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Governor - Kent D. Converse

Countries I have visited

Map Legend: 7%, 20 of 263 Territories

Maroon

I am a Vietnam Veteran who has been back to Vietnam eight times.
I am associated with Rotary International.

My current mission in Vietnam is going to places I have never visited. All previous times I have been a flat lander, like most Vietnamese, 80-90 percent live in the flat lands. The most I have seen of the mountains is Dalat and An Loc.
Also I have worked with East Meets West on a village water system near Danang. I may visit some of their projects they have going in Central Vietnam as result of the terrible floods they have just received.

I will be in Vietnam about three months. The cover photo is me biking the Red River Islands near Hanoi.

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Joined on: August 28th 2005
Last Login: November 27th 2009

Blog Entries: 120
Photos: 2874
Recommended by 3, Recommends 4

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Blogs & Travel Journals

by Governor, order by Date newest first.

By Governor
November 25th 2009

Visiting Tay Ninh Province Asia » Vietnam

Trang
She had to stop at the store to get "a few things" before we left.

Visiting Tay Ninh Province The three big reasons to visit Tay Ninh Province. Probably, the first on the list for most visitors is the Cu Chi tunnels. I visited those in 1992, which was before they were a big tourist draw. With Tom Mangold’s book The Tunnels of Cu Chi was published in 1986, the tunnels were known to the world. When Vietnam opened its doors to tourist people flocked to Tay Ninh to see them. I think I might have been in Tay Ninh Province one time during the war. I remember flying my Squadron Commander Lt. Col. Sydney Hazzard [View Full Entry]

By Governor
November 24th 2009

Computer Training at Lang Gung Village Asia » Vietnam » Red River Delta » Hai Duong » Lang Gung Village

Grandma Nguyen
She is now 104 years old. Worked from age 7 to 97 in the rice fields. Broke her leg at 97 and has been in bed every since.

Computer Training in Thuy Lam Hamlet I had two goals this trip, see the mountain areas of Vietnam and participate in library training in a local village and training with the National Library of Vietnam. This blog is about library training. In a country that claims a 95% literacy rate but just a few years ago was 95% illiterate, there is not a culture of reading books. A lot of the provincial libraries and university libraries are full of students but the small village libraries, in my opinion, are not proving their worth. What these small libraries need to do is [View Full Entry]

By Governor
November 19th 2009

Vung Tau and Con Dao Islands Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Vung Tau

Sarah and Trang
Sarah went but never made it to the beach.

Vung Tau and the Con Dao Islands If you are tired of the hot and sweaty HCMC and yearn for the beach, Vung Tau is the least expensive option. If you want to spend a little more money, Con Dao is a possible option. Going to the beach, dealing with the sand, salt water, never gets me too excited. Getting out of HCMC does. So, Trang and family rented a car and off to Vung Tau we went. Vung Tau is described as crowed, oil polluted beach. Not true, in my experience. You can see the off shore oil platforms from [View Full Entry]

By Governor
October 24th 2009

Saigon Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica and Thomas Jefferson and Prince Canh Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City

The front

Following the French Conquest of Cochinchina and Saigon, the Roman Catholic Church established religious services for the French colonialist in an abandoned Vietnamese pagoda. That was too small so they built a wooden church which was damaged by termites. In August 1876, the Governor of Cochinchina M. Duperré held a design contest for a new cathedral. Apart from creating a religious building for the Catholics, the cathedral, by some opinion, was also aimed at displaying Christianity and the greatness of French civilization. The design by architect J. Bourad defeated 17 others and was chosen [View Full Entry]

By Governor
October 24th 2009

The Park, the Cafe, the Free Enterprise School Lunch and two Friends Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City

Tiép Vièn Hang Không
This building is where Trang and the other flight attendants gather to be taken by van to the airport for flights. A short distance from her house.

My morning walk is getting less strenuous and always interesting. If you enjoy watching people, Vietnam is a paradise. Most of the walk also alerts the senses to the beautiful surroundings. This blog is a little of what I see as I walk to the Cafe Vuon Xua. There is a school near my house and a lot of the kids are eating breakfast on the street. No school lunch, no school breakfast, just a bunch of free enterprise street vendors providing a service to the kids going to school. The kids get a lot of variety in their lunches but [View Full Entry]

By Governor
October 21st 2009

Mr. Phuong and the wedding of Hoang Anh & Thanh Dao Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City » Cu Chi

Hoang Anh & Thanh Dao
The couple from Cu Chi

Mr. Phuong is my English teaching friend from HCMC. He is quite the friend. I met him as I was bicycling down a Saigon street. He pulled up beside me on his motorbike and said: "If you would just stop at that pub ahead, I'll buy you a beer if you talk English with me. I don't like beer but I stopped anyway. I guess that was the start of our friendship, doing things neither one of us finds all that interesting just to be with someone who is interesting. Mr. Phuong is an English teacher, public and private. He is [View Full Entry]

By Governor
October 13th 2009

Trang and Huan's Wedding Blessing in Kinsley Kansas USA North America » United States » Kansas » Kinsley

Trang and Huan

One year ago Trang and her husband Huan came to the United States to have their wedding blessed in the Holy Nativity Church in Kinsley Kansas. Kinsley and the Kinsley Rotary Club were home to Trang when she was a Rotary Exchange Student. Trang was the first Exchange Student since the new government in Vietnam. I believe a few followed her but Rotary International now says Exchange Students must come from "Rotary Countries," so that has ended a great program to help poor kids of poor countries. Trang was an orphan, she lost her Father when she was eight years old. [View Full Entry]

By Governor
October 11th 2009

Back to Vietnam Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City

Trang and Sarah

Back to Vietnam and this time I am determined to make this trip mostly for me. I have one little library training mission in Hanoi, but the rest of the time I am going to devote to seeing places I have not visited in the past. So the list is Con Dao Islands, Phu Quoc Island, Tay Ninh Province, Gia Nghia, Buon Ma Thuot, Kon Tum, Hamburger Hill, travel the length of the Ho Chi Minh Road, Son La, Dien Bien Phu, Sapa, Cao Bang and Lang Son. Most of these places don't role off the tongue of most people, yet, [View Full Entry]

By Governor
September 27th 2009

Milo Harvest 2008 North America » United States » Kansas » Garfield

In October 2008 my former Rotary Exchange Student Trang Nguyen and her husband Huan Tran came to the United States to have their wedding blessed. While they were here they also performed at the 2008 Rotary District Conference in Wichita Kansas. It was also an opportunity for Huan to see some of the places Trang enjoyed while she was here as an Exchange Student in 1999-00 and later as a college student in Barton County Community College in Great Bend Kansas. Huan is an actor and Trang is an Airline Flight Attendant for Vietnam Airlines. Experiencing a Kansas Milo Harvest was [View Full Entry]

By Governor
March 24th 2009

Revisting Grandma and Lang Gung Village Asia » Vietnam » Red River Delta » Hai Duong » Lang Gung Village

Grandma
She was the best ever. Last time I visited her was in the great cold spell of last year. Then, she told me she was'nt going to make it. She did.

Dear Wes, How are you? I miss you very much. I wish you were on this trip with me. You would enjoy Vietnam very much. I wish all my family were like you and could enjoy, appreciate and understand the experience of Vietnam. The people are beautiful here, very friendly, and I enjoy being with them. Yesterday, a Hanoi University student Loannie and I, traveled to Lung Gung Village in Hai Duong Province. Just east of Hanoi. It is a thousand year old village and except for the cell phone, motorbike and television would be much like it was one thousand [View Full Entry]

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Governor - Kent D. Converse

Countries I have visited

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