Yes, I would think discussion of Islam in many Muslim countries would be a no-go area. Pakistan gets worse by the day. http://www.newsy.com...hailed-as-hero/

You should be OK in Vietnam, though they can be less than tolerant, too. http://buddhism.abou...lee-bat-nha.htm

Kindle is a great device for overcoming national censorship laws and accessing all the written material you need.

Pakistanis are all blinkered when it comes to religion - whether main-stream Sunni, Shia, sufi, Aga Khan's sub-set, christian or whatever. There are a dozen or more Muslim sects, several Christian sects, Punjabi Sikhs, so on and so on. And all will fight each other at the drop of a hat. I will not discuss them further or I'll get a holiday.

Here in Vietnam there is amazing tolerance, considering it's a Socialist state (in political terms). I have a forty kilometre drive to work, during which I pass about six churches, four or five Bhuddist temples, at least one Hindu temple (or so it looks - never stopped), also there is a Sikh temple in Saigon proper. I have seen mosques, but pass none here. The main holiday of the year is Tet, otherwise known as Chinese New Year, which is a Bhuddist festival, basically.

I note your article, but this seems to me to be more political than religious, and influenced by China, persecutors of Fah Lung Ghong and other secondary religions (which often have a political content as well). For me, religion and politics should not mix. But both offer structures for society, so they are bound to clash quite frequently.

Operation Passage to Freedom was the largest military evacuation in the history of the world.

Uncle Ho was killing and robbing the land from the Catholics in Hanoi so they moved them all to Saigon.

1954 I think or around that time. Around a million people.

It was when my GF came to Saigon. She was a teacher.

She told me that is what really started the American Vietnam war. Those Catholics are sure bloodthirsty people.

As I understand things here in Vietnam, there has always been a divide between North and South, around the Hue / Da Nang area. The North is much colder, much poorer. The South has a constant temperature range of 20-25 at night, 30-35 during the day, summer, winter and all the year round. Hanoi, on the other hand, can get sdown to freezing temperatures around this time of the year. The area from Saigon to Ca Mau is one big rice paddy - and there will be three crops this year, so lots of spare cash flying around.

Saigon is really a French town. It was not much of a place before the French colonialists decided to make it the capital of Indochine. The centre has many spacious boulevards, a lot of French-colonial architecture, it really is a nice place - especially now that they're not tossing satchel-bombs into the open-air bistros. But a lot of the bars that I used to know have gone, now there are more up-market places, but fewer down-market girls. Plus ca change ... (how does one put a cedilla into this script?)

I wanted to add a personal thank-you to Humphrey and Mark for their use of the exotically evocative Saigon ("Pearl of the Far East") rather than Ho Chi Minh City - the latter evoking a marginal run-down industrial belt somewhere.

I've always had trouble actually speaking the four-word name. I gag on it.

So I'm adding the note of thanks. However, to my surprise, I found on the net that the city has only been known by that name since the 17th century. Before then it was a Khmer port named Prei Nokor. Those pesky Khmers were everywhere!

An interesting discussion on the origins and meaning of Saigon is at http://www.skyscrape...ad.php?t=216560

Ngyn Tran Dip, “What about us?”

Mark, “We will always have Saigon”

The day the commies came and you left. It was raining.

To me it has to be and will always be, Saigon.

Dip eventually got to Texas with her family went to medical school became a doctor and married a Vietnamese guy.

I only saw her once in Texas and that with her husband.

I was holding back the tears, when I said, “we will always have Saigon.”

But whoosh, she never saw the movie and had no idea what I was talking about.

I wanted to add a personal thank-you to Humphrey and Mark for their use of the exotically evocative Saigon ("Pearl of the Far East") rather than Ho Chi Minh City - the latter evoking a marginal run-down industrial belt somewhere.

I've always had trouble actually speaking the four-word name. I gag on it.

So I'm adding the note of thanks. However, to my surprise, I found on the net that the city has only been known by that name since the 17th century. Before then it was a Khmer port named Prei Nokor. Those pesky Khmers were everywhere!

An interesting discussion on the origins and meaning of Saigon is at http://www.skyscrape...ad.php?t=216560

Ngyn Tran Dip, "What about us?"

Mark, "We will always have Saigon"

The day the commies came and you left. It was raining.

To me it has to be and will always be, Saigon.

Dip eventually got to Texas with her family went to medical school became a doctor and married a Vietnamese guy.

I only saw her once in Texas and that with her husband.

I was holding back the tears, when I said, "we will always have Saigon."

But whoosh, she never saw the movie and had no idea what I was talking about.

You've captured a lot in those eight lines, Mark.

Vietnam. The Indochinese diaspora. The refugee experience.

Thank you.