Here and There Blog

Two weeks down. One to go. This was a long day.

One room is dedicated to war posters and propagnda to getting the US out of Vietnam. This post counters that and is dedicated to peace in the world. More helicoptors and missles left behind. Air Force was here too. This last photo is a tribute to hundreds of people who were buried in a mass grave that was just uncovered in 2008. Inside the glass is sand from the excavation site.

Another part of the museum shows the detention camps that were used by the US and their Vietnam allies to imprison and torture prisoners. This is where you start to think, didn't these same torture methods get used on US soldiers and allies? Which they did. The Tiger Cages were not these barbed wire cages alone but small cells where prisoners were shackled. Below this replica is based on an actual prisoner photo. The likeness was captured well although the image loses something in my photograph. This guillotine and transport cage were used to execute prisoners.

From the brochure: "The role is to study, collect, and preserve and display exhibits on war crimes and aftermaths foreign aggressive forces caused for Vietnamese people." When the US military left Vietnam, many of the aircraft and ground vehicles stayed behind. The fun part of the museum is wandering around the tanks and bombs. Now I look happy here but that is because I haven't gone inside the museum yet to experience the next level of the exhibits. What was once called the "American War Crimes Museum" is now a place dedicated to peace as seen on the below banner. The exhibits serve as a reminder of how terrible chemical warfare is to all people. Stay tuned, more later.

From the taxi window I watch the scooters zip by in the hundreds. Lots of sculptures in the city. Don't know who this guy is but I guess he rode a horse. More scooters and the later afternoon view of the storm coming in.

The last three days have kept me swept up in work and no time to remember life outside. But every morning I make time to skim the Viet Nam News and see what is going on. Surprising to me is even though this is The National English Language Daily very little information about Vietnam exists in the paper. No politics, no social commentary, and sometimes it can be a couple of days before anything of relevance is in the paper when it comes to Vietnam. Today was a switch as the the Vietnam president is hosting a visit with the Palestinian president in Hanoi. The photo looks stiff and uncomfortable. Inside the paper are articles on parenting skills, nutrition, and lifestyle improvements being made. Everything else is a recap of news around the world. Watching the barges go along the river is about as exciting as it gets when not at work. I'm looking forward to seeing something beyond my short walk to work!

When you have an unfinished workspace but have to be on-site, what to do?  Set up camp at DOCO. (Donut/Coffee) I had the coffee but skipped the donut. Such the glamourous travel life!

Jet lag and heat obviously are not the best look for me! We walked over to HRC for dinner and behold! A local lager is brewed in Vietnam, aptly called Saigon Beer. How did it taste?  Like every other lager in the world. Not the worst but not wonderful either. 5:00 am - sunrise

On the walk to work - sculpture in City Park First meal - Pho Noodles (Yummy) Mix of religious art

Sunny and bright and sunrise comes right in my window so the view photos today aren't quite working out. First impressions: the streets are cleaner than I expected (but we did get in at midnight), more like any other big city in Asia than I thought, and the airport is organized and fast. Had a whopping 6 hours of sleep and I am sure this is going to be a tough day to stay awake and functioning. Luckily, not too much brain power is required for the moment. Internet is slow.

2+ hours to get to Robin and his merry band into the forest. That's pretty long to set up for a sequel in which something interesting might happen.  In our group yesterday we were split with one like, one dislike, and I was in the middle with sort of liked. Since everyone knows the story let's get into it. New version - everyone is older except the bizarre Peter Pan children. Not sure why the film makers felt it was important to have feral boys in the movie. Three story lines are going on here. 1) Future King John decides a french mistress is better than his English wife and he fights with his mother. 2) Maid Marion is the lady farmer and the church is corrupt and taking the grain seeds. 3) Robin is busy fighting until King Richard is killed and then Robin is done with fighting for kings. Sound like three random movies? It was like watching them at the same time. At some point everyone gets together in the movie for a big action sequence that signaled the beginning of the en...

Saturday - mostly packed and ready for launch! Sunday - Robin Hood/Friends/Relax! Monday - final work stuff/last day of beach and Tuesday - o'dark 30 departure to Ho Chi Minh City! Other than work, I have no idea what to expect, what Vietnamese beer I will find and if any adventure awaits. I hope that in 16 days I manage to see something more than the walk from hotel to work but you never know with these things. I have that antsy feeling that I should have left today. Sometimes, it's better to be there and just get the trip going than to sit around and wait. Anyone have a clue what I should at least try and do while in Saigon?

Sunday was my first Dodgers game in a few years. Nothing much has changed except it is slightly easier to not get lost leaving the stadium than it used to be. Stilll got twisted around trying to get in but it all worked out.  We got in too early and headed for hot dogs and beer. Watched the pre-game, waited for Ameoba to arrive, then drank more beer and watched the Dodgers win. None of us really cared but OB told us we had to cheer for the Dodgers as a win over the Rockies would help the Padres' stats. Other people finally showed up although this game was not even close to sold out. But it was a warmish Sunday, baseball, and friend so of course, a great day!

Iron Man 2 starts off the traditional summer movie launch when we are still filled with hope of what is to come before being beaten down with crap. The second weekend in May is the the home of The Mummy, Van Helsing and the like of which Iron Man 2 now belongs. IM2 is everything that is cliched in a sequel. If the audience liked explosions in the first move, make more explosions. Flying super hero suits? Make more! Not enough hot women and wrestlers? Add in cheerleaders and Mickey Rourke and you have a popcorn movie! The plot is not hard to follow. One dimensional bad guy Mickey Rourke wants to make Iron Man suffer for family honor. Dweeby jealous Justin Hammer wants respect. (His whiny voice was overdone and I found myself wishing for a remote so I could hit mute). Tony Stark/Iron Man wants a life. So why was this so hard for people to grasp?  This is one of those movies where if you have a friend who always is asking you "what happened" or "why" during the mo...

Work trips have a way of dragging out forever before the time arrives to click "buy" on the airline ticket.  Vietnam is next in line and each day is a new waiting game. Go or No-Go? If it's hard on me, I can't even imagine how patient my team is being (thanks team if you're reading this!) and I can only hope that Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon lives up to everyone's exotic travel expectations.  I know the standard delay has been set for my work trips when I give a date to a friend and that person automatically calculates 4 weeks in the future from what I say to the time I'll really be gone! I'm glad the next batch of travel is Asia. No messing around with volcanic ash, random European strikes, or snow storms!  Marriott announced today new properties coming in Algeria and Rwanda in '11 and '12. Time to add those countries to the future destination list!

The Gumball Rally is put on by MiceChat and is a contest of endurance and stamina as you compete against other teams to see who see the most attractions and rides at Disney in a 4 or 12 hour period. We chose the 4 hour challenge for our first rally. The rides all have different point values so you have to find out what rides have higher values and concentrate your efforts. So it was up at 4:00 am to be at check-in by 6:30 am. All sunny at 6:30 and we have our packet and gumballs ready to go. Now it's off to the staging area where we have to wait for briefing, rules, and meeting other teams.  Brian, Kathy, and I are team Mickey Mouse Robot. Not too brainiac I know but it worked for the day. Below Kathy and Brian in line for registration. Our strategy was to stay in one land and do as much as possible to avoid running around. First up we fast passed Space Mountain and the first ride was Autopia. From there we ran to Buzz Lightyear. Before we went in Buzz, we had to run thru the ...