Here are some late arriving pics from our visit to Victoria Canada last summer. This entry is a tribute to the god of vacillation since we are approaching our new summer. [View Full Entry]

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Some of you have asked where we actually live i.e. home. Here are a few pics of our home and surrounding area. [View Full Entry]

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Our trip from Victoria, British Columbia to Calgary, Alberta and back took about two weeks. It was, in a sense, my "farewell" trip in Canada for awhile at least. [View Full Entry]

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We are about 2 hours south of Bangkok and about 15 minutes by scooter to the Gulf of Thailand. On a map, this would be about 45 minutes from Rayong, and about 13 kilometers from the small town of Ben Phe, which is the jumping off harbor to the touristy island of Kho Samet. While 13k in Canada is not far to travel, here in rural Thailand there is much to see and experience even in this small distance. We have been volunteering some time to teach English at a local school by the name of BonSongSalung. Basically, we are helping [View Full Entry]

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Ko Kut is a small, remote island on the way to southern Cambodia. A few years ago I took the same trip headed to Sihounukville in the extreme south of Cambodia. Ko Kut is in Thailand but perhaps as far as one can travel and still be in the country. We boarded the same enclosed, cigar shaped boat as I had done a few years before, which basically forces its way through the seas with the water pretty well up to the windows; this for several hours. Arriving in Ko Kut we took about an hour by "rote duey san" i.e. [View Full Entry]

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Headed up to Korat by bus; it's about 2 hours northeast of Bangkok ( bkk) and so about a five hour ride from Rayong. We were visiting friends not in Korat but about 15 klicks out in the middle of nowhere. (Actually, I've come to realize the "nowhere" term is distinctly elitist and condescending. The rural areas are self-sufficient and imbued with a very strong welcoming aura of neighborliness). Greetings and smiles welcomed us everywhere in this environment. I've come to appreciate "village" life more then I thought possible. [View Full Entry]

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The Cu Chi tunnel system is about 30km south of HCMC in the district of Cu Chi. This underground system of tunnels and rooms allowed the Viet Cong control over much of the area; within this one district an estimated 200 kilometers of tunnels provided security, of sorts, to the Viet Cong. The system included: hospitals, mess facilities, sleeping quarters and various other places from which the VC could continue operations against the American forces, including infiltrating Saigon. The entrance to the tunnel system might be a simple hole in the ground with leaves scattered over the top, alm [View Full Entry]

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We were ambling down the main street of Ubud and passed the Cultural Center where a dance performance was being presented that evening. What an evening! Basically, different dances were presented with various themes: there was the Dara Dara which depicted the refined movements of the goddess of heaven; the Baris, a high point for me, where the sole male dancer presents themes of heroism and bravery. The movements are extreme and depict, in part, the moment a soldier leaves for battle. The Oleg Tamulilingar duo with the dancers being a butterfly and a bumblebee in a garden; and, the Kebyar [View Full Entry]

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Landed at Denpassar airport in Bali on February 25th and planning to stay a month or so. Took a taxi down to Sanur and stayed at the Mango Beach The Mango is low key, with a small swimming pool in back. It is very Hindu, as is Bali generally as distinct from the rest of Indonesia which is mostly Muslim. Attended a Barong and Kris Dance which depicts the conflict between good, represented by Barong the good spirit, and evil represented by Rangda. The play shows costumed actors as monkey, tiger, witch and gods with themes of immortality, redemption and, as [View Full Entry]

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On April 30th, 1975 Saigon fell and the Vietnamese War, or the American War as they call it here, ended. Arguably the most famous pictures of this event occured around the Presidential Palace where the last US helicopters took off days earlier with civilians dangling from their frames and then on the 30th the North's tanks crushing the outer fence of the Palace. I visited the Palace, which now is a tourist attraction, and walked through the halls. They still have a helicopter on the roof and tanks on the lawn. I took a picture of the scence from the balcony [View Full Entry]

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