Country Information:
There are approximately 98,000,000 people living in Vietnam, in a country about the size of New Mexico. The majority of Vietnamese practice Buddhism and Catholicism.
Major exports of Vietnam are clothes, shoes, electronic, seafood, crude oil, coffee, wooden products, and machinery.
Jim’s Perspectives:
With more than 9 million people living in capital, there are 6 million mopeds here! People call mopeds “little fish”—they’re everywhere.
- Vietnam is a very young country—70% of population born after the war.
- People come to Saigon for opportunities. In Cities such as Saigon, the wages are as follows:
- Textile worker (girl) earns $200-250/mo.
- Moto driver (taxi)– $7/day
- Shop worker $5/day
When in Vietnam in ’15, I observed lots of people smiling. Beautiful faces. People outside the city still look at westerners with fascination and smiles are reciprocated. The market that I went to was one of the most interesting I’ve ever seen.
The Renaissance Hotel was excellent. I loved exercising in the morning and seeing others along the river. Running in the mornings really showed me how young the population is !
I also visited the Mekong River. I loved my tour of the coconut candy facility, rice paper, popcorn. Afterwards, I took boat ride and an hour long cruise. The Mekong River empties into the ocean. 40 miles from the Mekong the land is still incredibly fertile land, making Vietnam the top rice producing area in Asia. They export to most Asian countries.
