My first visit to Ha Long Bay was in 1996. Vietnam was still poor, which meant the consumer economy had yet to kick into high gear. As a result, the environment was cleaner. The lack of money meant little to no development and a much more beautiful cityscape, such as it was, and a cleaner bay.

During a recent trip to Ha Long Bay. I hoped to see only the occasional piece of garbage floating in the waters of a UNESCO World Heritage site, having heard that some progress was being made on this front. Disappointing but not surprising, I found a veritable watery garbage can. The phrase “ban single-use plastic now” kept running through my mind, as did the fact that styrofoam’s lifespan is about 500 years.

Swimming anyone? This is the area where I took some of these photos. The Vietnamese tourists in the water appear to be having a good time. The foreign tourists? Not so much. It was just part of the itinerary. I touch on this divergence in tastes and its implications for international tourism’s contribution to Vietnam’s GDP in this blog post. Hint: It’s not a pretty picture, figuratively and literally, and doesn’t bode well for the future.

On a positive note, it appears that a certain development company has run out of money for the time being, which is good news for the local environment and aesthetics. Having said that, I’m sure another developer will swoop down and bring the construction projects over the finish line. There’s too much money to be lost and made.

Shalom (שלום), MAA