Category: Uncategorized

                        Our last full day in Cambodia was jam packed with some extraordinary experiences…. not that the other days weren’t as jam packed, maybe just because it was our last day.

                        We started out early on our way to visit a village that floats on water. This is the Dry Season, wet will soon be upon them and the difference in water levels is extreme, like another thirty feet of water in the lake!

                        This makes for these villages to be able to pull up anchor, (or rope, or rock, or tree) and move! We visited the Mechrey Village, one that is entirely floating. Some of the others employ very long stilts to deal with the rise and fall of the seasonal waters.

                        This means that every aspect of everyday life is always conducted on the water.

                        Want to go to the local store?

                        How about school?

                        Maybe you want to go out for a bite to eat?

                        Visiting friends?

                        Get in the boat!

            The lives of these villagers centers around mining and manufacturing.

                        (Ok…. how many of you said.. What???!!!)

                        That was just to see if you were paying attention!

                        Yes, of course, fishing is the predominant industry and having this lake as their benefactor works well because it is one of the most biodiverse lakes on the planet. It is obviously suffering from encroachment as of late, but it is still under control. That giant Mekong Catfish that is seen on River Monsters lives here, but it is threatened so it is illegal to catch. The largest one caught was over 600 pounds! (We did not see one ☹)

                        There are about 2000 inhabitants of the Mechrey Village some of which have roots back as far as the twelfth century when this style of living was first attempted here. Today their homes float on combination of bamboo (which has hollow sections) and more recently, large plastic barrels or even plastic bottles gathered in nets to make a type of floating “mattress” that a house may sit upon. The obvious question that seems to work its way into almost any conversation about where people live differently (like the astronauts!) is…… where do they go to the bathroom? And this answer is unfortunately another obvious one. Through the hole in the floor. Sanitation issues abound and there are some more modern treatment options that are available, but the cost is something that needs to be dealt with on a family-by-family basis. And when all of your income is derived by fishing the backwaters of Tonle Sap Lake, well… let’s just say that there are no mansions floating around out there.

                        Our trip out to the village started in a small tributary of this lake that is part of the Mekong River. The water is very low and it’s a good thing that the motors on these boats are made to tilt their propellors so that they don’t run aground. Much.

                        We visited with a family whose Grandmother was the midwife for the village, and she regaled us with her stories from those times. Since then, transportation has improved and getting to a somewhat proper medical facility is easier but not guaranteed. There are a few others that had been trained by Grandma for this reason and from time to time their skills are pressed into service.

                        We motored past some small stores, the Catholic Church, the floating regional school, and many, many homes. The people were friendly, waving at us as this kind of experience is becoming more and more popular with visitors that are staying in Siem Reap, which is only about 45 minutes away.

                        Back to Siem Repp and the hotel for lunch and free time until late afternoon when we went to visit the old temple at Ta Prohm. This is the one that has been partially let stay “natural” with some of the strangest trees growing out of any number of walls, temples and courtyards. It looked like an Indian Jones movie set on steroids!

                        After our visit there was over we went back to Angkor Wat to see the western walls of the Temple and the grounds (hopefully) glow in the late-day rays of sunshine. Oh, and we had a ‘toast’ as it was our final night in Cambodia, the next day would be the airport and back to Saigon. Ting found us the perfect spot to sit and watch the Temple. The Temple was closing and the visitors were pouring out as we sat there. Soon all that was left was the temple, the sun, and us with our shot glasses of local whiskey.

                        And….. some snacks!

                        Ting’s wife had made sure that he with him some of her favorite snacky-type things…… BUGS.

                        There were all sorts of critters involved including some beetles who could be heard singing their version of “Here Comes the Sun” as the rays broke through the clouds illuminating the Walls…

                        Actually, they were not singing because they were dead.                                                     And roasted.

                                                Or fried.

                                                Don’t know, don’t care. Sorry to deprive you of me explaining an actual insect-eating experience but even before we started out I swore that I would draw the line at bugs. Even the chocolate covered ones.

                                                Reports from my more adventurous comrades indicted that it was … OK…..the beetles seemed to get high marks and several descriptions of a flavor profile that has escaped me…. Sorry! But everyone survived and were all present and accounted for the next morning on our way to the airport.

                        If you’ve stuck with this month-long foray into the wilds of Vietnam, either being the Hills north of Hanoi or the crazy motorbike street rides in the cities, I thank you.

                        I hope that you can tell that this trip was one of the most interesting and rewarding experiences that we have ever had, on sooooo many levels! But the most lofty level was the opportunity to meet and converse with the people. Sights are cool and good photos abound, but when you come down to the ‘feelings” that you can come away with, it’s just all about the folks that me met.

                        They were the best.

                        Coming from a sales and marketing background I could not help but see a huge opportunity for the company that manufactures and distributes “Wet n’ Forget”, the house, roof, and sidewalk cleaning product. I can see the slogan now….”Use Wet n’ Forget…. Buddha approved for your little temple!”  The only problem is that they would need multiple fire trucks with their large volume hoses to do the application! This place is huge!

                        Huge enough in fact, to be the largest religious complex in the world. It is roughly twice the size of the Vatican in Rome, covering over four-hundred acres. Age-wise, it’s about a thousand years old but that’s not the cool part because wherever we go everything is a thousand years old! The cool part is that it lay dormant for about one hundred-fifty years until the Europeans “rediscovered” it back in the mid 1500’s. The place was so overgrown that no one knew exactly how large it was because remember, it’s a jungle out there (literally!) and jungles have a nasty habit of consuming anything that gets in their way including giant stone temples.

                        Age wise it is a contemporary of Mesa Verde in southwest Colorado, and if you had an airplane back then (or better yet a Transporter if you are a Star Trek fan!) and were able to fly from Cambodia to Colorado, you would witness two future World Heritage Sites in their full glory as they were developed and built at exactly the same time, 1150 AD.

                        “That’s fascinating Donny, but you neglected to tell us why something as grand as this fell into disuse, c’mon, it’s not likely that they forgot it was there!”

                        “Right you are Indiana! It’s all because of politics!”

                        “Huh?”

                        Ok, so let’s say that you are the new ruler in town and your plan was to build a new place cuz you wanted everyone to know about you, not the other guy!

                        “Huh?”

                        Plus…. It started out as a Hindu temple and when a more pacifist ruler came into power he converted it to Buddhism. But….. a little later, the next guy, who wanted to be more aggressive, said “Buddha out! Shiva in! and this went back and forth for a while, temples came and went, Buddhas and Shivas argued until the funds ran out and it was forgotten for about a hundred and fifty years…..

                        “Huh?”

                        Yup… or something like that. Anyway, the trees grew up, the vines smothered everything and more sooner than later, Poof! no one went there anymore! In trudges a few Portuguese explorers who “find” it, document that they were there and then forget about it. Compounding all of this confusion are the constant wars between the Siamese (Thailand), the Khmer (locals) and throw in some messes from China and India and you’ve got a real mishmash of a recipe. That is, until a French guy shows up a hundred-plus years later and starts the ball rolling for restoring it all……… and controlling the entire region, soon to be known as French Indochina. Now we’re back where we started.

                        Aren’t you sorry that you asked?”

                        “Huh?”

            Believe it or not, this site has not yet recovered from the dearth of ‘visitors lacking’ during Covid. So, not that we had the place to ourselves, but there were far less folks than what we had anticipated, which made our visit all the better. Getting around is strictly by foot, there are no vehicles allowed inside which makes for a guarantee that you will get your “steps” in for the day. It also guarantees that you will need to take a shower and change your clothes when you get back to the hotel because it’s about a million degrees with the humidity hovering in the Niagara Falls region of wetness.

                        But it was still a great experience. There are no words that can conjure up images in your mind that can do this place justice. From the bas relief carvings to their version of the Bayeux Tapestry carved along endless galleries, it is a place to be studied and taught about, hopefully by someone who not only knows what everyone else has memorized, but by someone who understands the intricate relationships and stories of what is depicted on the walls and in the temples of Angkor Wat.

                        We had that person in Ting. The proverbial fountain of knowledge when it comes to topics such as this, he peppered us with stories with the facts woven in so that we listened and didn’t even know that we were learning something!

                        We spent the better part of the day there, leaving to have another ‘home hosted lunch’, this time with a local family that lives in a village with the homes up on stilts. No, not for flooding, but for the aforementioned debilitating temperature range. The air is able to flow around, through, and underneath these homes and the underneath part is actually the coolest place during the day. These folks have lived in this region for a thous…. (nope! gotcha!) several hundred years but were uprooted along with the rest of the population, when the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot came into power. This is another one of those stories that defy description….. it falls under the title of “Man’s inhumanity to Man” category right along with the likes of Idi Amin, Hitler, Stalin, Sadam Hussien, and unfortunately, the list goes on, but I’m sure that you get the idea. Estimates of two million Cambodians were killed under his rule. It is fascinating to know that it was the Vietnamese Army that came into Cambodia in 1979 and in about ten days defeated the Khmer Rouge and ended Pol Pot’s reign of terror.

                        The government is now nothing short of fascinating. It is a constitutional monarchy, with elected representatives in two houses, but get this…. it is a one-party system, kind of like a communist regime, but in fact, it is not! The government is often described as a ‘soft authoritarian’ regime, having transitioned away from communist roots in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

            This is just me thinking here and don’t tell anyone in Vietnam, but I can sense a movement in this direction over there. Red Capitalism can pave the way for “freer” thinking……eventually.

That foray into the Mekong Delta was the last significant expedition of what is termed the Main Trip. If you will recall, we spent a few days up in the North, above and to the West of Hanoi, in the Hill Country with two different tribes. That was the Pre-Trip. Quite often there are three options when planning these trips with O.A.T…… Pre, Main, and Post. Put them all together and you end up with about a total of a month’s worth of travel.

                        Not everyone opted in for the Post Trip to Cambodia, but most did. Sherry and Harold had already been there, so they decided to throw another O.A.T. trip on as long as they were over here, so they are in Thailand and the Philippines. A few of the others needed to get back, so off they went when the Main Trip was concluded. But nine of us (now I know how Frodo felt when the Fellowship got broken up!) went on to Cambodia, the obvious big draw being Angkor Wat.

                        Angkor Wat is very conveniently located just outside of Siem Reap, the coolest sounding city (seem reep) we’ve been to so far and the second largest city in Cambodia after Phnom Penh. At only 250,000 residents it pales in comparison to Phnom Penh at ten times that and 2.5 million!  I’m glad we were in Siem Reap.

                        We have a new Tour Experience Leader, his name is Ting and he is an experienced O.A.T. Guide with about ten years under his belt. His personality mirrors that of Phil’s so we are all very happy!

                        They jam countries together over here the way it’s done in Europe which makes for tons of diversity when it comes to everything that makes up an ethnicity…..i.e. occupations, foods, religions, and local customs. The actual size of the old “French Indochina” is roughly one third that of the Lower Forty-Eight back here in the States. This means that to cover any ground in a decent amount of time, we needed to fly between some regions. Hence our three internal North to South flights in Vietnam, and now a flight into Cambodia will save us innumerable hours of driving, which we traded an hour of flight time for. The highways are not the same as back home so sometimes road travel does not equate to the usual miles driven vs miles flown calculation. Flying was good.

                        Except, we found ourselves on Fly One Airlines instead of Air Cambodia. I’m not sure that there’s a big difference as I’m not sure how large Air Cambodia is but Fly One has a whopping fleet of aircraft that numbers (I can’t believe that they just don’t buy one more plane….) 13! We all breathed a huge sigh of relief when we found out that Fly One is one of the aviation leaders in the Republic of ……. Moldova! (Huh?) Now we’re really feelin’ good!

            This feeling of confidence was only heightened when the Captain got on the horn to speak to us. Now Moldova is a tiny little thing nestled between Romania, Russia, Ukraine, and any other strip of land that wants to claim its independence from someone else (leaving everything in turmoil). So that means that he speaks with a Russian (?) sounding accent. Now that sure gives us folks from the West a real cozy feeling!

                        We were bused (where are you taking us?) way out on the tarmac, far away from any witnesses, and dumped off next to an old biplane that held maybe 20 or so passengers. Luckily our plane was on the other side of that one, so we trudged over, baggage in hand and climbed up the long flight of portable steps into the plane. The interior was a little reassuring as there were no produce or chicken crates to sit on, just the regular seats that one may expect. Except that I think Moldova’s aviation regulations have little concern for the comfort of their passengers because I’m pretty sure that there was more room in the back seat of my sister’s old Triumph Spitfire and that car didn’t even have a back seat!

                        Good thing the flight was only an hour! (But that 12-hour drive was now looking really good about now!)

                        Arriving in Cambodia at Siem Reap’s cute little airport stopped being cute as soon as we spied the Officials. Did you ever go through Customs or Immigration at JFK or Newark….some guy eating a Subway sandwich, sauces dripping on his shirt and the look on his face that says, “I only have 10 more hours of my 8 hour shift left.”?

                        Well, over here, where they revel in the obvious effects of an Official Guard that looks like they’re straight out of Central Casting, complete with a spotless uniform, gold braid, and odd-looking hat, and…… the Supervisor eyeing everyone up as if we were from the CIA, well then, don’t we feel like just giving them all a nice, big hug!

                        But when we get outside, just the direct opposite is true!

                        EVERONE bows slightly at the waist, hands pressed together, fingertips upward in a greeting, when saying thank you, or just as an everyday greeting, or serving anyone at a table, or anything! And it’s done with a genuine smile on their face and a warm glint in their eyes.

                        How nice is this???!!!

                        Ting picked us up from the Airport, rescuing us from the stiff-collared ‘Authorities’ in time to whisk us away in our own Toyota Minibus for the drive to town. The hotel is the best one we’ve been in so far, and they’ve all been good. Doormen and Bellhops bowing gracefully every time we enter, leave, or just pass by.

                        I could get used to this!

                        Ting wasted no time in getting us introduced to his city….. a tuk-tuk ride was in the offing which brought us around downtown and a very nice temple and the Royal Gardens.

                        A note on Temples here…. it seems that O.A.T. (the acronym) has another meaning. Tongue-in-cheek they refer to themselves as … Oh! Another Temple! Similar to Viking who will entertain you with A.B.C. Tours ….. Another (Bloody) (Bodacious) (Beautiful) you fill in the blank…. Cathedral.

                        Cambodia is Buddhist.

                        Buddhists have shrines and temples.

                        We saw all of them.

Of course, we are all waiting for the Big Kahuna (wrong religion, but you get the idea) of them all, Angkor Wat. The anticipation is building, teased along the way with its proximity to where we are, but kept under wraps by our rather full schedule of our All-Things Cambodian tour.

            The next two days were filled with a trip to their local Killing Fields, the Angkor National Museum, three more temples, including the one that has all of those incredible ancient tree roots spaghettified within it. There was another home-hosted meal, this one in a village of houses on stilts, not because of water, but because of heat!

No worries! All of these, and more will be detailed in their own photo-posts coming soon! The simple fact is that we have been so busy, and experienced so much, that I did run out of time documenting all of these ventures. Truth be told, we are leaving for the airport for our flight to Tokyo, and then Houston, in two hours. It’s 2AM and I can’t sleep so here we are talking! Wish I had a glass of milk and a few cookies! (any kind will do ‘cept yucky Fig Newtons).

            So now you know that we’ve been to Cambodia and are now back in Saigon. We arrived yesterday afternoon and are leaving this morning. By the time you read this, we will be somewhere over the rainbow winging our way back to the Western World, reluctantly leaving the Mysterious East behind us.

                        But have no fear, those Posts of what went on in Cambodia are too good to just leave in their digital files for no one to see, so I will duly foist them upon you in the next few days as if we are still there. So, suspend your internal timelines and if you’re like me, you’ll be happy that we’re “still” over “here”!

On our way home, during that infamous four-hour trip back from Mekong, we chanced upon a very large field with all of these guys hovering above us.

How cool is this???!!!

These folks know how to do kites!!!!

These were taken through the bus windows so apologies for “quality”, but I think they came out just fine! The last one will give you a sense of ‘scale’ as I did not zoom in and left then foregrounds intact.

Nothing better than a kite to ‘lift’ one’s spirits!

Ok! The Blog Mailbox is overflowing (2!) with requests to see the results of that haircut! I did not have a photo taken directly afterwards so I needed to scour the Internet in order to find one of me on the Web. I guess that it was the way that he cut it…… clippers and scissors at flying paces with nary a measuring clipper-guard in sight! one false move and I’d end up looking like a Marine Corps recruit on their first day!

The best part is that every time I wash my hair it still comes out great! No sticky-up parts that need to be plastered down! Feel free to download these photos for use on your kitchen dartboards!

To describe this trip as a whirlwind would be that proverbial understatement!

                         Relax? Not a chance!

                         But then, that’s not why we’re doing this!

I feel that one of my usual features of traveling, documenting such, has almost taken a backseat, mostly because I do feel the need to sleep every now and then.

                        But why should you suffer? If you are reading this then you either have a penchant for seeing some fun, far-away places or you are a person who revels in inflicting oneself with useless drivel. As the Old Monk says in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade…. “Choose wisely.”

                        So, here assembled before you is an incredibly good example of that useless drivel…..

                        I went for a haircut a few days before we left but neglected too check out and confirm the actual cutting number of the clippers used for a beard trim. So, it looked neat and tidy for a while, but soon I looked like I was trying out for a stand-in role in an upcoming reality program, The  Bushmen of Vietnam. I mentioned to Captain Phil that getting a haircut would be nice. A few days later he came to me and said, “Let’s go!” A look of questionality  (new word!) must have crossed my face because he just made some gestures of “hair clipping” as I smiled knowingly. This was in my new favorite city of Hoi An where we have fortuitously bought a small two-bedroom flat above a combination Chocolate / Book / RV repair facility. (it’s the only one like it in the whole region!). The extra room is for any of you to come over and visit!

                                    Anyway, I follow Phil as he winds his way through the ancient streets until we come to a barber shop, complete with the twisty, red, white, and blue barber pole. This must be part of some groundbreaking UN International Agreement or something because there it was, doing its twirly thing as customers waited patiently. I, on the other hand, waited with some trepidation because I couldn’t understand a word that was said in the hasty exchange between Phil and the Manager (who was about 25). I guess Phil wanted to make sure that I got the Head Guy because several customers went ahead of me to the waiting chairs of the other three barbers who were at least 22 years old!

                                    I sat there watching in somewhat trepidation as these guys work like Ninjas on crack as they clipped, sliced, diced, and whirled their ways through various styles of cuts and fashions upon their victims heads. I succumbed to this visage and said to myself, “No worries Donny, it’ll grow back…..someday.”

                                    My turn finally arrived, indicated by the Manger looking over at me and somewhat franticly gesturing that he needs me in his chair. He seemed friendly enough, we exchanged smiles and that was all, as there was no time after that for conversation, clippers, scissors, combs, all various and sundry implements of destruction were flying about my head and ultimately, my throat, as all I really needed was a beard trim.

                        I did know that Phil said that he would be back to pick me up as I had no idea where I was. The Al Stewart song,  ‘Year of the Cat” kept playing in my freaked-out brain….

                                    On a morning from a Bogart movie
                        In a country where they turn back time
                        You go strolling through the crowd like Peter Lorre
                        Contemplating a crime……

                        By the blue tiled walls near the market stalls
                        There’s a hidden door she leads you to…..

Well, old Al didn’t get out in time as you may recall, he “Lost his ticket” as “The bus and the tourists are gone…”

                        I was seeing my old life pass before me until the Cloak of Gray Hair Clippings came whipping off and I was directed to a very narrow stairway leading to the loft above. I looked at my executioner with what must have been a look of horror as he burst into laughter (maniacal?) and indicated by hand gestures that I was going for a hair wash.

                        OK.

                        Up the stairs, sidestepping along the way, as that was the only way to fit, I poked through the upstairs floor and found several others there in several stages of getting hair dyes.                    “Ok, this is good, at least there will be witnesses” I thought to myself. I was directed to a table which looked rather uncomfortable (it was) and I proceeded to lay down (the wrong way) as I scanned the top and bottom for signs of it really being some sort of “Rack” that I would be stretched on. No worries there as that is not their modus operandi.

                Thankfully I was just waterboarded.

                 With cold water.

                Apparently my usual “MVP Experience” at Sport Clips is not something that made it into that UN Agreement because by the time I got situated the correct way the next thing I know I’ve got cold water streaming down my face as a soap of questionable origin and fragrance is applied and then just as quickly rinsed out. Luckily my inhalation reflex was curtailed as soon as that cold water hit my face because I survived the waterboarding and was duly ushered back down from the Tower to my chair in the Dungeon below.

                All the while this was going on my Executioner was spending an inordinate amount of time on his phone. I wished that he would just pay attention to my situation and leave his personal stuff for later. But little did I realize that he was trying to coordinate the arrival of my Freedom Fighter, Phil and the culmination of my Services.

                        Apparently he was not successful.

                        Yelling something to the other three assailants on the other side of the shop, he grabbed my arm and we exited out into the bright sunlight (I’m free!) until he jumps on his motorbike and indicates for me to get on behind him. There must have been something in that “tonic/shampoo” that made me delirious because here was my chance to escape and I found myself sitting behind him as we shredded the crowds in the street like Moses parting the Waters in front of him. Several turns and U-turns later a familiar figure was standing in the middle of the street with a glorious ray of sunlight shing down on him like he was liturgical….                  Saint Phil (the Buddhist!)

                        I got off the bike and listened to Phil and my barber, previously known as Captor, exchange lots of unintelligible words. Phil turned to me and indicated that it was time to pay. I handed him all my cash which amounted to about 600,000 Dong. I hoped that would cover it.

                More verbal exchanges ensued.

                I received no change.

                Phil said to me, “He’s going to bring you back to the hotel.”

                        “Ok”, I gulped.

                        And off we zoomerized as those crowds did what they were supposed to do when someone of Biblical Proportions is aiming for you….. get outa the way!

                        Finally deposited safely back at the hotel, my Kidnapper of Record smiled and gestured that he needed to get back to his shop.

                        I went upstairs where I finally had a chance to look in the mirror.

                        I now have a problem that I never saw coming and I’m not sure how I’m going to handle this one…..

                        I need to return here every five weeks for a haircut because I’ve NEVER had as good a haircut as this one in my life!

A cut, beard trim, wash and delivery for about 500,000 Dong! ($18.00) I did get some change from Phil later on  😊

(And cool pics at the End!)

Alrighty then, here it is for real, the info on the Mekong River Delta.

Guess what is over 3000 miles in length, is the boundary between three different countries, runs through five, including several Chinese provinces, has a drainage area of over 300,000 square miles, but only has a little over 100 of those 3000 miles at its terminus in the south of Vietnam?  

                        Since we all know that I’m writing about the Mekong River you’d be very surprised if that were, indeed, not the answer.

                        Be not surprised.

                         But it’s the last bit of given information that is the telling of the tale here. From hydroelectric and irrigation dams it’s a wonder that any water makes it to the end its course. Of the fifteen major dams on the Mekong, thirteen of them are in China and two are in Laos. So you can see where Vietnam has little control over what comes downstream towards them and that is changing big time as this is written.

                        Get this.

                        Just a short distance before the Mekong reaches the location where it crosses Vietnam’s boundary with Cambodia, a canal has been proposed and digging has begun on a waterway that will change the course of the river, cleaving off over forty percent of its flow and diverting it southward through Cambodia. It is said that one of the goals of the project is to give Phnom Phen access to a port on the Gulf of Thailand, where it will end in the small province of Kep.

                        Do you think that Vietnam is having a fit over this issue?

                        Yes.

                        It is no secret that all of these countries in Southeast Asia have enjoyed (?) various levels of (non) cooperation over the last 1000 years or so. And even today, these questionable past alliances breed a level of suspicion that can only have its roots in a history that sustains that kind of suspicion.

                        But here’s the best part….. China (surprise) is the entity that is financing the project to the tune of 1.7 billion US Dollars (which we all know means at least double of that!). Can you believe that Cambodia will be beholden to a country that in reality was the genesis of the Khmer Rouge? Does this make any sense to you?

                        It does if you can understand that Cambodia seems to hate the Vietnamese. Now Cambodia will be able to thumb their noses at the country that helped them defeat Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge back in the late 70’s. Vietnam’s ‘mistake’ was to stay in Cambodia for about ten years until Cambodia got its act together, government-wise….. but that just pissed off the Cambodians as they thought that Hanoi was making them a puppet-state. (They weren’t)

                        This also illustrates that China likes when things are stirred up and unsettled….. it makes them the one that is in, and totally has, firm control.

                        The river that we visited was not as obviously under the influence of anyone except Mi thien nhien  (Mother Nature), full of life, both over and under the water.

We went to several of the Touron Traps like the coconut candy (YES!) making place, then an authentic (just a little touristy) Chocolate from Scratch business (YES! YES!) and then a visit with a local farmer who has been here, on island, since 1975.

This visit includes a farm tour and some fresh fruit and of course….. shots of whiskey (YES! YES! YES!)! Then it was off to a riverside place for lunch and there were no disappointments here! Their presentation of traditional fare was spectacular!

                        After all was experienced (and eaten) we made our way back to the bus in the hopes of beating that mass migration that was heading back to Saigon.

                        No more surprises for you….. you’ve already seen that the Monumental Mekong Movement was replaced by the TET Time Tinkerer.

                        And the only good thing to develop around that was the fact that we were thoroughly entertained by that mess for the entire ride back to Saigon, and by extension, so were you!

                        So….

                        How ‘bout that Delta?  😊

A few days ago, we headed out of Saigon, destination, the Mekong Delta.

            “Hey man! Like that’s weird…. I haven’t heard ‘bout them since like the 80’s, but I don’t remember it so much and my head still hurts…… a lot…. too… uh yea…”

                        What?

                        “Yea man, those guys were like really, really rad…. made up names, nothing was real, but man could that lead guy riff!”

                        What?

                        “Huh? Don’t you know ‘bout them? They was like really far out in the thrash metal scene, so far that they made up all of their names and everything! It was like they didn’t want to be known for real, just the music….. ohhhh my head….. it

Ok, I give up. What in the name of Buddha are you talking about?

           “Mekong Delta man! …. I even got their Christmas Album!”

                        The things you come across when looking at Wikipedia…

The actual Mekong Delata is quite large, it’s over twice the size of the Mississippi Delta for your comparison purposes. And like most delta regions, it has its own sets of unique features and characteristic’s, most of which can be related to the folks that live there, as isolated as they are.

                        And now that you’re all excited to learn about the flora and fauna of this incredibly important region, I’m going not switch gears on you and we’re going to concentrate on the ride home from there!

                        Huh?

                        Yessirree, if you thought that the ride home on the Garden State Parkway on a Sunday night in July after a glorious weekend at the Jersey Shore was a test of your metal, well then you have never experienced a ride home to Saigon after a great time in the hinterlands of southern Vietnam after the TET holiday!  

                        No need for anything else except some photos!

Phil had thought that we would be able to beat then rush back into Saigon as we had planned on leaving the Delta area early afternoon. The proposed two-hour ride home quickly turned its back on us and introduced us to its evil big brother, the dastardly Four-Hour Crawl.

Luckily, we were in an air-conditioned coach that allowed us to view this local slice of humanity as it enveloped us on the road back to the city.

I will be exhibiting here mostly “Multi-Rides”, for your entertainment!

Don’t worry….an actual Mekong River Delta post is in the offing; I promise you’ll get one!

 Late February back in ’26

The Anticipation Level for this outing was kinda flatlined because we had done similar events twice before. Once up in Hanoi with the Twenty-Somethings and then this past week in Nha Trang with the MatureMen, both of them conducted within the plethoraizing countless swarms of ubiquitous Motorbikes. (Hopefully that paints a picture that might come close to the actual number of motorbikes😊!) But…. it included dinner…. and being in this crazy traffic with these little zipsters is always a hoot, so…. why not?

Oh boy were we ever incorrect and surprised!

This Post is all photos, so look/read on and hopefully I’ve captured our ‘Rapture of the Night’ sufficiently enough to give you a taste (remember dinner was included!) of what we experienced! Now go and put your helmets on, grab your favorite Twenty-Something (again!) and let’s go!

Just check out the few remaining photos which need no description! Except the two directly below, note the buildings to the left of the suspension tower in each photo!

Get ready for all your current newsworthy travel topics, covered in about as shallow a depth as possible, right here on:

Your Daily I.V. (Images of Vietnam)

This series is from the infamous “Weasels” day. As usual, we covered a lot of ground. From an ethnic K’Ho village visit, to the burgeoning business of flower growing, we were treated to several slices of daily life in rural Vietnam. In this village of Buon Chuoi, we were able to sit with the Deacon of the local Catholic Church. O.A.T. has been involved with this village for the past twenty or so years (they built the school here) and because of that, is allowed by the government to make regular visits to there in order to bring us just that much closer to these people. Otherwise traveling into the back roads is forbidden, or shall we say, “discouraged”. I’m not sure who would have enforced any intrusions, but we all know that infractions have a way of being reported in a communist society. However, it is obvious that a change is at hand as freedom of religion is alive and well all over Vietnam and organizations like the Church and O.A.T., that have demonstrated that they have the best interests of the populace in mind, are allowed to flourish, just don’t rock that boat…. yet.

Our destination was the home of the “mayor” of sorts, a position with no pay, but tons of respect. His wife is quite prolific when it comes to weaving as you will soon see.

Several pics here from the main road through the village. Does everything look orange to you? That’s not me playing with the color saturations, etc. that’s the color of the local soils and as you can see, it is pervasive!

This is how our day started. We visited one of the gazillions of green houses that blanket entire square acres/miles/ regions of this area. Not too long ago, the ‘discovery’ of the advantages of these giant science experiments was had. Some very smart Dutchmen came up here and said: “Hé! Deze plek is geweldig om bloemen te kweken en al onze grond staat onder water, dus waarom helpen we je niet op weg? (We laten je niet alles zien, zodat we de controle behouden.) En je kunt er toch flink wat geld mee verdienen!”

Translated: “Hey! This place is great for growing flowers, and all our land is under water so why don’t we help you get started, (but not show you everything so that we’ll still be in control) but/and you can still make tons of money!”

And so it happened. The acreage that is under wraps is so extensive that the government has had to curtail the number of greenhouses in this area because of the reflection/absorption/of both solar and water. It has actually altered the local climate to the point where it is measurable.

And finally…. to help brighten your day, some assorted colors from Vietnam!