i'm doing a bit of research for a class project. I'm trying to determine: <BR> <BR>why people travel to vietnam... <BR> <BR>what are the reasons for choosing this country over another destination? <BR> <BR>what is the feeling about the country in relation to it's history. <BR> <BR>if you have visited the country, sum up your experience there in a sentence or two. <BR> <BR>any comments would be most helpful. thank you.

&gt;why people travel to vietnam... <BR>&gt;what are the reasons for choosing this country over another destination? <BR> <BR>&gt;what is the feeling about the country in relation to it's history. <BR> <BR>Hollywood movies and american history 101: I watch too many war movies. They made Vietnam a familiar place. Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore just do not have the same feel. <BR> <BR>&gt;if you have visited the country, sum up your experience there in a sentence or two. <BR> <BR>Not as special as I thought.... the war was over almost 30 years. Vietnam did not have the same feel as I've expected. Saigon reminded me of Guang

I spent a week in Vietnam nearly a year ago. Why did I go there? To witness first hand what a more primitive way of life is like, to see some of this before McDonalds or Pizza Hut arrive. <BR>We were in the North only, Hanoi to Ha Long Bay, and the country is beautiful, the people all appeared very industrious, hard-working. I would love to go back and encompass the entire country, from North to South.

Dear T: <BR> <BR>Definitely visit Vietnam if you can! I have been there twice to visit family. The country is in a class of its own. The rural areas are extremely beautiful and the metropolitian area is ecletic. E-mail me if you have specific questions about the country. P.S. your dollar goes a long way... everything is dirt cheap.

Why go...? First time was because I had served there during the war and wanted a catharsis. 2nd time was because I wanted to go all the way back to the place I was stationed to try to find my old girlfriend (definitely getting old!). Third time was because I wanted to see Hanoi, Halong Bay. You just fall in love with this place, it's so romantic, such a throwback to the past. Saigon went backwards in time from '75 to '90. <BR> <BR>What's feeling about country-history? The war hit Vietnam a thousand times harder than us and it affected them one thousandth as much as it affected us. <BR> <BR>Experience: 1st trip incredibly emotional, 2nd trip very emotional standing on a 13th century Cham temple looking down on my old airbase and seeing Russian MIG fighters on the tarmac. 3rd trip, very relaxed except for driving past Hanoi Hilton, also emotional about that.

Hi: <BR> <BR>why is the reason, first to see new old world coun tries and meet different cultures and learn what we are lacking in our own, Reach out thre world is round and most of us are square until we have travelled and seen differently. Good luck on ur project.

I'm a 1.5 generation VN-American and people like me go back to know or remind themselves where they come from. That they come from a people who have struggled and persevered and are hopeful despite such a tragic history. I come back to remind myself that it was so easy for me to live like they do in Vietnam, and how lucky I am that I have the things that I have. What a strange twist of fate it is that I am here in America and not a struggling girl in Vietnam. I come back to find the beginning of me... b/c I was a refugee and have no records and few pictures of when and where I was born, it only exists in the memories of my relatives here and in Vietnam.

What I went there for, in 1995, was to be someplace that I knew would be unlike the U.S. and Western Europe, and about which I have the complex emotions typical of Americans with any memories of the Vietnam War. I wanted the exciting edge of "forbiddenness," too. <BR> <BR>What I found was much richer than I could have ever expected. I found what I hoped, but much more. People who were warm and friendly and kind to me, and with whom I had no problem finding points of common reference (turns out women have the same funny complaints about Men everywhere). An economy in uneasy transition, with hardworking people and a government trying to get the benefits of capitalism without losing political control. A rich cultural history that requires respect. <BR> <BR>Best trip I ever took. I'd go back in an instant.