Saigon is the traditional name for the city. But, Saigon's neighbors to the north prefer the city to be called Ho Chi Minh City.
Like the name of the city, its residents seem to have two or more identities. At first glance Saigon is a very cosmopolitan, sophisticated first world city. Eighty percent of the cities population is under the age of 28 which is mind boggling.
Technology and manufacturing are at the core of this population shift. Young people with the desire for a better life move here for better education and better jobs.
More and more tech company's and manufacturing companies are building and operating here due to cheap labor. This in turn takes young productive people away from farming and other rural based jobs. Sound familiar?
Old traditions of the city and country remain. The people work extraordinarily hard. Average wages in tech manufacturing are low, about $200 usd per month. Farmers barely eke out living by selling products at market or selling farm products themselves to avoid loss of income.
The biggest, in your face differences are evident in the rice industry. Farmers live in mostly tin shacks thatched with palm leaves. They plant the rice by hand, tend it by hand, fertilize it by hand, harvest by hand and transport it the best way they can to the buyers or middle men.
Like the U.S., farmers are paid at subsistence levels for their product and of course the buyers profit greatly. Rice buyers and warehouses line long stretches of Hiway 1A on the southern portion of the delta. Each of these warehouses are seemingly built in "Keep up with the Joneses" fashion. The warehouses are state of the art metal buildings complete with trucks and many workers.
Behind each warehouse there is usually an ornate multi-story attached home. These homes are in stark contrast to the adjacent shacks made of scrap everything. Inequity reigns everywhere.
Rural twenty somethings are moving into the cities in droves. Big companies like Samsung are building multi-billion dollar manufacturing plants. Tech has permeated every part of this culture, even the newer scooters are fuel injected.
Old guard people that fought for their countries independence in the 50's, 60's and 70's are now like our baby boomer generation. The Vietnamese baby boomers dying off. In their place the present generation of twenty somethings is looming large and younger people call their city Ho Chi Minh City. But, Ho Chi Minh City remains Saigon to the old guard.
The exodus to the city from the country side is insuring that the name change to Ho Chi Minh City will solidify in the future.
