Final Thoughts from Home

I'm now back home in California; tally since returning is two naps and six hours of overnight sleep so I feel pretty good about jet-lag. Those with the tour are still winding their way home, 26 hours later even though they left Indochina only 6 hours after me - nothing like good connections and tail winds!

In Hong Kong I met up with my xBCG colleague Ian Scott for a few hours. Ian has been to all the places I have described (Angkor Wat twice!) He had recently finished touring parts of South Africa by train and Ethiopia by all sorts of means. His next trip (besides a week in Calcutta) is Uzbekistan in March! He gave me great additional ideas for future trips (and a bottle of Pinot noir from his vineyards in NZ - quite the life he leads!)

Would I recommend this tour to others? With regard to the geography and the people, absolutely. It is a different world, religiously, culturally, developmentally. While 'foreign' it is a very friendly environment - the only time I ever felt unwelcome is when I accidentally barged in on a open-air poker game, otherwise I felt safe and welcome. When we were at the Cuchi Tunnels in southern Vietnam a local guide told us of the locals concerns for the dead Americans from the war in their midst. The Vietnamese had been able to tend to the souls of their own dead, but were to this day worried about the souls of the American's whom they did not know how to tend for. As I wrote earlier, they have gotten over the war much better than we have.

For those contemplating travel in the region, I would do the following: Fly to Saigon but then go directly to Na Trang or Hoi An to adjust for a few days. Then head north the Hue and Hanoi/Ha Long. Spend several days in Ha Long. Then on to Angkor for two days. (And this is where my next plan comes in) Go on to Vientiane and Luang Probang in Laos for 4-5 days and then over to Burma and Mandalay and the Burma road for another 4-5 days. End it with three days at the Datai or Four Seasons resort on Langkawi Island off the top of Malaysia (the last part will easily cost as much as the rest of the trip combined...) I intend to be back doing the latter part of this trip at least in a few years.

As for being part of a tour...it went way above my admittedly somewhat limited expectations. The advantage of having transportation all arranged can not be overstated for this geography. The access and knowledge you gain is more than if you are on your own. It was almost too intense at times (most everyone was exhausted by trips end) but well worthwhile. I could never have gotten a lecture from Professor Ngoc in Hanoi covering Vietnam past, present and future in one hour on my own.

Doing a Swarthmore College tour amplifies the above. The final evening we had a 'seminar' on what true Communism is, rather than the stuff Vietnam (and China) throws at you. Led not by a professor, but by one of my fellow travelers, the discussion meandered far and wide. It was intellectual, insightful and too long; insufficiently covering real issues, but opening ones mind (Probably a pretty good representation of what the college is and has been.)none the less.

And the real bonus was making new acquaintances and buddies. I remember how well matched up I felt as a freshman with my roommates; my roommate Jeff (check his 'official' blog out at link on right if you haven't already) was a gem. My thanks to him, Anne (our sidekick in detouring off schedule to go to the beach, finding off beat restaurants and source of many good laughs) Lisa Lee and the whole group for a fabulous time.

Next international tour: Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Talinn and St Petersburg with Alex post his college graduation. But now time for a rest; thanks for joining me on this one.

Glorious Days in Cambodia - January 23 and 24

My introduction to Cambodia came by way of the approach to the Siem Reap airport. Much like London, this airport is hemmed in on one side by large reservoirs and by a city of great culture on the other. However the London reservoirs are at best 100 years old or so, while those of Angkor reach back 1300 years. And in the year 1000 London had a population of perhaps 30,000; Angkor had over a million in its environs. However, while Heathrow is at least 100 times larger than Siem Reap airport, one can exit it more quickly (and not have to fill out four forms...The Cambodians have held on to the French colonial bureaucracy in this venue.)

I was on the same plane as the tour and even staying at the same abode, but I was now on my own, with a guide and driver picking me up at the airport and depositing me at the Grand Hotel D'Angkor, a fine Art Deco style Raffles hotel. The place even has an old central elevator running up the stairway shaft and a huge pool with many service people catering to your every whim. Some might complain that there was no Guiness available in the bar, but I loved the place.

My whole purpose for being in Cambodia was to see the Angkor ruins. I devoted nearly two full days to this exploration. To understand a bit about the area, please search "angkor wat map" in google and click on the first choice a web site with a .nl in it to get a map (I can't figure out how to import map or url address into this blog.) While the main tour covered the two big sites (Wat and Bayon within Angkor Tom) in half a day, I spent the first day solely within Bayon and Thom and around the grand circuit. My second day was Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm and one other intriguing temple I'll get to in a minute.

I will not attempt to cover this in great detail - it would take days. Suffice it to say that the temples were built over centuries (mostly 800-1300) by a number of kings (although the best stuff was done by a II king and VII king - names unpronounceable.) The II king, as well as many who preceded him were big Hindu guys, so lots of Vishnus, Shivas and the like. King VII, on the other hand was a big Buddhist guy and so Bayon and most of Angkor Thom has a bunch of Buddhas. What complicates things is that the Hindus came back in after VII's reign and carved out all the buddhas in any wall frieze they could find. Later, Buddhists chopped the heads off every Hindu god they could identify. Its not that simple, but it works for me.

The place is immense. Angkor Wat is the worlds largest temple at 1 KM square, while Angkor Thom is many times that size and holds several temples and other sites. Pictures can't really do any of this justice; but fear not, you will find about forty following this post, divided into the two areas.

Some interesting things/highlights:

1) The bas Relief's on the walls go on for ever - at Bayon (Buddhist) they represent mostly day-to-day activities with the exception of showing their being beaten up by the Cham (remember them from central Vietnam) in 1177, but then pushing them out in 1181. At Angkor Wat, where they stretch for 1250 meters (!!!) they show Hinduism's biggest events - all battles between good and evil.

2) In Buddhism there is little overt expression of sexuality or of the sex organs; in Hinduism, at least as depicted in the temples, they are everywhere. My guide suggested that while most Cambodians (95%) are Buddhist by religion, they are Hindus by interest!

3) Its hard to imagine how the area could sustain 1 million people and allow for specialization of labor at such an early period. To build Angkor Wat, which took only 30 years, took 380,000 workers (some slaves, many artisans) and, as importantly 4000 elephants (there are now only 1000 elephants left in the country.) My theory is as follows: The place is very unusual in that there is a huge body of water that grows and retreats with the rainy season. They learned how to grow prodigious amounts of rice in the land where water would retreat, thus allowing 'surplus' labor to be used elsewhere. While they did have some battles in late 12th century and beyond, the area was not reachable by water (Mekong not navigable all the way) and so they had peace for much of the time, avoiding the distractions and resource requirements of war.

4) Those guys could climb stairs! Some of you may have heard of the steepness of the steps up to the third level of Angkor Wat - they have a railing to help you get down. Unfortunately for me, I visited another temple (not shown on the above mentioned map): Takeo. It is interesting because it has not designs on the outside. The temple was hit by lightening while in construction (you know, about 20 years of work...) and the king thought that was a bad omen. Palace never used. Anyway, it too has steep stairs, up five levels to about 45 meters. Yours truly made it up four levels before realizing there is no railing to help you down from this less visited temple. Oy ve! Having managed through that, Angkor Wat was a piece of cake in comparison.

So I will leave you to the pictures below in a minute, but first a bit about my guide Narunh. He was a fascinating man to get to know a bit during the two days we toured about. He is 32 years old, and, surprisingly has both parents alive. Neither was educated, spoke English or was a merchant so they didn't end up on the bad side of the Khmer Rouge. He grew up in a house 200 meters outside of Angkor Wat. He used to go into the temple grounds to play and hunt for frogs, snakes and sloths to eat. He and his friends played there quite a bit until the place was mined during the fighting with Vietnam. Several years later he was walking with three other boys and one girl in the temple when the girl stepped on a land mine, right in front of him.

He does not like the Vietnamese (for the behavior back then) or the Koreans (for the behavior as tourists - as groups they really are rather obnoxious.) He gleefully told me of a time when he saw several Vietnamese soldiers killed by their own hand grenade while trying to blow up fish out of the water. He has given tours to people from over 100 countries and, yet, has never gone more than 40 miles from his home. I have been told that the tour guides (In 1994 he was one of ten working at Angkor, now there are 2000) may fabricate such stories to engage their customers, but his antipathy to the Vietnamese was real.

I liked Narunh quite a bit. He tended to avoid the popular areas, or at least the popular paths to get to the popular areas. He also understood that I liked to find some temples which were uncrowded, even if they were less 'beautiful.' He complained of the 'power people' and told me some awful statistics on corruption in his country (e.g of $200 million in wood exports last year, the government can only account for $15 million in payments...)

My stay in Cambodia was all too brief and I am now back in Ho Chi Minh city, spending one more, brief night at the Sofitel Plaza. I have a wake up call at 3:45AM to catch a 6 AM flight to Hong Kong and home. This has been a truly fabulous experience and I will write some final thoughts once I am home, having had a long plane ride to think it over. Now on to the pictures...

Angkor Day I - Bayon, Angkor Thom and the Grand Circuit

Angkor Day II- Ta Prohm and Angkor Wat

Angkors aweigh...

This is not really a post. The internet is so inconsistent and slow here at the Raffles hotel in Siem Reap (Angkor) that to try a post of any substance would frustrate me (and you) no end. Let me just say that what I have seen can not be done justice by words or pictures anyway and I have yet to see Angkor Wat itself. Let me also say that my guide Narunh used Angkor Wat as a playground as a child and killed a Sloth in its confines. There are two stories to tell, the places I've seen and what I have learned from Narunh about his life and growing up in Cambodia (he is 32.)

But to get this story you will have to return Wednesday morning east coast time, by which time I should have had time to post and upload pics from Saigon where we know the Internet works.

How long is it to HaLong Bay - one last tour in Vietnam Jan 21

Today was a day for two long bus rides - taken in order to then take a long boat ride - Junk ride to be more accurate. Our destination is HaLong bay - beautiful setting for Catherine Deneuve in the movie Indochine (she was a beautiful setting herself in the movie.) Our way was via the 'highway' to Haiphong, allowing us to see the mixure of rural and village/town along the way, as well as Canon, Daewoo and other factories. We also had to wait for one of the very few trains that run in China.

Halfway to the bay we had a 'coffee break' (really a btahroom break for most of us.) This break, which was repeated at the same place on our return, was really an excuse to be force marched through a major souvenir outlet. Dresses, jewlery, ceramics...you name it they had it. Theu claimed to be a place that provided work for children incapacitated by Agent Orange (who should be 40 years old or more I guess) but we saw none of them. This seemed to be a cruel play on some others troubles. Prices were high too (I found a gift there at 33% higher price than next to Ho Chi Minh's house...)

We reached the docks, only after numerous jokes about 'Halong' it will be to get there (the humor on the bus is getting thin, although the inane questions continue unabated.) There we found a zoo of Junks, all riding well below the dock due to the tide. Interestingly the locals had not figured out the concept of a floating dock and, as you can see above, had to be creative in getting people on the boat. Commerce was also transacted on the waves, fuel and cargo transported by small boats darting among the junks.



Lunch was indoors and featured wine (always a good sign.) It also featured a different (ie non lemon crab) soup and fresh shrimp, before reverting to the standard pork laden spring roll, carp, noodles and rice. Many of us skipped the second half of the meal - even the fruit dessert was limited to dragon fruit, albeit a slightly more tasty version.

We headed back and the sun almost came out, leading to the smile that you see at the bottom of the pictures above (yes, I am really here!) Dinner was a muted affair with a nearly botched attempt at giving a gift to Lisa our trip coordinator (jeff appears to be able to lose things anywhere, but I won't elaborate on the story and he has since fixed the problem!)

Today is a leisure and travel day. It is now 10 AM and we await saying goodbye to those heading home, while the rest of us head to Cambodia and the Angkor ruins. I travel with the latter group but then tour independently. Fortunately I am welcome to join the group for dinner if I wish and so won't be saying goodbye yet.

The tour was marvelous, as I hope some of the remaining pictures will suggest. Sadly it was hazy and cloudy so we didn't get the effect of sunlight on the limestone rocks and hills, but the sights and setting were wonderful. There are hundreds of these little mountains all about and the tour boats, while being numerous in the port spread out nicely so we felt alone with the elements. (Darn - this paragraph belongs three above - I can't seem to move it...)

I will post two or three more times. Tomorrow is Angkor Wat and environs and perhaps I will post a complete set of photos should internet access be good. In any event I will post again from Saigon on Wednesday.

Riding the Wonder Bus around Hanoi - Jan 19 & 20

We left Hue at the semi reasonable hour of 6:45 AM (minus Jeff's shoes which had been sent out to be cleaned the night before with a promise of a 7 AM return - a promise kept but a little too late for us.) The airport in Hue was small and modern, although bizarre in a few ways. The waiting area was above the departure door and was quite large, with many seats facing a large screen TV showing government films and commercials. We subsequently boarded buses to be taken 300 feet in a semi-circle to the plane, which was 150 feet from the door!

We arrived to haze in Hanoi. The airport there is larger and also new, but we still rode buses to the terminal (jetports are saved for international flights which increasingly are going out of Saigon...) Its a 50 minute drive in Hanoi from the airport which lies northwest. We crossed the Red River and took the dike road to the lakes area where our hotel was. The road is also a dike because the river often floods a large area; its the fancier houses and hotels which are protected by the dikes, leaving the smaller folks to wade about a bit. Currently there is a drought, with the rover at century long low, but no one, including our guide seems very concerned (although I bet the farmers are!)

The immediate things you notice when driving into Hanoi is greater prosperity and many more private cars. In fact there are many motos and cars on streets that are generally wider, with more traffic signals. But the old town part of the city is as narrow, messy and fabulous to walk around in as any part of Saigon.

We toured one pagoda before lunch and had lunch at another. We were thrilled for the food at the latter because it was different than our constant fare of crab soup, pork, fish etc... etc... Very tasty, but we were a bit disappointed as the plan was for nuns to serve us, but we only saw one in the distance. Scenes from both pagodas are posted above, including a shot of a very cute child who spent several minutes making faces at me and then using my leg to keep moving away from his mother. Very cute and a very patient mother.

After lunch the group headed to a water puppet show which apparently was pretty good but I begged out for some Koof happy time. Specifically I put more time into my John Audubon book. I finished the damn thing this morning just in time to get a quick breakfast and catch the bus. (But I do get ahead of myself here...) For all the moaning and time it took to read, this biography, by Richard Rhodes is very, very good. Its not so much the detail on the animals and the drawings that dre me in (sorry for pun...) The descriptions of life in the first half of the nineteenth century, both in US and Europe, as well as the relationship of Audubon and his wife which is fascinating. She was a saint; he wasn't but really could draw and flatter very well.

Returning to yesterday - several of us took a Taxi to the center of town, looking for a place which would make clothes (shirts for me.) We had no luck in that endeavor but did see several interesting sights, including the Metropole Hotel (read Graham Greene) which hosts both a chocolate buffet (run by a famous French Chocoletier) and a cheese buffet with 70 cheeses to choose from. Bad, bad, bad, but we almost went back for the chocolate this afternoon. After that distraction we worked our way into old town - which has 36 streets and about a million ways to get run over! The streets are narrow with stores selling different kinds of wares in every block. Pedestrians really do take their life into their hands while strolling about - but you see the real Hanoi. People up here are (maybe) happier, less aggressive, but just as friendly. Our return led me to a Caesar salad (no more MSG for a night...)

This morning we headed to the big site - Ho Chi Minh's house and Mausoleum. The latter was closed on Friday mornings so we didn't see him in the flesh (as it were) but the pictures above give you a sense of the place. The antenna shot is for Paul - a nice set up I should say. After the mausoleum, we went around to the presidential palace (lovely yellow building - all the pretty structures were built by the French.) The security was impressive - two guards with whistles and some no trespassing signs. We the also toured his home nearby, built on stilts to make the hill minorities feel at home (it doesn't flood in the hills but they live on stilts...it does in the delta's but they don't...go figure...) The 'meeting room' shot is underneath his office and bedroom cottage - it was here that he, Giap and the other generals plotted strategy against the French and Americans when they weren't in the bunker next door. There appeared to be no sign of a toilet...

While waiting for others to search through our fourth pagoda (three was enough for me) I was approached by a sweet looking gentleman to practice his English. Nam is 70 years old, and was an 'office worker' until his retirement. He was also a captain in the NVA for 15 years and fought in the American war, spending two years in the south. Very curious and Curtious fellow and a pleasure to chat with.

Our next stop was the Temple of Learning in the center of the city. This is actually a 'University' dating back 995 years (same age as the city - there will be quite a celebration here in 2010.) They show graduates on posted lists going back to the 1400's and the area is lovely...easy to see why someone would practice their painting skills. Professor Huu Ngoc then gave us a gem of a 75 minute lecture on Vietnamese history, what has influenced it and the current condition. Using a chalk board he drew a set of connections that dazzled us, seamlessly connecting 3000 years of history. Made it clear that Ho was a nationalist (he wasn't interested in land reform or class struggle...what would you expect from the son of a Mandarin after all.) This put to shame the poor fellow who covered some of the same ground on our first night here in the south. It also made me wonder if Steven, could learn something from this fellow in covering Buddhism 101. By the way, he has written a Vietnamese book about America and its culture: the cover shows the flag, statue of liberty and Mickey Mouse - very perceptive man!

Lunch was at an upscale restaurant "Wild Rice" We could have been in SF for the decor and the quality of the china etc... But the menu was the same as everywhere (I mean identical...) and even though the food quality was excellent, it was hard to take. Note to Vietnamese Tourist bureau (who must be controlling these things): Vary the god damned menu! The highlight of the meal was watching two young cats play in he window behind our room. This cute scene was made a bit more bizarre by the appearance of two large pet rats, The cats would scurry on to windows sills whenever the rats closed in. I think some of the group would have liked to do the same!

Our group session ended post lunch with a visit to the museum of fine arts. Some of the most interesting art were copies of items elsewhere ( a bit strange practice I would say...) and, honestly, aside from some buddhas and neat paintings of soldiers and workers there isn't;t much to commend in the display spaces. What was fine by several of us, was to bug out of the tour and find the museum shop. I now own several fine prints and one of us shelled out an unheard of $250 for a large print portfolio.

An hour's walk north back to the hotel took us past a large army post (it covers more than square mile in the town center) an ugly Catholic church (never seen so much cement in a religious building before) and a number of men playing Go who did not seem at all interested in my interest! The wind came up as we walked the short peninsula between two lakes back to our hotel. It has been in the mid 50's today and we finally had to pull out something other than a short sleeve shirt.

Tomorrow is our last full day as a full group and we head to Holong Bay, which we hope will be beautiful...It better be - the bus ride is four hours each way and there are several travelers who have the most annoying habit of asking questions immediately after they have been answered! A good day to be music. I leave you with some photos above at the bottom of flowers along the way (they have beautiful flower shops and markets here) and shots of our fine guides Tom and Nam.

Hue to Thuan An Beach by Moto - January 18

Greetings Comrades!

Today was a day for getting away. No bus trip to the DMZ to see the river that used to be the border between south and north; no visiting the destroyed Citadel at Quang Tri, nor a visit to some more tunnels. Today was a day to walk about Hue and get to the beach.

We'll come back to the beach story in a bit. First though please note the fine hotel room that Jeff and I share! One of the good things about the French is that they knew how to design fine hotel rooms in their possessions (too bad you can't find anything like this in Paris for less than $600/night!) While our window overlooks a busy street astride the Perfume River - the drapes and windows keep noise and light out just fine.

After a leisurely breakfast -I managed several hours of walking about the city (actually, I exaggerate, it was hot humid and if I was out for more than 90 minutes I would be shocked.) Some good architecture was to be found, and also some amusing sights such as the snoozing barber shown above. I didn't manage to buy anything, although I was constantly pestered to do so...The hawking is a bit intense in Vietnam.

So on to the highlight of this slower paced day. Background - Jeff got lost within blocks of the hotel yesterday looking for an internet cafe (before we knew that there was wireless in the hotel...This is one of the perils of a tour - you don't check in personally so you don't learn what the hotel has to offer.) Anyway he hopped a scooter ride to get around. He ran into his pilot again this morning and here ensued a discussion of how to get to the beach. Ten minutes later the man gave Jeff a written proposal for a tour by Moto (small motorcycle) which included four hours of bike and pilot, the beach and a spa for 'refreshment' all this for five dollars per person. This was too good to pass up and four of us ended up heading out at 1 PM (after an exchange of confirming e-mails with the man....here everyone uses e-mail; few have cell phones.)

The drive out was great fun - interesting views and a cool breeze plus the fun of being out on the open road and on the bikes. Our drivers are pictured above as are some of the close in agriculture we could see on the road to the beach. The beach itself was almost deserted (its winter here remember.) The sand is pristine: no trash no tar no sea weed. No seashells. No nothing - modest waves and 70 degree water temperature made this a blissful afternoon. Our ride back led us to the house Ho Chi Minh lived part of his youth. No bus could have gotten down the narrow alley we took to find it!

Dinner was on a Dragon boat and is best forgotten. Tomorrow its on to Hanoi and points north, thus the beginning salutation.

Its a long Hue from home - Hue January 17

I am now sitting in the hotel lobby, using the newly discovered WiFi set up of the hotel. Not only is it free but it is fast and, apparently, it is accessible for about 20 square feet next to a flower pot...This should mean that I can upload pictures (you will already know the result.)

What I can't do even on wireless is look at my own posts. It appears that the government blocks access to known blog sites; the hotel in Saigon used Satellite dish and was getting service from an Australian company! What this also means is that I can't read any fine comments you make, at least until we Hanoi and another Sofitel.

Our day yesterday began at 8:30 sharp with a three block drive to several dragon boats. We then toured the perfume river for a few minutes, running into all sorts of commerce on the river, including young children who would paddle furiously at an angle to reach the boat and hang on to the sides, hoping for some money. We then headed towards the sea and a pagoda which is pictured above. This Pagoda was built in 1601 (much great architecture in Vietnam seems to have been built in the first decade of particular centuries...) I have to admit that I am enjoying the sights and feel of the places we are seeing more than the tour commentary so I can't tell you much more. However, in the back there is a Blue Austin which was the car the Buddhist monk who immolated himself in 1963 in Saigon drove to his end. That shot, by the way, was famous photo by a Swarthmore graduate (Jeff told me I had to put in some plugs for the college...)

We then went by bus to the Hue Citadel and Imperial City. Today is as hot as we have seen (probably 31C or 88F) and the shade of the many remaining buildings was appreciated (sitting on a step and leaning against a cool stone Dragon is particularly helpful.) The Imperial City is amazing - it held 360 temples/palaces prior to the Tet offensive of 1968 - the Americans destroyed many of the buildings, while the North Vietnamese murdered the city leaders...Not a great page in history. It goes on and on and will get slowly restored (several pictures are shown above, including I hope, one that gives you a sense of the complexity of the site in terms of the buildings.) Thoughtfully, the emperor provided palaces not only for his mother, but grandmother as well. One grandmother lived through 11 emperors (one lasted three days) in her same abode...The emperors themselves tended to prefer to build their own Tomb site and live there, away from the officious mandarins.

Speaking of officious mandarins...Apparently they not only block the blog, but they occasionally turn off access to the site I use to post blogs...but they can't kill the page on my computer so I am hopeful of being able to continue posting!

Beating the heat, we went to lunch at a restaurant about one block from our restaurant for dinner before. My beer and soda at lunch cost twice what the entire meal had the night before, and I am getting tired of the same fruit for dessert (where is the chocolate!) Lunch was fascinating for its company - I sat with one man who was all set to be part of a forward LORAN radio deployment team preceding the invasion of Japan, while the other had worked on the last year of the Manhattan project at Columbia. At least indirectly, the work of the latter had likely saved the life of the former, although at a horrendous cost of other lives. Hearing stories of those days, and of Swarthmore back then brought memories back of my fathers stories and a strong feeling of missing him. He would have liked the company I kept that meal!

after lunch we were supposed to go see two tombs and a market, but we opted for one tomb and Koof Happy Time instead. The tomb, designed, lived in and apparently not occupied in death by an emperor who lasted 40 years. He was depressed much of his life, partly due to not being able to generate offspring (even with 100 concubines some problems cannot be conquered) and because he lost the south to the French. He still managed to design a beautiful setting as I hope you can see from the pictures. (I see one has been inserted several times - sorry I don't know how to fix this...)

Our evening was very special. At 5:40 PM Jeff mentioned to me that we were due downstairs in five minutes (I was off by an hour...way relaxed!) We thought we had until 6 PM (everyone always ran a bit late.) We arrived down at 5:48 PM to find the last two seats on the bus! Our first stop, was 5 blocks away to see the Royal Hue Dancers. What a treat! This form of dance/music was almost extinguished by the communists, only to be helped by Heritage designation. They 'rehabilitated' the form with just three remaining troupe members who had knowledge of the performances for the emperor (prior to 1945!) We saw Dragons birthing babies, a lovely acrobatic lantern dance and the death of evil. Sorry no pictures...

Dinner was a 20 minute drive to the 'house' of a former prince, now renovated to be a house and restaurant (seriously - we passed the owners office and bedroom on our way to our seats.) The food was very high grade versions of things we had before; we were even offered wine (red and white, although we couldn't make the red wine appear regardless of how hard we tried. Exhausted we came back with some of us agreeing to forego the official tour of the DMZ tomorrow with dreams of the beach instead. We shall see what comes next!!!

Update

Greetings from Hue!

Below are two posts (actually three, but one should be a duplicate and I am scared to remove it.) They a\cover the last two days on the road, our time in the countryside. Sorry, but no pictures as this is done on public internet and no way to connect my computer. I urge you to check out the Swarthmore blog that Jeff is keeping (see link on the left.) He has many more resources at hand (including a copy editor and spell/fact checker at school!) and access. But he is also a fine photographer and I think will have some great shots to admire.

Also, sorry for the spelling eroors - there is no way to quickly run the spellchecker here and people are breathing down my throat!

A Bientot

Vietnam: Costa Rica on Steroids - Hoi An to Hue - January 16

After such a fine dinner I actually slept in until 6 and took some pictures of the river. We were all sad to be leaving the resort (some dumped the morning tour and stayed until lunch, heading thereafter directly to Hue.) Our morning travel took us south west to Mi Son and the site of major Cham ruins. My travel book described it as a lackluster set of ruins. In a way this is true as time and bombings had damaged most buildings badly. However one only had to look at what was left carefully to find some marvelous things. My favorite was a 12 meter high 'prayer building.' It reminded me of the Oratory in Western ireland that I have been two several times. The Irish are quite proud of that one - built in 1200 and standing 15 meters high. This one, built along similar lines is much taller, with a more sophiosticated bulding style and is ventilated...great sounds too. Having Steven, our professor, along was veryhelpful here...he could interpret everything for us (this will be one downside to touring independently in Angkor Wat so I am asking him a few questions on this in advance.) Look for pictures!

We had to do some trekking in to the ruins and so it was past noon by the time we made it back to the bus. We ate our picnic lunches at the local food stand and I paid off a bet or two with beers (did I mention the game of pool I lost to Jeff last night? hmmm...) Anyway, those beers, along with a very long bus ride to Hue (4 hours) made for some giggles and laughter by yours truly and others. Several highlights include the way the guide pronounced Mausoleum (muzoleam, with the emphasis on zo, like in congoleum.) The best line was from our guide Tom (got him again!) who, in response to a silly question, suggested that it might be time for the person to take a nap (but done in such a diplomatic way that the person didn't get the point and asked her questiona gain...)

In this drive we went from south to north, crossing over a high pass over a mountain range that reached to the coast (very unusual geologic formation.) Some of us found places behind old military lookouts to felieve ourselves and avoid the hawkers.

Ona nd on we went and as the beer wore off, I started to notice some of the changes in the countryside. For example, in the south the houses had front entrances but no front doors. In the evening you would see families eating dinner, with TV on downstairs. In the north houses have doors and are less colorful. This area of Vietnam, while just as agricultrual as the south is clearly poorer (they can only manage two rice harvests a year, while three are possible in the south.) Their rice paddies are smaller and of more varied size than down south. However I did see one area where tractors were being used to churn up the ground. Everywehere peasants were bent over doing their work and smiling up at us as we passed. We also passed by a number of school as they were finishing for the day (kids have 4 hour days, but usually stay another 4 hours in 'day care', allowing two school sessions and resulting in everyone being around for a 4 PM flag ceremony and then the walk down the road home.) School uniforms everywhere...

We got to Hue by 5 PM anbd checked in to the Saigon Mourin hotel - an old French style place which reminds me of the Fairmont in San Francisco. Big, high ceiling rooms with elegant furniture, but, sadly, the same hard beds. (I wonder if the beds were part of the 're-educationm' campaign of the communists - I am not hopeful for relief until Cambodia.) We haven't toured yet - thatwill come on the 17th, but did find a hole int he wall on a side street which claimed to have the best food in Hue. It was good - Bhanh Khaoi is local dish - pork, shrimp and tomato in a pancake. We ahad this, and some Nem - salad with pork wrapped inr ice paper and one other dish. Along with two beers each this was $3/person.

Happily one can get massages here until 11 PM - I finally broke down, after recommendation of our tour host and enjoyed an hour of manipulation for $15...But she was no Irma and I will be glad for the real thing on my return. (But what this little woman could do with me sitting up, her knees into my lower back while pulling my shoulders back...)

Enoguh for now...more to come...

From Saigon to Tourist town (January 15)

This was an early morning! We had a 6 AM flight from Saigon to Da Nang. My tendency to be awake by 4 AM was finally of some use. I probably was the only bright eyed person getting on the bus at 4:15 without coffee. Amazingly everyone made it down on time and off we went. This was my first time to egt used to trusting someone else with both my bag ("oh sir, surely you must have one bag to check") and with my passport. As flight time approached at the airport, I found myself calling on all my newly found Yin powers to withhold the temptation to go in search of this passport, one of forty in Tom's sure hands at the ticket counter.

All worked out well and we walked across the tarmac to a new Airbus for the hour flight to the coast. Apparently Vietnam Airlines has one of the newsest fleets of jets in the world. Walking to our plane I could see the United 747 which will take me home in 11 days. The Vietnamese passangers would point at it and appear to be in awe.

The flight took us from the flat lands of the Mekong delta over some hills and then a mountain range to the mid coast section of Vietnam. Along the way I leafed through the airline magazine, which, at first glance was only full of fashion ads and layouts. But tucked within them was an astonishing rememberance, translated from Vietnamese by a soldier dreaming of Hanoi girls in wintertime. I will post a short section of this story another day.

In Danang we picked up two new buses and one new guide, Tranh (a female.) As I later found out I was lucky to have picked the bright yellow bus commanded by our guide Tom. Tranh has an annoying voice and is way too perky. As we have gotten to know Tom he has opened up to us, sharing his stories of the move from a village to Haiphong with his parents and his decision to not work for the government. No longer do we believe that he is trying hard to become amember of the Communist party. But Tranh is clearly trying and so far (this is written two days later) there is no sign of her person or personality coming into view.

Our first stop was a lovely little museum on Cham antiquities (mostly stone carvings.) The Cham werethe dominant people in the central part of Vietnam for several millenia, until the Viets came down and took over in the mid 17th century. One unfortunate aspects of the Viets is that they had a tendency to destroy what they didn't like (not all the destruction of religious sites in Vietnam can be blamed on American warplanes...) But what was left was remarkable for its beauty and skillful design. Pictures will be posted...

This was also the first day we had with clear air and fully sunny skies. Our next stop was to China Beach, just around the corner where we all put our feet in the South China sea. I was prepared to put a lot more of me in (even wore shorts for the occasion and felt quite smart next to everyone else, except Jeff who follow my lead who wore long pants.) But the stop was very short - we had other another place to go...That place turned out to be a marble goods shop further down the road. We were now seeing the tourist part of this operation come into full force. Rather than use the ensuing 30 minutes to climb up to alovely pagoda we were sheparded into a 'factory' where we could oggle many beautiful Onyx and marble statues and pieces. I clearly looked like a big spender because two women followed me around telling me about each piece I gazed at and describing how bigger items could be shipped etc...To this day UI have had to hide the fact that I did buy a couple of items there - very un PC according to the rest of the group who disdained this brash effort to getus to leave money in Vietnam. This group is not full of big spenders!

We continued to a good lunch at a beautiful restaurant overlooking the local river. The most beautiful part of the restaurant were the bathrooms and I will post a shot of the men's loo when I can. Again, however this was tourist area so the beers we had were $2 each, rather than the usual 50 cents to $1. I had the misfortune of sitting with someone who found no question or thought too simple for a complex answer (suggestion to tour guide operators: Force everyone to learn the 30 second rule - don't talk for more than 30 seconds at a time!)

Our hotel for the night was a River Resort in Hoy An. More about the town in a minute. The resort is apparently run by a Dutch man (Die Telegraaf newspaper headlines on the bar wall, along with heineken bottle chandeliers make this plain - again picture will follow!) It had a seren pool and expensive massages - Jeff was a sucker for one of those, but I held off. A good place to relax. Several of us skipped the planned walk into town in the afternoon and went in a sunset instead.

The town was an merchant operation for several hundred years, but had run down in the past 50 or so. It has been declared a world heritage area by UNESCO and this has given it new life. But don't assume that all such sites are architectural wonders. The place does have several dozen decaying examples of architecture of the time which are nopw being fixed up. But like several spots in Vioetnam it is becoming a tourist trap. Its market is real and is wonderful to walk through bu the narrow streets are full of clothes making, painting selling, chachki selling shops etc... You can skip this part, but don't skip the river, which is full of commerce, particularly in the early morning (some pictures will come...) and defonitely do not skip the following place to eat:

(I provide directions because the restaurant had no discernible name.) Just north of the Japanese bridge go right over the river/canal on a naroow brifge. At the other side go to the restaurant on the left diagonal corner. We picked it by chance (i.e I chose it because it had wooden rather than plastic chairs - all the places had the same menu.) We were cheered by the comments of Dutch tourists at the place who said it was the best food they had found in five days in the town (can't imagine that long there.) Indeed it was the finest meal I have had yet: White rose (Shrimp dumplings); fresh vegetables cooked in a fine sauce and two delicious sea bass cooked in banana leaves. Our hostess expertly stripped each sea bassto the bone. Very, vwery delicious and with $5 per person including two beers.

More tommorrw (or in 20 minutes...)

Brief hello from Hoi An

I am writing this from the one public internet terminal at the river resort hotel we are staying at for the night. Due to the limited bandwidth (and more importantly the appealing look of the pool on this warm sunny day) there will be no pics and very little commentary.

This is a world heritage town, and really the first place we have been o\that has been built up to cater to tourists. Several of us will tour later when the sun goes down and then look fordinner.

We flew into Da Nang this morning, arriving at 7AM (!!) Spent time at a Cham museum and several spots where yours truly actually bought some good items and a few chochki's. Tomorrow we go to a Cham ruins (Cham were the people who ruled central Vietnam until the Viet's took them over several hundred years ago.) Should be interesting, but, right now, its good to have a mental respite for the afternoon.

By the way, thanks to you who have commented on the travelogue - even to Paul and his grammatical suggestions. Its nice to know you all are paying attention.

So now its off to the pool for swimming and beer...More tomorrow once we reach Hue

Religion, Tunnels, Weird Religion and odds and ends on the road from Saigon to Cu Chi

I actually made it to the lecture last night, and am very glad I did. Can't say I had a change of heart, but I did find the air too cold up at the pool to stay out for long. Steven Hopkins is the Swarthmore Professor who has come along on this trip, providing lectures and light on all subjects of religion. We all should have a professor like Steven - he kept peeling off layers of knowledge about the origins of Buddhism, its application in Vietrnam with great ease, while welcoming significant participation by the peanut gallery. The latter is full of opinions, some quite daft, others sublime.

The primary topic (yay!) was an introduction to Yin and Yang (pronounced Yon.) I wore repeat the lecture, but I am now investigating my life from that perspective. Clearly been a Yang guy for many years, but perhaps now getting in touch with my Yin side. One of my fellow travelers suggested linking Y & Y to Myers Briggs personality tests (this was of great interest because either Myers or Briggs went to Swarthmore long ago...) I think it works, and for any consultant out there reading this who is a classic INTJ...you are major Yang personality...Interestingly the last time I took itI was an ENTP...

Litening to Steven wander through south Asian religions, as though he was simply shining a light to his skin may me think a bit about how coarsly I (we?) think about so many things. Steven had a way of carressing and massaging his meanings with simple words, enriching the thought with each addition, suggesting nuances in a way I could understand but could not possible replicate. I think it may well be a worthy goal in life to smooth out that coarsness, partciularly on things that matter. Such heady thoughts put me to sleep soundly at 9 PM without dinner (lunch was plenty.)

Sadly, both Jeff and I were up somewhat before 4AM. This would be fine for tomorrow as we need to be up by then for our 6 AM flight to Da Nang, but we both hoped for better things this morning. Breakfast was available at 5:45 and I headed for that - a fine spread with both Vietnamese items (essentially noodles) and Western faire - I still went for the latter.

We set off on one bus at 7 AM. There are 40 of us and so one bus meant every seat taken, but this allowed Steven to talk to us further. I was not as attentive as last night, due to sleepiness and some interesting views out the window. He told us about the meaning of the word religion (or actually managed to have the group communally define it) and then updated us on the religion for the temple we were visiting later (I will give you more in a few paragraphs...be patient.)

What was I looking at out the window? Well the architecture for one thing. Note above the picture of a very narrow, although deep house. You see these everywhere in the suburbs. Some are fancier (with red roofs garishly signifying propserity); some have lovely Buddha's momma Buddah's or Mary's on the top balcony; some are even 'double-wides' All are fascinating. People also work beside the road and they can be beautiful (see the next two pictures.)

After 90 minutes of bus travel we arrived at our first destination, the Cu Chi tunnels. This area, 40 miles NW of Saigon was a hotbed of insurgency during the Vietnam war. After the American's defoliated the villages and flora of the area, the people went underground. They stayed there for months at a time, with soldiers occasionally coming out to attack soldiers caught in gruesome booby traps. We got to go in double sized tunnels (not pictures and compare one of descending steps to that of VN soldier with trap door on his head - the former is for Westerners, the latter was the real thing.)

The tunnels were OK; the talk by the former VC fighter was more interesting. He was wanting to assure us that Vietnam and US are now friends etc...Fifteen minutes of BS translated by our guide, who again was quite deferential to a slow, meandering fellow, followed by a fascinating propaganda film from the late 60's showing the use of the tunnels.

More interesting were the police training cadets and many young kids who were milling about the place (see above.) Incredibly friendly, very happy and at peace with the world. I think that the Vietnamese people have truly moved on from the war; I hope this tour will now be done with it as well.

We then headed back on the road further NW to the town of Tay Ninh and the Cai Dai Temple. The Cai Dai sect was started in the 1920's by Vietnamese government bureaucrats who worked for the French. My version of the history is that they were so bored with their work that they day dreamed up an early version of a unification religion. In fact they claim to be a combination of several Buddhist sects, Cathoplicism etc... They also take on as Deities such Religious immortals as Chang Kai Shek, Shakespeare and several French authors. The sect is undoubtedly weird (and acts very Yang, even though its claims to be Yin.)

But the truth is, regardless of what you think of their practices - they have a fabulous Holy See (they also usually have a Pope who resides here, but the last one was not replaced.) I have posted several shots here of the place and the faithful, but to get a fuller sense of the crazy beauty of the place please look at the next post which is nothing but pictures. They are a terrific example of the wonderfulness of using bright colors on buildings (and in buildings.) The guidebook describes this as Disneyland-like, but I vigorously disagree. We are so used to seeing muted colors on buildings that we aren't ready for what this temple has to offer. But we love bright colors in flowers, so why not here? I loved the brightness and symmetry of the place and to top it off they even have a Pissoir in the back that remind me of a fine one in the luxembourg Gardens in Paris. We spent too long at Cu Chi and too little time here, but every minute at this temple was worth it!

I now feel ready to move on further into the country and the countryside. The tour is exceeding my expectations; the long bus rides have given me a chance to talk to several additional people and get into topics beyond the tour. Swarthmore people, and the people that they attach to are instinctually curious; that is a tonic I won't get too much of.

Next to Hoi An, the Cham temples and Hue. But I doubt we have internet tomorrow and the next few days may be dicey. I will post again, however before too long. I leave you with a classic picture of workers tending rice paddies and a fine flower at the temple.

Pictures from Cai Dai Great Temple

Navigation

Having done two posts today - I now realize that you might be tempted to read them in reverse order (as the second will appear directly below this one) or only the second one. Now you may not be keen on reading all of the posting done today (beware, its been hot and sticky and that may show up in my writing) but if you do, start with the second post down from here and work back up!

Yet more food and more touring (Saigon cont'd)

Before I get to lunch (and boy was it good) a couple random thoughts. First - Jeff and I seem to have some things in common...not in personality (at least I would not demean him to suggest that) but we do have the identical camera (Canon 520) and glasses that neither of us can tell apart until we put them on (he wears bifocals, but I think we are both sufficiently blind that we can't see the bifocal until its on our face.)

Second, while I still can't figure out how to locate pictures on a page, I have learned that they stack downward, so that I should load them in reverse order that I want to talk about them. Pretty sharp eh?

Third, its not hot but very humid here...my problem is no longer jet lag in the afternoon but how to counter the effects of fine food!

So as to the food. Lunch was at an upscale place called Indochine. I know it is upscale because both Hillary Clinton and Jacques Chirac have dined here (and had their pictures taken, postcard style with the owners to prove it.) The food was magnificent: six courses, beginning with Crab soup served in a coconut shell, spring rolls, pork rolls (which tasted different from last night and were very good but not better), rice in leaves, vegetables and fine fruit for dessert. This might be a two meal day.

Post lunch we wearily went back to the busses and headed to the National History Museum, which is located right next to the zoo. The zoo (which includes botanical gardens) looked more inviting (a nice bench in the shade to stretch out on perhaps?) But we trudged in to learn in more detail how the Vietnamese have been fighting for their freedom for 1000 years plus (they held off the Mongols three times; why did the French or the Americans think they could do better? The best part of the museum, besides the stylishness of the building overall and the fine portrait of Ho Chi Minh at its entrance (note pictures), were the ceramics from neighboring countries. In one little room there was a collection of such items from a Vietnamese professor..a fine collection and also a rare example of individual action.

An aside...For a people who have fought for their freedom for so long, the Vietnamese today seem quite willing to give much of it up to their own. This is a regimented society made happy by the freedom to engage in commerce, albeit at a very small scale. $2,000 scooters and $100,000 apartments are what everyone appears to aim for (including our very bright tour guide.) Isn't all the dying over the years worth something more?

Next it was on to the former presidential palace (picture shown somewhere nearby - its the ugly modern thing.) The original presidential palace was put in by the French in about 1880 - very stylish colonial. But a friend of the recently deposed Diem bombed it with a US warplane in 1963, and the result was this ugly cement structure, copies of which could be found being bulilt in Brasilia and endless African capitals in that decade. The bomber was shot down in front of the palace, but if only he knew what a mistake he made...

I did manage to find some flora outside and my first floral shot is included here (I expect much better views later in this trip...) The tank shown is the one that actually 'broke through' the gates of the palace on April 30, 1975 when the Communists came into Saigon. Although not clearly shown in the basement room of photos...The actual 'attack' on the palace (with its occupants all very ready to surrender) was from its rear at 9 AM. That allowed them to get the photographers in place for the frontal 'assault' at 10:30 AM...

Final stop was a quick one at the Notre Dame Cathedral, which is rather bland inside, excepting the neon lit Mary with colorful "Ave Maria" across her chest blazing (I kid you not - but could not take the picture to prove it.) Then it was across the street to what must be the finest post office anywhere (see interior shot.) I was then going to walk back to the hotel when I saw the big western fellow negotiate and then ride off on a scooter taxi. I did the same (as I promised the woman on the plane), having lowered the price for a 5 minute ride to 1000 Dong from 1500 (i.e about 60 cents.)

So now it is 40 minutes before the first Swarthmore professor lecture (which I believe is Buddhism 101.) It is doubtful that I will make that as the pool sounds more inviting, even if I rationalized this trip partly as a way to learn about the religion. But I am hoping that some of that learning will come through my own senses rather than through some else's studies. And I will admit to a bit of annoyance with the gentle, friendly people here. Why is it that they have endured so much to be under their own government's thumb? Yep, definitely time for the pool!

Food and Touring

Sleeping report: 6.5 Hours 9 PM -3AM plus some snoozes thereafter. Very jealous of those who got in nine hours straight. Oh well.

As you will now see, timing of when I write determines the period I cover. As it is now 1 AM on the west coast this post will say January 13, but will cover both Friday the 13th (which started with a full moon no less) and the latter parts of the 12th.

So we all congregated for our lecture on the history of Vietnam. It was given by an elderly gentleman who has spent much time in the US but who was not confident in his language. He breezed us through geography, history and spent most of the time on customs and beliefs. It turns out he was a captain in the ARVN (South Vietnamese army.) He did his best to make it clear that the old Vietnam (sexist, racially biased, non-meritocratic) has been replaced by an equal society, free of repression. Completely free of repression...so free of repression that he would turn over any sensitive question to our tour guide in the back (who seemed to be more knowledgeable than the old man, but who was very polite and deferential to him.) An interesting lecture, capped off by the former captain belting out (in a finally strong voice) his versions of "Oh Susanna" and the Vietnamese national anthem (in that order.) We were all tired after that!

My roommate Jeff then went off for a $18 massage (for one hour; its $15 dollars before 5 PM and I won't guess at why that is...) I lay down on my stomach and knocked out immediately for 45 wonderful minutes. Then it was time for dinner - and we, along with a mother and daughter (latter of whom teaches Asian history at Virginia Tech, and former of whom is very proud of her daughter) got a recommendation from the concierge for a French Indochinese place six blocks away. We get to the place, find it horribly over-priced and just French so we high tail (sp?) around the corner and find a Vietnamese dive, with only locals in it (hoorah!) We proceed to have several beers, crab and broccoli soup, noodles with shrimp and some pork spring rolls. The food was excellent; lots of good smells and nothing that made us worry about our health. Total bill $14.50 for all four of us! I was almost driven to offer to pay for the whole thing myself, but came up a bit short. It did stop mom from using the calculator to split the bill however!

Then to bed, then to rise...For those of you interested I have resumed reading the Biography of John James Audubon...I am not an ornithology buff, but he did live on the frontier and before he made a living off of his drawing attempted to be a man of commerce. He failed at the latter (in fact, he seems to have consistently not been paid for much of his work...French pride I guess.) I tend to skip over the bird sightings and get engrossed in the rest.

This morning we set off with a full schedule of touring, as it is our one full day of Saigon. I hopped up to the roof to take the skyline shot shown somewhere above and then joined bus #1 (with what I am sure was the more informative tour guide!) Our first stop was Chinatown and the wholesale markets (note market scene above.) The markets are devoid of Chinese, but if you need ten of absolutely anything this is the place to be. Several thousand stalls full of every imaginable items you could use in a home or business. I literally have never been somewhere with more items under one roof! Great smells, wonderful fabrics (sadly my pictures were too low light) and endless narrow alleys to navigate amongst the sellers. After a few minutes of this you learn a natural rhythm to keep moving, yet avoid those coming at you or sitting along the edges.

We next headed back towards the French quarter to go to the War Remnants Museum. Yes, you read it right, Remnants (this is a clothing mad country...) It used to be the American War Crimes Museum, followed by the War Crimes Museum in the 80's (having fought off the Chinese, they too had some displays for a while, which have since been removed.) The airplane and bomb rolling pictures give a sense of the outside (they have a number of old US warplanes around town - I think a reflection of both pride in their victory but also curiosity about technology.) There are six rooms and they are full of the horrors of a bad and unnecessary war. It is propaganda (not one item suggesting any barbarism on the North's/Viet Cong's side) but its not about recriminations, rather a set of pictures that make you sad and upset. Interestingly, there were very few Vietnamese there (and those that were congregated in a room of sunny drawings by school children.) Most of the tourists were Europeans, some of whom were tut tutting the Americans bad deeds...We were glad to have gone, happy to have left by lunch time. More in another post But the food picture gives you a sense of the six course feast we were about to indulge in.

Saigon from a Jet Lagged Eye

Greetings from Saigon (or HCMC, which is as close as anyone gets to the now proper name of Ho Chi Minh City.) I am 12 hours into my time here and am starting to fight the inevitable afternoon jetlag that always comes after you sleep 6 hours over the previous two days.

Flight over was fine; highlight was on short second leg (HKG->SGN) where I sat next to an American woman from San Antonio who has lived in Saigon for 3 years, having given up on NYC. She is helping to run a mini-eBay here with modest success. More importantly, I got many good tips on food, sights, behavior dress etc... One immediate outcome is that I am not going to be wearing any shorts while in the city - lots of laughter likely to ensue, as if westerners don't look weird enough already.

Warning! Todays (few) pictures are boring...why? Well, there has to be the obligatory hotel shot The Sofitel is, apparently the nicest place in town, costing $90/night, although internet is at US levels!) Its located in what used to be called the French quarter near the US and French Embassies and the Notre Dame Cathedral (which we tour tomorrow.) Inside the hotel are a bunch of Garmans, Dutch and Nordic types...no Swarthmore tours have arrived yet.

After a midnight arrival with a slow time through immigration (their computers were down and the poor agents were making copies by hand of everyone's entry form, until one of them had the good idea to get the travelers to make their own...) I slept fitfully through parts of the night. A highlight was a 3 AM Ploing on the computer, signalling Alex trying to reach me via GoogleTalk. After a bit of finagling we had a nice conversation with sound better than any you will find on a landline or cell phone. I love the quality of Gtalk...it just makes you want to talk longer (much to Alex's chagrin.) I even got ten minutes with Katie thereafter (see what I mean about conversations lasting longer?)

This morning, after a hearty western breakfast and the first wearing of my new wiking shirt (quick dry, breathes...very good for this humid weather) I headed out the door and toured by foot for two hours. According to the umpteen motorscooter taxi drivers who incessentantly hustled me ("mister, one hour ride $2") I must have been the only fool willing to walk 4-5 miles around town. But I enjoyed it greatly.

Why did I enjoy it? Not due to the air: it not bad smelling but quite smoggy. No really beautiful sights within my walk (even the river was more a long continuous port than any thing to look at.) Nor the architecure (at least so far.) I did pass by the Notre Dame Cathedral which is OK, but nothing really makes your eyes pop.

What I did like was all the hues of Yellow that many of the buildings are painted in; the good naturdness of the people; the way life is very much on the streets, regardless of the quality of dress; the smells (not a single bad one on my whole walk and many good odors, particularly as lunch time approached and the cooking on the sidewalks began in earnest.

Saigon reminds me of large Mexican cities, such as Monterrey, except that people move faster and dress less colorfully. There are many compounds, holding offices, apartments, schools and old uS military on display (I think we learn more about that in the days ahead as well.) Walking across the street is no problem here, unless you step backwards (never do that! A car will be going around you if not many scooters.) There are tons of scooters everywhere, but, unlike Delhi they are relatively new, low pollution and not two stroke engine powered. So no put put sounds or loud bangs.

Sorry about the positioning of the pictures by the way...I haven't learned how to move them about the page yet. I would prefer to have them interweave the writing...anyone who knows how to do that let me know. Do note the last picture with the hot number in the red dress...I was trying to capture the food stalls (they are right behind the hotel) and she decided to pose, raised leg and all!

The Swarthmore contingent has arrived - I now have my roomate (he is smarter than I; had arranged a massage within five minutes of arriving...) and we are off to a lecture on Vietnamese history and the I will go swimming (again!) More tomorrow.

Last thoughts before leaving

So, much like my European tour of 2001, I will start with pictures of clothes and luggage. Age, experience and a shorter trip make this packing a much easier and smaller job than last time. although in both cases its all carry-on.

No picture of Katie at a formal dance this time, however, instead I got to do my packing to her music, as she was DJing a show from WMHB, Colby College on the radio this morning.

The real purpose of this post is to test how picture uploading works. As you can see, we have a before picture that is medium sized, followed by a small version of the end result. The one remaining trick will be to understand how I can upload e-mail posts should direct internet connection not work.

So why am I doing a travelog this time? I'm not sure, but must have to do with the notion that this will be a rather different journey for me. A college tour, for one, with people of different ages and many (i.e more than 2-3) of them. Also, I have never been to Vietnam and Cambodia and imagine that a number of you readers haven't been either. But what really stands out for me is the sense of the experience to come. I am very curious about a place finally at peace after centuries of conflict, of a culture strongly influenced by (dominated) by some combination of communism and Buddhism, and of a beautfiul geography. It has to be interesting!

For those of you who kept up with Koof.org in 2001, a few final pre-thoughts. This is a less leisurely trip and I expect to be more of a reporter and photographer than philosophizer. I think Alex will be pleased with that for sure; perhaps the rest of you will be too. This trip is an extrapolation for me - a bunch of new things and new ways of seeing things, rather than an interpolation, covering areas I was comfortable with in Europe (the Budapest train station aside!) And you can leave comments, so give me guidance as to what you want or don't want in here. I may pay attention to it!

Next post (we hope) will be from the Saigon Plaza hotel in Ho Chi Minh city on Thursday.

Vietnam Preview

Well the blogging temptation has won out. Perhaps it was fear of failure with regard to uploading pictures to Kalkstein.net...or perhaps it was the idea that I could do one and it wouldn't be as technically difficult as in 2001. In any event here we are.

I'll post a picture of my packing tomorrow, as well as my itinerary.

The basics are:

Jan 10: Fly to Ho Chi Minh City (whose airport initials are still SGN) arriving late on the 11th
Jan 12-14: In southern Vietnam
Jan 14-17: In Central Vietnam
Jan 18-21: In Hanoi and beyond
Jan 22-25: Angkor Wat and realted in cambodia

I am very excited!