Quick update from the road

I wish I could blog more since I've been in Vietnam. We really had a great end in Indonesia. I'll have to try to write a blog post specifically on the end of that trip.

Since then we've started an intrepid trip with about fourteen other people. We are comprised of Aussies, kiwis, Yankees, pommies (Brits = prisoner of mother England)... The schedule has been very full and our days start by 7am and end around 11ish. The social aspect of the trip has been really refreshing.

My first impression of Vietnam seems to center around guilt. I can't help but look around everywhere and see poor people and feel like it's my countries fault. This clearly isn't true. I didn't feel that way in Indonesia, even though we hadn't invaded them, it seems so present here. Seeing bullet holes in the royal palace that were all facing "down" from the helicopters was really moving.

Learning the alternate past of this country has been so great. Not just outside of the US war but going back thousands of years. I've been told the Vietnamese love LOVE visitors who come as friends but bitterly HATE visitors that come to invade. Another example of us not understanding thousands of years of ingrained sentiment. They had been expelling invaders and claiming independence from local Asians and westerners long before we arrived.