Stay true to the dreams of thy youth

Following a thoroughly depressing day in Phnom Penh, we took the following day to just enjoy our hostel. No- not by eating happy pizza, but rather by sitting on the deck overlooking the lake in the 95 degree weather. I finished reading a couple books, caught up on my journal, listened to some good tunes, and met a few other travelers.

One of our emerging traditions is that of BPS. As frequently as possible, we sit down together for Beer, Peanuts, and Sunsets. The sunset overlooking the lake was phenomenal, only interrupted by a Japanese couple shooting endless rolls of film (some stereotypes do hold true…).

Turkey Day!!! November 23, 2006. After catching another 6 hour bus to the town of Siam Reap in northwest Cambodia, we set out to find a Thanksgiving feast… shoot, even an emaciated chicken with cranberries would do. Unfortunately, after a thorough search we settled upon. *drum roll please* fried rice, spring rolls, French fries, and coconut juice in a Cambodian restaurant. Not quite a Thanksgiving feast, but we ordered twice the amount of food we normally do, (about $4 worth) just to make it feel authentic. Okay, a bit of a letdown…

The next day made up for the failed feast, however. We caught a tuk-tuk, a little carriage pulled by a small motorbike, to the famous Angkor Temples about 10 kilometers from town. Most people know of Angkor Wat, the beautiful Hindu temple pictured in every brochure of Cambodia, and juxtaposed next to every one of Angelina Jolie’s stories about her adopted Cambodian children.

Quick Side note: We are being followed by celebrities. Condoleezza Rice came to Beijing when we were in China, Bush came to Hanoi and Saigon, and Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt arrived in Phnom Penh the day we were there. In Saigon, Bush’s hotel was about two blocks from ours. We spent the evening harassing the security cordon outside…

Anyways, back to the story. The temples were enormous. Not only is there the Wat temple, but at least 20 other ancient temples. Seen the movie Tomb Raider? Angelina Jolie filmed a scene in one of the temples. Speaking of which, I really wanted to see her, umm, *cough* purely because she is such a good actress…

After 8 hours of temple viewing pleasure (actually after about 5 hours they all started to look the same), we took a seat at the top of Angkor Wat and watched an amazing sunset with a couple of our British and Irish friends we met along the way. It was truly breathtaking.

The following day, we crossed the Cambodia-Thailand border (my super-glued passport continues to persevere…) and arrived in Bangkok. It feels like we skipped 5,000 miles and arrived back in Europe. Bangkok will be a whole other story… but let’s just say I had an enormous smile on my face as I filled my extra-large big gulp with Coca Cola at the nearest 7-11 to our hotel…

The last few days have not been the most uplifting days on our trip around the world. We arrived in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) in southern Vietnam a few days ago and were immediately impressed with the city- fast-paced, modern, exciting, and filled with things to do. We found a cheap room in a lady's house, down the road from the main backpacker stretch and settled in. The days have yet to get below 90 degrees, hot, hot, hot!!!

Two of Topher's friends from home arrived in Saigon the day after we arrived, just in time to celebrate Carson's 22nd birthday. The older one has a great name (Andrew, of course), and Matt, the younger one is 21 years old. It has been fun having some new faces and people to talk to and get to know as we drink cheap fruit shakes and iced coffee at all hours.

On to the heavy stuff. The first day we toured the Reunification Palace, the palace used by the President of South Vietnam before the south was taken over by the Communists in 1975. This place was actually pretty cool, lots of helicoptors, tanks, planes, and meeting rooms. Only minorly depressing.

Yesterday was rough. We went to the War Remnants Museum, formerly called the Museum of American War Crimes located in downtown Saigon. Where as American history textbooks give the extreme American bias of the war, this museum definitely gave the extreme Communist view of the war, with graphic pictures to match. Nonetheless, despite knowledge of bias, it was pretty humbling and sickening to see some of the atrocities committed by the American forces.

Pictures of soldiers holding severed heads or mutilated bodies, burnt babies and mothers scarred by napalm and nail bombs, pictures from the My Lai Massacre, as well as a collage of pictures from the top American war correspondents, equally tragic. An exhibit on the effects of Agent Orange is poignantly highlighted with dead babies in bottles cojoined by the head, or with disfigured body parts. Despite your feelings about the Vietnam War, it is difficult to see the good that came out of the situation for any side.

I'm reading former U.S. Secretary of Defense Richard McNamera's book "In Retrospect" in which he goes back and examines the actions taken by the different administrations and how they engaged in the Vietnam War. He was one of the men primarily responsible for the War, and he now admits that the United States made a tragic mistake in entering Vietnam. Very interesting perspective, I would recommend the book to anyone.

Today, we went to the Chu Chi tunnels about 60 km outside of Saigon. This is a vast network of over 200 km of tunnels throughout the countryside. The Viet Cong built kitchens, meeting rooms, hospitals, ammunition depots, and many other rooms up to 30 feet underground. Pretty impressive, although all the tunnels were enlarged so that the tourists could fit in them :) In a day or two we'll have videos posted on the link to the right of us coming out of the small fox holes.

It has definitely been a learning experience being here in Vietnam. The war of our parents has become much more tangible being here, reading up on the history, and seeing the war from another perspective. Generally people are very friendly to Americans, and many times a week I will meet an older man who wants to re-live stories of his time working with the Americans during the war. All of the history here is so intricately woven together, French occupation, US involvement, Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia against the (initially) US-supported Khmer Rouge, leading to China invading Vietnam...

Tomorrow we take a bus to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia... and then on to more depressing sites with the Killing Fields of Pol Pot.

Prayer Request: Our good friend Elyse from Westmont just had her younger brother, Chase, die. He was in a coma from a skateboarding accident and passed away two days ago. We met Chase a few times and he was an incredible Christian kid at University of Southern California. Keep their family in your thoughts and prayers.

You may be wondering what all these things listed in the title have in common: police, motorbikes, and Vietnamese ice cream... well, just another day for us in Vietnam.

Topher coined a term for Vietnam that has aptly described what we experience on a daily basis, "The Vietnamese Truth." To summarize, throw capitalism, greed, a large smile, and outright lies into a blender, hit the puree switch, and you have the Vietnamese truth. I'm not sure what is more prevalent, the Viet-truth, or the cute old ladies selling pineapple on the beach...

I couldn't resist posting this beauty...

Vietnam has been a blast for the last four days we have been here. One of my favorite vices in the world is a little bean known as coffee... The Vietnamese take this amazing plant, brew it nice and strong, like an espresso - only bigger- and mix it with a bit of sweet condensed milk. Served over ice on an 85-degree day and I can die a happy man (which may happen due to the thousands of motorbikes converging every which way on every crosswalk, street, and sidewalk).

Today we made our way over to the (in)famous Hanoi Hilton, a military prison built by the French in the late 1800s to deal with the Vietnamese fighters trying to throw off the French occupation. While the majority of the museum was dedicated to the Vietnamese imprisonment, a small two rooms mentioned its role during the Vietnam War (known as the American War here). Interestingly enough, walking in to these rooms and reading the descriptions of the prison, you would think these soldiers had an imprisonment at about the same level of harshness as that of Martha Stewart at Camp Cupcake...

Signs state that despite the American aggression, and although the Vietnamese should have punished these invaders, they instead provided them with clean conditions, basketball courts, books, and leisurelly time to hang out with their friends. Somehow I envisioned their imprisonment a little bit differently.

One of the rooms had the uniform worn by Senator John McCain when he was captured and imprisoned at this prison... I'm guessing his hair didn't turn white in his mid-30s due to his leisurely time in the courtyard of this prison... Anyways, as we were looking at the memorabilia in the museum, a white lady came through and started making funny noises by McCain's uniform. I thought she was crying, until I noticed that she was laughing. She said it was so funny to see his picture and uniform... Now as a disclaimer, most of you probably know that I'm no big fan of the Vietnam War (or the current war (or president)), but to laugh at a prisoner's imprisonment and torture... I was surprisingly pissed, and left the room.

And, in a cruel twist of irony... in the late 1990s, as Vietnam allowed further outside investment in Vietnam, they decided to tear down three forths of the prison to make room for a large office building... Tomorrow we leave for Halong Bay!!! If you don't know what that is, imagine that perfect beach scene you see in brochures with spiring mountains rising out of the sea... we'll be there!

Only problem is that a typhoon is on the way to Central Vietnam... Tonight, we're off to see a water puppet show. What is a water puppet show you ask? I have no clue.