute, fireworks extravaganza. Remember, these people barely had enough to eat 15 years ago. We all went back to our house for refreshments before we called it a night.
''The next morning started with a special New Years
church service and then Dung and I went off on a round of New Years greetings before returning home so family could come and greet us. In the evening we visited with two families particularly relevant to my earlier descriptions. The first was the family of Dung's younger sister's husband. On the wall were official looking documents, which turned out to be medals from the Communist government for service in the war. Next we visited the family of Dung's mother's brother's wife. One of the men there spoke good English because he had served with the South Vietnamese Army as an officer. I think I mentioned in an earlier letter that Dung's mother had spent all the family wealth to buy three successive ships during the period of the "boat people" to try to escape and Dung spent several months in prison for her efforts. When we were visiting her father's tomb we stopped in a tiny village where many of his family still live. She mentioned that for many years she was unable to visit this area because it was controlled by the Viet Cong and as the daughter of a Colonel in the Southern
forces she would likely be killed. Now these two
sides are related in marriage.
''The second day of Tet involved more of the same except it was the day we had our Tet party for the children from school. Dung had purchased shirts and pants for all of them with the money Jean (McIlwrath) Tebay sent and we had red envelopes for them as well. The usual five girls showed up early to help and brought along the boyfriend of one to do the heavy lifting. We had the party on the third floor balcony where we had arranged several of the new flowering trees. Several of my older "students" and some adult friends also came and we had a great time.''
