European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 4, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Today Hanoi residents carry a dozen ration cards and at government shops lines Are Long with limited Selling hours and Little meat. By Denis d. Gray associated press anti has t had much of a Chance to relax from decades of revolution bombings and Sac Rifice. A three Story poster near the Core of the City displays armoured cars bristling with mis Siles jets overhead and a Soldier binoculars ready expecting something from Over the horizon. A Western Diplomat says that a few months ago farm ers and factory workers were larger than the soldiers in such displays. But now the warriors dominate again. Vietnam is at War with Cambodia and Tilting with China and Hanoi is the nerve Center. Recently a re ported 25,000 of Hanoi s freshly recruited Shock youth Force rallied vowing to help defend the coun try. A Loudspeaker blares the latest news of negotiations with the chinese and fighting with Cambodia As soldiers and labourers rest in the Shade near the Long Bien Bridge which leads into Hanoi across the red River. It was bombed and bombed again by american War planes not so Many years ago. Three and a half years have gone by since the communist Victory in South Vietnam but Vietnam s capital of about 3.5 million people is again unable to ease into nor Mality and get on full time with refurbishing its often shoddy face. Hanoi is still very much a military City although a part of the martial spirit has gone into production and re construction which one observer says is for the Viet namese the moral equivalent of War. Uniforms Are very much in evidence on Tough Veter ans newly recruited militiamen and often on Lovely Young women with pigtails or Long Black hair streaming from under their Green pith helmets. Security guards and policemen Are  wait in neat queues to enter Public places and nobody walks on the grass where the sign says Don t. The government has called on the people to be read for a possible Large scale defensive War against China the giant to the North but there Are no unusual signs of military preparation and no anti chinese placards in the streets. Officials Don t give details but say there must be pre cautions in All activities and say they have experience in such things from the recent War. Nguyen due Vong a committeeman from the father land front in Hanoi said about 4,000 of the City s original 14,000 ethnic chinese residents have left seeking Asylum in China. Bad elements among them he says have spread rumours about imminent War with China in which their Community would be wiped out by both the vietnamese and soviet troops coming to Aid Hanoi against the Chi Nese. Vong says Many Hanoi chinese families Many of them Small traders have been divided in the exodus. Among the casualties of the vietnamese chinese quarrel is the thang Long flying dragon Bridge sorely needed to ease jams Ort the 77-year-old Long Bien Span. Chinese technicians working on it pulled out recently when peking halted All Aid to its former ally. Hanoi seems to need time and Money to make up for the War years. Old French Villas Are crammed with several families and the United nations say the average living space allowed each person in the City is a meager 2.5 Square meters. Electrical Power failures Are common and the City Swater Supply system is More than 100 years old. There Are shortages of school buildings and hospitals Concrete paint meat gasoline. In fact shortages in just about  Hanoi residents carry a half dozen ration cards for Basic necessities such As Rice sugar and cloth. The Cen trial Market where the communist resistance fighters once clashed with French troops has a surprisingly Large variety of fresh fruits and vegetables. But these Are from Small private plots allowed on cooperatives on the outskirts of the City. The prices Are higher than in government stalls but the produce is More Avail Able. A kilogram about 2.2 pounds of pork at official prices May Cost 2 Dong 60 . Cents at the current exch an rate and 10 to 15 Dong on the free Side but the Gover ment shops have Long waiting lines limited hours of stand sometimes there s no meat at All. Privately owned cars Are nonexistent but 300,000 to 400,000 bicycles clog streets in Hanoi. Residents appraise them As people do makes of cars Many parts of the world the East German Diamond is Classy and so is to French Peugeot. The chinese Phuong Hoang is the Dur ble one and the locally made thong Nhat reunification Model is rated the most suitable to conditions. The Best makes can Cost up to 600 Dong $185or to equivalent of almost nine months salary for an average worker. J there have been stories about luxury goods hauled i to Hanoi from Saigon after the War. But there Appeal Little on the surface to support this. Hanoi capital of the third largest communist country in the world remains a no frills City. It seems to keep a spartan soul in a Lush and some times Lovely colonial outfit. Thanks to the Lack of funds and skilled manpower much of Central Hanoi retains the Charm of the Frene colonial past. The boulevards Are Broad and lined with j Carandas bougainvillea and Palms. Lakes and Parks appear around every other Bend a no skyscrapers Pierce the horizon. So far Hanoi has managed to avoid the socialist Sty of Blockhouse architecture. At night when the peeling paint from the Coloni yellow of Villas and palaces is not visible when there a Only a few Street lamps and no Neon signs Hanoi is an Siaway. Bicyclists sometimes with girl friends perched i comfortably on the Back seats pedal by quietly. Sorr people emerge from their houses to swing on Hammoc and escape the humid  can smell the Trees and there is no Cloud of Fum to obscure the sky. Hochi City it s still Saigon Street markets with remnants of an american decade continue to flourish in Saigon. Cars and military vehicles Are largely gone but Saigon is still crowded with bikes. By Richard h. Growald United press International t sits in the old chinese Quarter like a haunted House its White plaster Walls sprawling Back for almost a Block with rusting . Army packing crates standing in stacks out Back. It was once one of the biggest pcs in the world where american gis bought their Beer Peanut butter sunglasses and cigarettes electric shavers and phonograph records. Now it s a junk shop dealing in scrap and spare parts. And although Many of its goods Are Ameri can made they Are not Basic reminders of Home with the exception of a dented Whirlpool washing machine. Inside the front door Are parts of signal corps and air Force radio radar and computer sets. Maj. Doug Roach an air Force officer from san Clem Ente calif., who was helping eight congressmen on their recent visit to Vietnam Bent Over to inspect the set of dials and screens. It s the gear we used to Check the cockpit controls in an f-105," he said. He stared for a moment and then walked on. Across the aisle stacked to the ceiling were Olive drab Metal ammunition casings. They Are on special Sale and vietnamese snap them up for use As bread boxes tool chests or filing cabinets. A head High Green Board had scores of air plane parts hanging from Hooks. Business was slow in Jolly Green giant helicopter parts. But the special of the Day was an a fashioned from a propeller. There Are other souvenirs of an american decade in to Chi Minn City the former Saigon. Along to do Street which once was crammed with gis seeking diversion from War the Only Deco ration in a once famous bar is an old faded Ameri can Santa Claus bearing Christmas greetings. In the Street of books stall after stall of dog eared vol Umes include works by William Faulkner Stephen Crane and Ralph Waldo Emerson along with the new shiny com plete works of . Lenin. Business is slow for the old torn numbers of life and Reader s digest. Officially it is to Chi Minn City but for All practical purposes it is still Saigon. It s proper that the name has been changed to Honor the father of our country a local communist govern ment official said. But Saigon is Shorter and Saigon is now what we Call  the name Saigon appears on Public signs and labels. The bus North is not the to Chi Minn City to Hanoi bus. It is the Saigon to Hanoi bus. And for All its outward trappings some life in the Paris of Southeast Asia is still unchanged. In the old sports club in the Center of town where the colonial French played Tennis swam and sipped Pernod behind signs saying no vietnamese admitted former Viet Cong troops in starched White shorts and Polo shirts lob Tennis balls Back and Forth. The building is now a workers club and the bar is closed. The women of Saigon in tight Slacks and on the platform heels that were the Western fashion when the City fell to communism three years ago still stroll the boulevards exchanging glances with the Young men. It is a Saigon custom perhaps unsuited to a City named for to and is certainly unknown in Hanoi where drab a Jamas have been the All the rage since the French left in 1954. But in Saigon private Beauty Parlours still operate and tight fitting Slacks and Western blouses Are still tailored. And in Saigon unlike Hanoi a foreign stroller on the Street will still attract a wave and a smile from a native. Page 14 the stars and stripes monday sober 4, 1978 the stars and stripes Page 15