Michael Portillo Vietnam

[Frank Manning]

A much less contentious subject. I don't think I could tire of travel, but sadly it looks as though my travelling days are over. Travel makes you think outside the box, and Michael Portillo's 30 minutes a night in SE Asia this week, notably Vietnam has made me think. Vietnam has made enormous progress in the past 30 years, the people seem so friendly, and it seems so beautiful every where. He ended tonight with the question which had already occurred to me. What on earth was the terrible Vietnam war about? I worked with an American pilot who was there, and at the time I had enormous respect for him. Dreadful loss of life on both sides and dreadful destruction, but in hindsight for what?

Fabulous programme so far, if you like a bit of escapism, I recommend it.

[GillD46]

We watch that, and indeed have seen a bit of Vietnam as our son lived in HCMC for neatly six years.

However, ex colleagues of his that are still teaching there, say it is becoming extremely expat unfriendly, to the point they will arrest them for no reason at all. And this has happened to several of the teachers in the school.

[Manoverboard]

We enjoyed the first of the series about Hong Kong as well as the second one about Thailand … the rest are recorded.

Deffo a good watch

.

[Mervyn and Trish]

We hated Michael Portillo when he was a politician but really enjoy his railway programmes. He's another one, rather like Ed Balls, who has successfully re-invented himself.

The beauty of Vietnam has surprised me. Not remotely like my pre-conceptions.

[david63]

The beauty of Vietnam has surprised me. Not remotely like my pre-conceptions.

I haven't seen the programme, nor have I been to Vietnam but I suspect that they are only showing you the good bits that they want you to see - after all this type of programme is, to some extent, a travel advert for the country/area/city.

One of our neighbours went on a cruise, a couple of years ago, which called at Vietnam and he said that there is still a lot of the remnants of the war around - and much of it is unpleasant.

[Manoverboard]

I haven't seen the programme, nor have I been to Vietnam but I suspect that they are only showing you the good bits …

They showed good and not so good bits in Hong Kong and Thailand but I thought that the emphasis was on culture rather than flogging holidays to gullible Brits.

[Onelife]

We watch that, and indeed have seen a bit of Vietnam as our son lived in HCMC for neatly six years.

However, ex colleagues of his that are still teaching there, say it is becoming extremely expat unfriendly, to the point they will arrest them for no reason at all. And this has happened to several of the teachers in the school.

Funny you should mention this Gill, my best mate and his wife have just come back from a holiday that included a week or so in Vietnam and left with the same impression as your ex colleagues.

[GillD46]

We watch that, and indeed have seen a bit of Vietnam as our son lived in HCMC for neatly six years.

However, ex colleagues of his that are still teaching there, say it is becoming extremely expat unfriendly, to the point they will arrest them for no reason at all. And this has happened to several of the teachers in the school.

Funny you should mention this Gill, my best mate and his wife have just come back from a holiday that included a week or so in Vietnam and left with the same impression as your ex colleagues.

It’s a shame as it’s actually a nice country.