Kuan Yin&#39;s Guestbook

Buddha and his diamonds
Good point - maybe he was just trying to give away his worldly goods....

From Blog: Buddha Diamonds

2nd February 2016

RENanDREW
Ren & Andrew

Singapore's shiny exterior
..."unless you are a foreign guest worker" pretty much sums up Singapore for me. I love visiting, but I'm constantly aware of the dark underbelly that makes Singapore what it is.

From Blog: Buddha Diamonds

25th January 2016

Future ex-pat
Just taking a look around..... we travelers never know where we might lay our hat for a period of time. As you said, you don't always find what you expect to find. Good read.

From Blog: A Day (or Two) in Johor Bahru

24th January 2016

XiuQiu
Peter Zupanc

Interesting
Love this kind of info. And I'm curious about your thoughts on working in Malaysia.

From Blog: A Day (or Two) in Johor Bahru

24th January 2016

Thanks!
My intentions when I started writing this were entirely different than what I ended up writing, it's just that when I started looking into Tan Hiok Nee I wanted to know more. It's always fun when you fall down the rabbit hole into an interesting story. As far as working in Malaysia, I'm not the one to ask. I'm retired, and wasn't looking to work there. The Malaysian government has a website (Google "MM2H" or "Malaysia My Second Home") and that will probably give you info about work permits, etc.

From Blog: A Day (or Two) in Johor Bahru

16th January 2016

Lessons learned
An interesting adventure but we bet you'll be flying the next time. Enjoyed the story.

From Blog: Border Crossing - Coming into Singapore from Johor Bahru

5th January 2016

Saigon
It is amazing isn't it?

From Blog: Postcards from Saigon

4th January 2016

Cathy Rowan
non-member comment

Again
V E R Y interesting! Keep on posting, please! Email me, as I have an interesting opportunity to tell you about.

From Blog: Postcards from Saigon

4th January 2016

elizabeth lohr
non-member comment

Saigon
Hi Karen! Love your pictures and comments about Saigon; especially the pic labeled "teacher." Stay happy in this 2016 new year! I'll be home on the 11th - see you soon. Hey, any Pilate's in Viet Nam? What kind of Marshall arts do they do? xoxoElizabeth

From Blog: Postcards from Saigon

4th January 2016

Martial Arts Teacher
The teacher in the picture is Ta Anh Dung, who lost his leg when he was 21. He has master Akido, Shaolin, Takewondo, and is pretty good at Muay Thai. If you look closely at the photo, the blur you see by his standing leg is actually a sword. I can imagine that a student dare not say "That's too hard!" in Ta Anh Dung's presence.

From Blog: Postcards from Saigon

30th December 2015

History fact and fiction
Travel allows us to hear details of events remembered from a different perspective. Always at least two perspectives for each event. Being open is an amazing thing. Growth comes in many forms. As for tales of Vietnam I'm not sure we will ever have the details right. Lots of back room conversations, secrets and stories never to be told. The atrocities of war......

From Blog: Everything You Thought You Knew Is Wrong

30th December 2015

Memory is a flawed thing
The thing that struck me about these two events is that they were reported accurately at the time. The monk's self immolation was reported correctly as a protest against Diem's religious persecution of Buddhists by David Halberstam in the New York Times. A couple of years later two Americans - one in Washington D.C and one in Detroit - burned themselves to death as a protest against the war. Somehow I had conflated the two events. The evacuation of the CIA building was also captioned correctly by the photographer. In fact, even the CIA's own website identifies the photo as being of the CIA's building. Somehow, though, whether through laziness, stupidity, or deceit, it has come to be identified as the US Embassy.

From Blog: Everything You Thought You Knew Is Wrong

30th December 2015

Dancing Dave
David Hooper

Agent Orange & Agent Purple are worse than they admit
The HCMC War Remnants Museum contains images like the ones you have shown Karen. Makes your blog title shudder...and shudder again when you see and read the 1,000s of photos and entries. Makes me shudder thinking what the war mongers didn't want us to know. Then there's Agent Orange & Agent Purple to remind the following generations that they are definitely much worse than the bombers admit.

From Blog: Everything You Thought You Knew Is Wrong

29th December 2015

Cathy Rowan
non-member comment

Complain though we do about our government, we've got it SO much better. Vietnam sure has taken a beating
Thanks for posting, Karen.

From Blog: Everything You Thought You Knew Is Wrong

29th December 2015

Yes
Travelling lets me see where the US stands in how it treats its people.

From Blog: Everything You Thought You Knew Is Wrong

27th December 2015

nancic123
Nanci and David Curry

One of our favorites...
We loved the movie and had fantasies of the big bombing scene while we were having lunch at the Continental. It's one of my favorite memories from Vietnam. I don't think there is anything more fun than "following" a good book around a city. We have followed Hemingway around several cities and recently toured Dublin with James Joyce. It makes history so much more interesting. Excellent blog and we loved the old pictures!

From Blog: On the Trail of the Quiet American

27th December 2015

Thank you for your kind words
I've also walked the trail from the movie Saint Jack. Interestingly, Saint Jack is still not allowed to be shown in Singapore. Singapore changes so rapidly that most of the locations - except for the Cavanagh Bridge and the Post Office (now the Hotel Fullerton) - are gone.

From Blog: On the Trail of the Quiet American

22nd December 2015

From soap to spices and fishes....
Ah the joys of the market. I love haggling the prices. Sounds like you did well and had fun.

22nd December 2015

Being happy with the sale.
A guy in Istanbul who was trying to sell me a carpet said "You have to be happy with the price, otherwise whenever you look at the carpet you will be unhappy. I don't want you to be unhappy." I was happy with this sale, and I will smile whenever I put on this shirt.

21st December 2015

Carol Davis
non-member comment

Karen?
Are you telling us your own story or sharing someone else's?! We miss you!

21st December 2015

It's me
That was all me in the story. I'm the one in the hat.

21st December 2015

elizabeth
non-member comment

Story of the silk shirt
Hi Karen! I love this story. It's incidents like these that make traveling more than just a place with a name. I felt like I was there with you watching the whole transaction! Your narrative about war and what you obsered at the museum was very sobering. I too watched classmates, friends, and big brothers go to war in the 60s and 70s. Sounds like you're having a great trip so far. Take care :)

21st December 2015

Kind words
Thank you for your kind words. As I said, I generally don't like to dicker, but this lady and I had fun with the transaction.