The Evolving Landscapes Of Vietnam On The Bamboo Road

Coby Werlin is the Content Creator on the 2024 Bamboo Road Cycling Tour.

Last year TDA ventured through Vietnam on the inaugural Golden Buddha Ride from Saigon heading north, while the year before that, the previous Bamboo Road ran from Hanoi heading south. The experience on those tours illustrated that many aspects of Vietnam have gone unchanged. The outdoor markets still buzz with liveliness and a perplexing array of unique food and crafts. The rice paddy fields are still a calming scene to bike past, full of water buffalo and peaceful reflections in the water of the mountains and the blue sky overhead. And the unwavering friendliness of the Vietnamese people is still all around you. Other elements, however, seem to be changing rapidly across Vietnam as it experiences growth and urbanization in seemingly every capacity.

In as little as 50 years, amid the aftermath of the Vietnam War, the country has evolved from one of the poorest nations in the world into one of the world’s fastest growing economies, with flourishing industries in electronics, textiles and seafood. It has established strong trade agreements with other powerful nations in Asia and beyond, earning its rank as a ‘Tiger Club’ economy alongside Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea, with an incredibly hard-working population.

Throughout our first week cycling out of Hanoi, the staff who had worked previous TDA trips here in Vietnam began to notice changes to Vietnam’s infrastructure that were not present even 2 years ago and, like any developing nation, these changes seem to come with some compromises. Several roads on our cue sheet that were previously rudimentary dirt paths have turned into sleek, smooth pavement. Remote villages are building new homes, hotels and bridges, and almost every local in town seems to have easy access to a smartphone. Even some of the beautiful limestone karsts that make the Vietnamese landscape so unique and biodiverse are being demolished and processed into cement in order to build these new developments.

Our local Vietnamese support, Lanh, who has worked alongside several TDA trips in the region, is hopeful for Vietnam’s future but mindful of holding onto the beauty of Vietnam’s traditional cultures: “Today, Vietnam is changing very quickly, it’s telling the world a story of successful innovation. Vietnam’s economy is growing at around 7% per year, one of the fastest rates in the world. While agriculture is, and always will be, essential in Vietnam – most importantly rice, but also sugarcane, cassava, corn, sweet potato and nuts – Vietnam is also transforming into a market economy to bring millions of people out of low-productivity agricultural areas, and into high productivity industrial and commercial ones. It’s important that we educate our younger generations on our traditional values, and not lose sight of them through all of these changes that Vietnam is facing.”

Amid the ongoing process of development, Vietnam is still filled with authentic moments throughout the ride. Navigating the scooter traffic is a daily obstacle course, conversing with the locals is always a joy (especially the school children practicing their English), and the lush landscapes of rice fields, rock formations, and the South China Sea’s coastline remains breathtaking.

With an ever-increasing tourism industry, Vietnam is now more accessible than ever, and while cycling here has now become just a touch easier, some may miss those bumpy, muddy roads of yesteryear. It’s a delicate balance between savouring the old and embracing the new, but like so many nations that are evolving, the changes are inevitable, and are bringing prosperity to Vietnam as a whole. A popular Vietnamese proverb goes, ‘Thất bại là mẹ thành công,’, or ‘Failure is the mother of success.’ Vietnam has undoubtedly seen its fair share of troubles over the last century, so perhaps it nice to see Vietnam changing gears on the pathway to success.

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