Not that I am an expert on Vietnam but this is my 6th time here and have a pretty good feel about what's going on here. Pouring down rain so not much else to do except surf the internet. Visiting the wife's family is reason for being here BTW. Is getting way more americanized in the last few years.

Very cool. That's definitely on the list.

You should post up a thread someplace with pictures and info.

I'm very curious what story they tell about the Vietnam War. How do they remember that? What role does it play in their culture now? I'd love to see a Vietnam War movie made by the Vietnamese. I haven't been able to find one yet.

More Americanized???  We just might win that war yet!

KFC has been here quite a while and Pizza Hut about 6 years ago. Now all the fast food joints are here. McDonalds food tastes just the same everywhere in the world it seems. At Subway here you can get a beer with your sub. Domino's delivers. There is a hot box mounted to the back of the motorbike.

That is a non-issue here. There will be a few propaganda billboards posted about it here and there. Usually commemorates an anniversary of some event of the war. Other than that and a few war museums you would be hard pressed to know it even happened. Well over half the population were born after 1975 and I don't know to what extent it is taught in the schools. Any movie made by the VN government itself would of course be very one sided. I have not ran across any but never looked either.
I visited Hue before which had some heavy fighting and same thing, no sign it ever happened other than a museum.

First time visitors here are always stunned by how heavy the traffic is in the major cities. I stay in Ho Chi Minh City ( Saigon ) which I think has 15 million people and at least that many motorbikes and most all are on the road at any given time it seems. There is some sense of traffic patterns but generally all traffic laws are ignored and it's every man for himself. But it works and I very rarely see any accidents. New tourists are easily spotted as they are the ones standing by the curb waiting for a break in traffic to cross the street but there is no break in traffic. You just go, they will miss you. Unnerving at first but you get used to it.

Very cool stuff. Thanks OP.

Back home now. Including layovers it is about a 26 hour day. Depends on the carrier but you will fly out of Vietnam to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea or Japan. Then the long haul back to USA. The flight will always head NE up to the Aleutian Islands and hug them for while and then down to west USA coast. Just picture a big loop when looking at a globe and will see it is the shortest route back. It is still a 13hr flight. With the 747"s was 15hrs back. 777"s are faster. Coming back always takes longer as you are bucking the headwinds. Vietnam is 14hrs ahead of us timewise so we leave 9am Friday there and arrive in Portland 9pm Friday. Because you are crossing the international date line.