08.19.07
Saigon
I recently went Saigon. It is a bustling city destined to make a mark in the next 10 to 15 years. The French influence is clearly still felt, especially around the culture and food. Like any other developing city, there is too much pollution and poorly governed traffic, all the more so under earlier French influence and relatively cheap influx of motorcycles.
Vietnam on the whole as a reasonably large population but it is overshadowed due to the global interest in the two mammoths in Asia, China and India. Having said that, due to its more manageable size and distribution in population, it could still sneakily catch up with the two big players. Definitely a country with much potential.. I cannot help but think that socialist model mixed with international collaboration is the faster mode of development compared to laissez-faire democracy for developing countries.