A Tale of Two Cities



Food art at a peaceful lunch in Hue

Hanoi and Hué are separated by only a few hundred kilometers and yet seemingly are thousands of miles apart.  The people and the culture appear to be the same…motorbikes dominate the traffic, the small shops share the same goods and the same signs, people speak the same language, and yet one, Hanoi, is full of constant hustle and bustle, while the other, Hué, has many peaceful walkways and parks.  Much of Hué was destroyed in the Vietnamese/American war, but UNESCO has since declared it a World Heritage Site and invested money in restoring it to its former glory.  Its principle industry now is tourism, not imperial government or war.   I’ll try not to sound crass by saying perhaps we all should be afforded the opportunity to destroy parts of ourselves with a view towards rebuilding a newer self, a self based on the best of the old but with eyes on the future--creative destruction.

Part of the difference in the two cities, of course, is because of the difference in population.  While Hanoi boasts (strange word) a population of several million, Hué has a population of only 350,000.  Maybe I’m just a small-town girl at heart.  Fort Worth, Texas, where I grew up, had a population of only 250,000 in the 60’s, which certainly seemed manageable at the time; it now boasts of a population more than double that, and has grown into the neighboring towns leading to miles of uninterrupted urban space.  Vietnam itself had a population of around 45 million when the latest war ended (1975) and now has a population of over 90 million.  According to my guide book, as late as the 1990’s most people in Hanoi got around by bicycle.  Now Vietnam has one motor scooter for every two people, each one spewing forth a lethal combination of benzene, sulphur, and microscopic dust.  In Colorado, we worry about running out of water; in the developing world, they should worry about running out of oxygen.  Vietnam instituted a family planning program in the 90’s limiting each family to two children.  Good idea?  If it’s the difference between living in Hanoi and Hué, I’m all for it.