The profound divisions and hatreds that existed around the war have largely gone the way of the old Ben Hai Bridge, although marked differences remain between north and south. But even now there often seem to be two Vietnams, one northern and avowedly communist, one southern and determinedly capitalist. As the headquarters of the ruling Communist Party and as the seat of government, Hanoi, to the north, is the epicenter of political power in Vietnam, while the south, the country's rice bowl and its economic engine, conducts much of the nation's business. If Hanoi can feel a bit provincial and sleepy, there's an unmistakable verve and economic drive in Ho Chi Minh City. The city whose fall in 1975 signified the end of the war is teeming with a street life that spills over into rickety houseboats on the rivers.
Prostitutes cruise around tourist hotels on motorbikes.
Vendors, beggars and pedicab drivers jostle for trade. This is the place to do business and party long past midnight. The old U.S. Embassy is just a memory. Only its white walls remain, a reminder of the chaotic evacuation when hundreds of Vietnamese rushed the gates to get aboard American helicopters in the face of a communist takeover. Not far from the Cu Chi tunnels in southern Vietnam, where guerrillas lived for months at a time, emerging at night to mount attacks, a factory makes Nike tennis shoes.