From his business-class seat on a flight up the spine of Vietnam on Friday, Nguyen Cao Ky, a former South Vietnamese prime minister, peered down on the cloud-covered northern countryside that he had last seen as a pilot on bombing runs during the Vietnam War.
Now 73 and a visitor to a place whose government outlasted the US and its South Vietnamese ally, Ky was returning to his home city after 50 years. Ky, a former staunch anti-communist, had already spent a busy week socializing, playing golf and sightseeing in Ho Chi Minh City. He said he had been assured of a warm welcome in Hanoi.
The flamboyant clothes that once earned Ky a reputation as South Vietnam's playboy prime minister were gone, replaced by a sedate cashmere sports jacket and tie. His 1960s full brush mustache was trimmed back, and golf clubs for playing on a newly created course near Hanoi were stashed in the hold.
When his countrymen ask about dealing with Americans, he said, "I tell them to be open and frank with the good Americans." For "the bad Americans," he recommended a forceful kick in the seat of the pants.
Asked who the "bad Americans" were, the former prime minister declined to be specific.
His visit has the approval of the Hanoi government, which wants to improve relations with the US, particularly as a balance against China, Vietnam's neighbor and one-time occupier.
But the trip has aroused opposition among a faction of the South Vietnamese exile community in the US, particularly in California, where anti-communist sentiment runs strong and where Ky has spent most of his time as a businessman since fleeing Vietnam after the fall of Saigon in 1975.
Religious groups in the US have also protested what they call the government's persecution of members of ethnic minorities who have become Protestants.
But Ky said he believed it was time for reconciliation, and a new chapter. Those Ky called "the stupid rulers" of South Vietnam -- president Nguyen Van Thieu, under whom Ky served, and president Ngo Dinh Diem, whom Ky helped overthrow -- are both dead, he observed.
"Younger men, in their 50s and 60s, are in charge in Hanoi," he said. "They know they have to get on with America."
As well, he said, the Vietnamese want to balance their complicated relationship with China with better dealings with the US. As China has become stronger in Asia, Vietnam has become more wary, even though the two countries share some communist political beliefs.
"Economically, China can destroy Vietnam, and the government knows it," Ky said. "Vietnam could become a district of China again."
Ky's visit, though informal, comes with some behind-the-scenes encouragement from the Bush administration. Last year, a US official suggested to the government here that it try to mend fences with Ky as a way to help Vietnam improve its image in the US. Picking up on the idea, a deputy foreign minister, Nguyen Phu Bin, went to San Francisco last spring and met with Ky.
Bin, now the Vietnamese ambassador in Paris, suggested the trip to Vietnam.
In the months leading up to Ky's arrival, Vietnam took several conventional steps to foster better relations with Washington.
A US Navy vessel docked in Ho Chi Minh City in November, the third such visit in nearly three decades. The head of the Vietnamese military, Pham Van Tra, visited the Pentagon last fall and met with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Deputy Prime Minister Vu Khoan told Secretary of State Colin Powell in December that Vietnam would try to meet the requirements needed for membership in the World Trade Organization by 2005.
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