Nobody rides a "motor", as the locals call it, like the Vietnamese. They are the best in the world: they bend and swerve without falling or knocking each other over; they can overtake in the nick of time in standing-room-only streets, with or without regard for traffic rights. They even do it without wearing helmets. Often they leave behind imported cars struggling to coexist with them.

This year, this once war-torn country will register the world's second highest economic growth of almost 9 per cent. Any praise of Vietnam these days is almost immediately dwarfed by its next achievement. Vietnam seems unstoppable. Almost 60 per cent of its 85 million people are below 30 years of age, in whose hands Vietnam's "sky-is-the-limit" future rests. Incidentally, the average height of Vietnamese youngsters has increased by five centimetres over the past two decades due to better nutrition and living conditions. This generation has different aspirations and expectations and no one knows whether the current environment in Vietnam will bring out their full potential.

Having last visited this country a decade ago, I was shocked to arrive in the city centre last weekend and not recognise anything except a few familiar landmarks - the opera house, and the city hall. Of course, the faithful Rex Hotel is a good starting point for foreign correspondents to put Vietnam's meteoric rise in perspective. It was here that journalists sat in its rooftop garden, sipping beer and exchanging news with Russian or Cuban colleagues. The reception area is no longer dimly lit and the painting behind has been changed. Outside, two-metre-tall letters declare the landmark's name atop a freshly painted exterior. But the bus depot next to the hotel has made way for new buildings. During the Cambodian war in the 1980s, journalists used to take a taxi from the depot to Moc Bai, a town on the Vietnam-Cambodian border, before travelling to Phnom Penh along Highway No 1.

It was in this august hotel in April 1987 that then Vietnamese foreign minister Nguyen Co Thach met a group of two dozen journalists from Asia-Pacific countries to discuss developments in Vietnam - the first time foreign journalists were invited for a briefing. When I asked him whether Vietnam would join Asean, Thach said "Yes, Vietnam will become a member of Asean." He did not elaborate, but it was enough to gauge the Vietnamese position on post-war Cambodia. Vietnam was prepared at the time to withdraw its troops from Cambodia, but very few people believed it. Thach wanted the foreign press to report Vietnam's new policy. After all, Vietnam had already started moving towards reform and modernisation with its "doi moi" policy, which began in earnest in 1986. At the end of 1988, on one of his trips to Bangkok, Thach met then prime minister Chatichai Choonhavan at the Landmark Hotel and informed him of the troop withdrawal from Cambodia. The peace agreement on Cambodia was signed in Paris in 1991.

It is important to keep in mind what Vietnam has gone through in its history. The Indochina war ended three decades ago, so few war scars remain, or are felt only by those who were affected directly. Old propaganda posters are in vogue here as in China. An old poster with a woodcut of Uncle Ho planning the war of resistance can be had for US$400 (Bt14,600) in souvenir shops along Tran Hung Dao Road. "In Vietnam today, this is a good price," a sales lady with heavy mascara and a bottle of Evian beside her told me. Prices are commonly quoted in dollars, and they are not for the faint-hearted either. Spending US$3 (Bt109) on a cup of coffee at a local gourmet outlet is common among youngsters.

After all, Vietnam has it all. The visit by the leader of the country's former No 1 enemy, the United States, for the weekend Apec summit up north in Hanoi has further strengthened their bilateral relations. Too bad the US Congress did not pass a bill to give Vietnam most favoured trading nation status. It was a big slap for Bush, who hopes to put the ugly past behind. Strange but true, in every meeting Vietnamese officials often mention the fact that three million Vietnamese were killed and another four million wounded in the war. About 300,000 people are still suffering from the effects of Agent Orange today. Reports of families looking for loved ones missing in action or lost in the war - 300,000 at last count - are often seen on TV.

Talking to average people on the street, almost everyone seems upbeat about the economy and the future. In the 1980s, nearly 75 per cent of the population was poor. The rate of poverty dropped to 38 per cent in 1998 and could drop to 19 per cent this year. The gross per capita income is around $720 this year, up from $560 a few years ago. Of course, the government is acutely aware of a widening gap between the haves and have-nots. The Communist Party of Vietnam is good in maintaining equity among the people, officials often tell foreigners. "We were equally poor before," goes the saying. Now, the strategy is to make the Vietnamese rich and the poor richer. After all, they have all gone through the most difficult period of their nation's life and now live and work with hopes for a better future.

No city in Southeast Asia, including Bangkok, has life as bustling as what I have witnessed here. In Cholong, the home of the Vietnamese hoakieo (overseas Chinese), retailers and customers swarm as if they were in a beehive. The roast duck is as crisp as before, but the price is now sky high. Every day is a good day for trading here. Cholong was much quieter during my first visit in 1987. At that time, the beautiful Chinese architecture of the main market was in ruins; today it is done up and brightly painted in a stylish yellow shade.

If one looks carefully while strolling along Ho Chi Minh's sidewalks, one can see several things that have not changed. Grandpas and grandmas sitting on tiny chairs selling tea, cigarettes or munchies still dot the city with their wrinkled faces and memories of the war and old Saigon. Picking up the latest issue of Vietnam News, the weekly English-language newspaper, it's clear that the headlines and content are the same as always, Apec summit or not, stressing Vietnam's unlimited potential and that its bilateral ties with foreign countries must be maximised. News of US President George W Bush pressuring the seven Asean countries that are Apec members for the democratisation of Burma was conspicuously absent.

Kavi Chongkittavorn

The Nation