40 years after the fall of Saigon, we went to Vietnam to check it out. It was wild.
I’m glad I was born when I was and instead of going as a draftee in a cargo plane to fight a vaguely defined and scary war in a jungle I was able to go as a tourists.
The Vietnamese were great people and showed not a bit of animus towards us.
The punk music scene in Vietnam is kind tame by U.S. and Latin American standards but we stumbled upon this cool band KOP Rock Band who put on a show for us at the Acoustic Bar down a side street in Saigon (now known as Ho Chi Minh City)… Yes, Vietnam is, gasp, communist, but I didn’t see anyone begging in the street, or that much crippling poverty. Everyone seemed fairly well off in comparison to say the Philippines, a decidedly more Western & American Influenced culture where kids sniffing glue and sleeping on the street was a normal occurrence.
KOP Rock Band at Acoustic Bar
Vietnam has it’s issues, I know. but the people are war weary and that typically makes for, at least in my estimation, for some people who enjoy some good rock and roll. And KOP Rock band gave it to them.
Here’s a music video from our travels to Vietnam and our pals KOP rock Band and if you want to see more of them, then watch Raw Travel this weekend (May 2nd-3rd). More info on the show HERE.