Source

The following text came fromGoogle Groups (1960's)and was posted by Redpoet and he got it from his friend Lowell Wiley

Photos are from..About.com..where you can see more.

HERE..

...THERE..


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This came from a friend of mine, Lowell Wiley, on his travels through Vietnam earlier this year. I found them interesting.

February 22, 2008

Hello from Phnom Penh. I've spent the last couple of days here with Zeb Romine. He's been traveling sort of the reverse of my route. It's been fun to share a room, see the local sights, have some nice meals, and talk talk talk. Tomorrow we head off in directions, he to Vietnam while I take another boat up to Siem Reap and Angkor Wat. Phnom Penh has been the ideal place to kick back with such varied local sights as the horrific killing fields and S-21 school-torture prison leavened with the breathtaking beauty of the royal palace complex. The weather is warm with a constant breeze off the river. Terrific.

Vietnam continued to provide very thought provoking experiences. I enjoyed Hue very much. I knew the old imperial city had been heavily damaged during the Tet offensive exactly forty years ago. I remember so well the CBS film taken from the Viet Cong positions in the old city firing on our troops. The Tet offensive was the turning point of the war. When all the "secure" cities in South Vietnam came under simultaneous attack by the VC, most Americans realized that the Vietnam War was not only nowhere close to being ended, but even further from being won. It made me wonder just what other surprises are in store for us in Iraq. The shock might not as great to wake up one morning with the enemy in our embassy in Baghdad as when it happened in Saigon. Saigon was thought to be far more secure than Baghdad. It makes me hope Osama hasn't been reading General Giap's book. Parenthetically, General Giap is still alive in Hanoi. I saw his house. He was the head of Ho's army against the Japanese, the French, and the Americans.

   Just prior to the Tet offensive, the five thousand marines in Khe Sanh came under a terrific attack. President Johnson fear we were very close to having another Dien Bien Phu. General Giap had planned this as a diversion and spung the Tet offensive a couple of weeks later while most of the American attention was focused on saving Khe Sanh. Again I remember the Marines lying in the red mud while being pounded by enemy artillery. The film sequences of the C130s landing with shells bursting all around them are forever seared in my memory. Walking around Khe Sanh today it difficult to imagine those times even with a small museum, bunkers, tanks, and both Huey and Chinook helicopters parked around. The airstrip itself was steel having now been disassembled by the local farmers and put to various domestic uses. The airstrip itself is just a red strip of dirt wandered over by a few cows and chickens. I think it took more than two months for the Cav to finally break through and relieve the marines. Not long afterward the whole place was abandoned and the troops moved further South. The Vietnam War was like that. Five hundred Marines died there to protect a place that was completely abandoned a few months later. I took a complete DMZ tour in addition to Khe Sanh. This included the famous "rock pile"", the Ho Chi Menh trail, a couple of old fire bases and the DMZ itself on both sides. I also climbed through a whole complex of VC tunnels. All of this has far more meaning to countrymen of my generation.

February 27, 2008

I'm now in Siem Reap, Cambodia. I intended to add a few more lines before I let this go but it's already too long.

I really enjoyed Hue. In addition to the war sites mentioned above, I also visited the wonderful forbidden city, the Nguyen Dynasty Tombs, and did a short Perfume river cruise. I zoomed on past Danang and China Beach to Hoi An. This colonial and pre-colonial port is now a World Heritage Site. The river silted up enough to protect its old buildings. It's a comely laid back place I enjoyed although many people choose it as their favorite place in Viet Nam. I back tracked to the Marble Mountains and bussed out to My Son which is what's left of the Cham civilization famous for sacking Angkor Wat. I had no idea there was an ancient Hindu kingdom that lasted centuries in Viet Nam.

Next came some beach time in Nha Trang. Very nice. Then some more hill town cool in Dalat before arriving in Ho Chi Mihn City which everybody still calls Saigon. Just to give you an idea of today's Saigon... one of the tallest buildings belongs to the Predential Insurance Company. Three million motor bikes swirl through the city making everything seem a blur. Grabbing a quick ride on a motor bike has been my main short ride transportation on this trip. It's been scary but no wrecks so far although I've witnessed at least ten. Several days in town let me visit all the usual tourist sites including the Reunification (Presidential) Palace which is preserved just as it was when South Vietnam fell. I also remember another War Museum although I saw enough in Vietnam that they all now kind of melt together in my memory.

Leaving Saigon I spent three days in the Mekong Delta boating around and seeing how the delta people live. It's so different from the rest of the country. From the border I took a boat up the Mekong to Phnom Penh. Whew.

Sorry this is so long and boring. I'll try to do Cambodia while it's still fresher and I can tell you more what I'm really enjoying about the trip rather than simply listing where I've been. Angkor, for example, is one of the most interesting and beautiful ruins I've ever seen and I've been lucky enough to see a heap. Enough. My best to everyone.

Lowell