Viet Nam and some

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So it has been a little while since I have written... The internet here isnt that good here in Viet Nam. Really slow and half the time I cant get the page up to search for msn.com! Anyways... We went to FB Blaze and FB Bastogne but I think I already told you all about that.

So... Mr Chien took us to these caves abuot 100 miles from way. These caves were just like the Carls Bad Caverns except the things inside were huge. The cave was an old hiding spot for the VC during the war because they knew that we couldnt bomb them if they were in there. We did attempt because you can see craters and scars on the rocks from the bombs. Then we walked to the next cave which was 600+ stairs to the top and almost straight up! I went up in 13 minutes, almost running! Pretty good for a guy that doesnt like to run! So then we went to eat dinner in a minority town. They cook some of the best food around... We had rice with peanuts, some kind of vegetable and some kind of rock fish. This fish is really rare, its only found in the caves that we were in and they live under rocks. They look just like an eel!

The next day we went to the Khe San (Pronounced Casson) air base and walked around. When we first arrived there we were greeted by this Vietnamese guy and he gave us some coffee that he grows out behind the old US base. It was the best coffee I have ever had! Then he pulled out his own little collection of things from the war and showed them to my dad. Some of the things were old medals, an M-72, an old VC Grenade and a mortar! Then we went in the base... Everything in it is originally from the war with the exception of the museum. They had 2 bunkers, a huey, a chinook, an M-41 tank and parts of planes and helocopters that crashed. In the museum they had almost every weapon both sides used in the war. My dad even managed to talk a guy into selling him all of the things he had which included about 40 VC/ NVA medals, about 5 shells and a couple of real bullets and 20 US Dog tags all from the war for about 100 USD! Well from there we took the long journey back to Hue (about 200 miles) for a little bit of a rest as the next day we had a "business meeting" to attend!

The meeting... Well as many of you know I told you we were going to meet with a guy that my dad served with during the war and he was going to take us to some village. Maybe I didnt tell you. Anyways, he picked us up at around 0700 yesterday morning and we went to breakfeast. After breakfeast we started the journey to the A shau valley. On the way we picked up a few people including 2 rather hot Vietnamese chicks and some guy that I still dont know who he was. So we start to head up the Ho Chi Minh trail and I didnt realize it but the friggin ride to the Valley (of the shaddow of death!!!) was 2 hours! Anyways, John Ward is working for an NGO here in V.N. and he wanted to start his own charity type thing. So, he took us to where he plans to put up an kindergarten/elementary school. The plan is cool but the talk was rather boring. But John and my old man caught up on the old times. From there we went back to the sports hotel, I went to shoot pool with some ladies and some dude that just kinda followed me... Had a great night sleep and woke up really late today and finally feel refreshed!

Now, we are taking the sleeper train almost 450 miles to Ha Noi tonight. The train ride is about 13 ours. The one from Saigon to Da Nang was about 16 hours and was nice, so hopfully this one is the same. Today is what we call a lazy day. I still am not fully awake and I would rather be back in bed! Oh well! So, Im going to take a shower and get lunch and head for the train to Ha Noi. We will be in Ha Noi for about 3 days then up to China for something like 8-10 days then heading home. Well lover you all and talk with you soon.

~KRIS~

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Comments

[Sister]

tots
Hey it sounds like you are having a lot of fun there. I would like to visit there someday. Also, did you know that the governor of the state of Idaho sent a letter to the cast and crew (i.e. producers) thanking them for their movie. It said something like it made public awareness about the many uses of potato's such as tots. LOL. Check it out. When you get home. It's on Snopes. It sounds like you may be home in time for Andrew's birthday. Talk to you soon! We love ya!