Falling off the map..

I read Pico Iyer's Falling off the map.. Some lonely places of the world soon after it had been first published some 10-11 years back. I read the book with some fascination, some marvel and a sense of of detachment. I did'nt ever think I would ever go to any of those places in the book. It was just a beautiful description of a far off land.. it could have even been a fairytale . Last year we did go to Vietnam. A and I realized that we loved holidays to places which were off the beaten path. We hated going to places which were the standard for most Indians holidaying abroad.. Thailand,Singapore, Hongkong, Malaysia, Australia, Dubai,Maldives, London! (not the UK.. London), United states and for some adventerous tourists places like Sri Lanka, Seycelles, Egypt, some European countries such as France, Spain, Germany et al.
Also.. going to certain places which were not crassly commercialized worked out cheaper so we could do more things such as taking day trips into the country side and OF COURSE shop!
Well Myanmar is the next on our list and I wanted to go to Brazil or Argentina.
So as I am laid up in bed I decided to read Pico Iyer again.. to see how I relate to what has written about Vietnam. Well in 10 years Vietnam has changed a lot... It is still very far away from becoming a Malaysia or Thailand. They have started their shift towards free markets in a way that probably India should have too. By working on the infrastructure.Good roads, decent public transport . Telecom- they still have a lot to cover. On the social front.. gender equality. Women seemed far more liberated than what they would be in the middle eastern countries and even certain parts of India. I could go on and on and probably fill up half a book about Vietnam but something needs attention so..