Adventures of a Lady: ASEAN Community: My Assignment

To relay information for the various students regarding the countries which will make up the forthcoming ASEAN Economic Community, each of the teachers was assigned 2 countries as our focus. I was assigned Vietnam and Myanmar. Interesting to study facts, geography and culture of two countries I only had minimal knowledge of previously, so I was as interested as the students would be to learn. Certainly cannot qualify as an expert, but I have now learned basic yet fascinating knowledge of both Vietnam and Myanmar, and have now interviewed several lovely ladies from Vietnam and Myanmar (or what used to be called Burma). I certainly hope my travels will someday include these two points of interest.

Here are some pictures and information that you might enjoy:

The Vietnamese became independent from Imperial China in 938 AD, following the Battle of Bạch Đằng River. Successive Vietnamese royal dynasties flourished as the nation expanded geographically and politically into Southeast Asia, until the Indochina Peninsula was colonized by the French in the mid-19th century. The First Indochina War eventually led to their expulsion from the country in 1954 leaving Vietnam divided politically into two countries. Fighting between the two sides continued, with heavy foreign intervention, during the Vietnam War, which ended with a North Vietnamese victory in 1975.

Emerging from this prolonged military engagement, the war-ravaged Communist nation was politically isolated. In 1986, the government instituted economic and political reforms and began a path towards international reintegration. By 2000, it had established diplomatic relations with most nations. Its economic growth has been among the highest in the world since 2000, and according to Citigroup, such high growth is set to continue. Vietnam has the highest Global Growth Generators Index among 11 major economies, and its successful economic reforms resulted in it joining the World Trade Organization in 2007 and is now part of the ASEAN Economic Community set for completion in 2015.