My first taste of communism

I've been to four countries on the SE Asian mainland. Two (Thailand and Cambodia) are kingdoms. Two (Laos and Vietnam) are communist. From the street level it's hard to tell the difference. Sometimes.

Even though Vietnam is officially communist the Vietnamese people are the most ruthlessly capitalist people I have ever encountered. I don't mean that as insult. I think they are very clever about finding ways to make money, especially when it comes to tourists.

For example: A lot of restaurants provide small moist towels or pre-packaged wetnaps when you sit. This would be a nice convenience except that if you use it you have to pay 2,000 to 3,000 dong for it. That's only about 15 cents, but still...

Vietnam was ruled by China for 1,000 years, so Vietnamese culture bears the unmistakable imprint of its northern neighbor. China is notorious for cracking down on dissidents and protest movements. Vietnam is doing the same. One way China stifles dissent is by blocking an exhaustive list of websites that might be used by protestors to disseminate information. Vietnam seems to be building it's own version of the Great Firewall of China.

In September eight bloggers were convicted on charges of spreading "anti-government propaganda" and sentenced to up to six years in jail.

I deactivated my facebook account because it is virtually impossible to log on in Vietnam now.

The government is cracking down on social networking sites.

Government spokeswoman Nguyen Phuong Nga said at a December 3 news conference: "[A] number of social Web sites have been misused to convey information with contents that oppose the Democratic Socialist Republic of Vietnam," she said. "...threatening information security and causing a bad influence on Internet users."

If I can't use it there's no reason to keep my account active. I'm not going to leave Vietnam because I can't log onto facebook. Shutting down websites isn't the only thing that's happened recently to make life more difficult for ex-pats. The government is more restrictive about issuing visas. Of the five countries I've traveled in SE Asia, Vietnam is the only one that does not issue visas on arrival. You have to arrange one in advance. That much hasn't changed.

I bought a six-month, multi-entry visa before I left the US. It expires in a few days, so I looked into getting a new visa or an extension. Now the longest visa you can get is three months. The length has changed but the price has not: $150, more than twice the cost of a single-entry visa.

One reason I chose to work in Saigon is because I love how easy and cheap it is to get around here. If you have a long weekend it's easy to get to Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur -- a short, inexpensive flight will get you to any number of cities all over Asia or even Australia.

The Tet holiday is next month. The entire country shuts down for at least a week so there's a good chance I'll want to spend a few days somewhere else. For that reason I decided to buy a multi-entry visa. (If I have a single-entry visa and leave the country, I'd have to buy for new visa, so it makes sense to spend the extra money now.)

Neither the internet clampdown or the visa restrictions are enough to make me leave the country, but I will keep my eyes open to see if these are just the beginning of an emerging pattern.