David Helmer visited Vietnam in May and October of this year and was pleasantly surprised to see the positive changes. The economy has improved so that the Mekong delta is now rice fields with 3 crops a year making Vietnam the #1 exporter of rice in S.E. Asia

Ho Chi Minh City is growing with a building boom, the industry is updating and is moving to the latest technology to compete with the world. He visited a Technical University with 1000 students in a very well equipped Computer Aided Manufacturing program, to supply the High Tech Industrial parks in Vietnam . One advantage is the low labour costs compared to China . The minimum wage in Vietnam is about $60 a month, the garment industry is paying $80 to $100 and skilled trades in metal working about $100 to $120 a month!

Tourism is being encouraged through out the country and the beach resorts have signs out on the roads in more than 6 languages.
Ho Chi Minh City has an extensive collection of French designed buildings including the Opera House, Cathedral, Post Office, City Hall and many hotels. In the mountains, the city of Dalat is the centre of large green house operations growing both flowers and vegetables for export such as roses, orchids, carnations, carrots, cabbage, and lettuce at this time of year. An idea of the volume, the outside leaves of cabbage and lettuce will feed 50,000+ pigs! Unexpectedly a large coffee growing operation (#2 in the World) plus high quality Oolong tea as well as the traditional industries of weaving silk and high quality embroidery pictures provide employment. The vineyards are just starting and salmon and sturgeon fish farming is very profitable. Dalat was untouched by the war and has extensive areas of French designed buildings including villas, a Cathedral, the King's palace and Hotels all built in the 1920's and 30's.

The main problem is the high cost of energy and my friends and I are working on the development of low cost cooking stoves using rice and coffee husks with bigger sizestoves suitable for local industry. These stoves gasify the husks to produce a blue flame, which heats as quickly as propane and yet the fuel cost is negligible compared to $20 a cylinder for gas. The United Nations is starting an agricultural engineering program, with the application of these stoves throughout Vietnam in food processing . The applications are tea drying, green house heating, and fish and pig food processing. We are very positive about these developments and look for improved prosperity for the farmers.

PDF Slideshows

Vietnam Pictures (Set 1)

Vietnam Pictures (Set 2)

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