Reflections on Asia

Escape from Vietnam in flooded territory couple hours after end of Typhoon

Reflections on Vietnam and South east Asia (while flying from Saigon to Hong kong!)

While August was a great month in Australia we did not discover many new things! We had a great time, great scenery and met with great friends yet it was more like USA "lite" while driving on the other side of road!Then came the month of September and South East Asia! This was a wake up call that we would recommend to anyone!Asia is "IT" and more than ever now! We have been taken by the constant smiles from people, their work ethic, courage and resiliency! The future is here my friends! (you knew that already!)They may have been our "slaves" in the past century building cheap products for Walmart but this time is over, they are switched on and ready to have us westerners for breakfast (and cooking it too)!We had been in Asia before in the 90s but this time after 5 weeks Carol and I are telling our kids the future is here not in "lazy, over indulged, arrogant western countries that think they know everything! Just check the traffic in any Asian city and you will get it, thousands of people passing, crossing, tailgating each other with NO animosity, NO road rage, No Ego nor testoterone ! UNREAL Asians know how to work together like WE have NO idea! Sadly enough we were in the middle of a Typhoon in Vietnam, yet nobody panicked, everybody was smiling and at work (for $100 a month)!Waking up in our hotel while winds were up to 80 miles an hour and seeing the streets crowded with scooters of people going to work was eye opening and kind of a cliche of how things work around here!With the same experience back in Florida I guarantee you we would still be there.... the roads would have been closed because flooded and the bureaucracy would have taken over! Leaving the Typhoon area just after it passed was as easy as getting a smily taxi driver, driving in 2 feet of water , dodging a couple of trees on roads and kids running around.....no fuss, simple, comon sense and determination without bureaucracy and home land security!Quite an experience it was! When we got to the airport, no panic, just a bunch of calm people not over reacting.....! Yet, once airborne, we saw the damage caused by Ketsana and it was painful how much of centralVietnam was flooded.

I am not trying to paint a rosy picture because it is not but just realizing how better equipped they are for the future and crisises! They are Ninjas and we are dinausaurs, simple as that!Safety wise, we never felt threatened even when I took my morning jog in Bangkok , Saigon or Jiangmen back streets and back streets they were...........nobody speaking english with butchers slicing meat on side walk etc etc

As a conclusion, I would giveThailand the gold medal since they are very ar ahead as far as comprosising western lifestyle and Asian ethics and Indonesia and Vietnam 2 bronzes but having a feel that VN is in such overdrive could be going for the gold very soon! (watch out already how much stuff you buy is made in VN!)

PS:Dont take our word for it, travel, learn and form your own opinion!