The little bridge that could

Long Bien bridge is actually not so little - it's 2.5 km long and spans the Red River, and for a long time was the only bridge linking Hanoi with points north and east (including the port of Haiphong).

During the 'American War' it was frequently damaged in bombing raids, only to be quickly repaired each time by the Vietnamese. They seem to be that sort of a people - industrious, motivated, and organised. The defence of the bridge is much celebrated in poetry and song, and today it is decked out with appropriately heroic golden decorations.

As for the war, that's just ancient history to them. They're much more interested in the present and the future. Few people are said to harbour any grudges against those countries, including Australia, that waged that particular unwinnable, interminable, stupid war, and that so dominated my formative years.

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