Saigon—10 years after

Press, 19 April 1985, Page 10

Saigon—10 years after

By

Brian Williams

They still serve dry martinis here, in what was once Saigon, but there is no olive now and if instead you want an onion, beware. It will be soft and squashy. Unlike during the war. today there are no signs of helicopters, no sounds of gunfire or explosives, and United States soldiers in their green or khaki uniforms no longer throng the streets. The girlie bars on what used to be Tu Do, the main thoroughfare, and its sidestreets, are either dartened shops or dwellings. Tan Son Nhut Airport, once the busiest airfield in the world, now boasts just one international flight a week and six domestic flights a lay. The smoke haze, from thousands ,oi motor cycles and military veiicles, is absent at rush hour. , hit do not be deceived. One cast «f <ctors has gone, but the play gjeson. Urfil the communist take-over 10 years ago this April 30, the nanre if the game here was making va- and making a living. Nov the game is making a revolirthn, building a nation and, as beforq making a living. The city is quieter cleaner, more pleasant, less populted, less raucous, more moral, but still exciting. A walk trough its streets and alleys for ths first time since 1973, the year States combat troops left, foime was like watching a characte no t quite me, but still knowledgtsble of the city during the war, foing the same in a film. After three yee-s here I never dreamed I would b coming back. There’s Mimi’s }ar, and over there the nightclub fown apart bv a Viet Cong Sapper Hack. Always walk down the centr of the road after curfew. Is there t-bone steal on tonight at the United States offers mess

of Reuters in Ho Chi Minh City (Saign).

near the Continental Eotel, or would a meal at the Hotd Rmle and a chat with the Freni paron be a better idea? t Even better to go hone to bed because the flight to Deang, or . the helicopter to the Mekqg Dels, leaves at 0600. What is that cyclo drive saying? - and suddenly it is bactagain to April, 1985. I Walk at night near the tra Long hotel, once the Majestic) on the river front and several jtfers of girls and many other tings are made as they were 12 yers ago. One block away a cyclj driver pedals alongside and ask “You want a black girl?” | Five blocks away, durig daytime, the consumer revolfion — what the' Vietnamese cqsumer wants, the Vietnamese gets, one way or another is in jrogress. i Electronic goods, stereo sytems, calculators, shoes, clothing and y«u name it are on display aid on Turn right past the cathedal ant you are outside the old Unit Staes Embassy building, no? offices for the national oil isatnn. Kep going down the road to th zoo aid buy a lemon drink in a, old Coca Cola bottle with the trademark still clearly visible. Much oi the city seems like that ageing Coca Cola bottle, new wine in an oli bottle. Everyone has a story and struggles to tell it. English has not been wicbly spoken here for 10 years andat first the words came haltingly. \ Soon, bng-forgotten phrases come back and the words become more imeligible. Conversion over, it is back to what this cty does best — making a living.