Vietnam

Photo: Hanoi, Vietnam

Cyclists glide past an architectural legacy of French colonialism in Hanoi.

Photograph by Justin Guariglia

Zippo lighters and GI dog tags may still be purchased outside high-priced hotels in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, but the war is very much a thing of the past. • Vietnamese applaud the roaring economy and the billions in investment dollars from abroad. • The money is transforming skylines and villages. • Along its mountainous spine tracing the borders of Cambodia and Laos, Vietnam is still wonderfully unspoiled. • A heady stew of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism informs the national psyche. • Gentility and kindness gild the culture.

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