Vietnam update

Well it's been quite some time since I've had more of a substantial blog post. The Intrepid trip I've been on has been quite packed with travel and activities. I'm going to try to do a few separate blog posts on a few of the cities we visited.

Places visited:
Hanoi
Ha long bay
Cat ba island
Hue (imperial city)
Hoi An
My Lai Massacre site
Na trang
Ho Chi Min City (Saigon)

My overall impression of Vietnam is completely different from what I was thinking before I got here. It is a fascinating place with extreme mixtures of eastern & western cultures. It's fascinating seeing the balance between communism and capitalism.

Today we are on a public bus from Saigon to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. We have about two more weeks to explore Cambodia with or new tour leader, SKY. He's Cambodian and speaks English with an australian accent. It's quite fun as he uses the word "mate" more than many Aussies I know.

So we head to Phnom Penh today.
Tomorrow we see the killing field and Toul Sleng followed by a bus trip to Sihanouk ville.
Tues we chill at the beach
Wed we repeat beach day but add margaritas
Thursday we have a homestay in Cham Bok
Friday back to phnom penh
Saturday to kampong Cham for a bicycle tour
Sunday we get to Siem Reap
We then have three days to explore Siem Ream to see Angkor Wat and Ta Prohm (where they filmed tomb raider)
Finally we'll make our way to Bangkok, Thailand!!

Interesting note, in Cambodia all of the ATMs only give out US Dollars. Yup, that's right, the entire country runs on American money! Sky says it's because the Cambodian Rehl is a bit unstable so the USD helps keep currency from inflating or deflating too much. How much American cash must be sitting in ATMs in Cambodia!? Don't we pay to have that cash produced?

That's all for now! I got some killer Tex-Mex a few days ago. Wayne runs a killer rib restaurant in Na Trang!

NYTimes: The Pride of Connersville Is the Soul of Butler

From The New York Times:

The Pride of Connersville Is the Soul of Butler

An Indiana town hangs on to Matt Howard's exploits as Butler makes a second consecutive run toward the Final Four.

http://nyti.ms/gHDiN0

Get The New York Times on your iPhone for free by visiting http://itunes.com/apps/nytimes

Sent from my iPod

Favorite recent email from home!

From: Ariana A Nicolay <ariana.nicolay@gmail.com>

Date: March 24, 2011 1:43:10 PM GMT+07:00

To: Andrew Michaud <michaud.andrew@gmail.com>, Ariana Vanrenen <avanrenen@gmail.com>

Subject: Just a reminder

that we miss you!

Love, Ariana (and Ari too!)

Go Butler!!

> #8 Butler upset the #1 seed Pittsburgh in the Southeast Regional and advances to the Sweet 16 !!!

I couldn't be more proud to be strutting around Vietnam in my Butler shirt this week!!!

Sent from my iPod

French Jets over Libya

I find myself fascinated by the fact that French jets are soaring over Libya right now and I'm sitting in one of their most prized lost colonies... I can see some of the huge impacts, both good and bad, the french had on Vietnam. My thoughts however center around how much these people were resolved to resolve their internal conflicts on their own... Priority number one was self governance. Key word "self."

I'm torn as to what is the right or wrong move in Libya but can't help but lean away from any type of bombing. Where I stood today they found unexploded American bombs from 40 years ago just a few short months ago. Casualties from that war still pop up!! The damage to this country from such a dominant air campaign is massive.

I can't help but be frustrated with the amount I hear, "here is XXXX that the American bombs destroyed..." over and over and over I hear this. It's not that I'm seeking these places out. We actually stick to old ruin & cultural sights. The plain truth is that most of these were at least partially destroyed from the war. We're talking temples that are three times as old as my whole countries history!!

Maybe my guilt is misplaced. Maybe its not mine to carry My impressions of how to be a force of good in the world are shifting. It seems Greg Mortenson is ahead of his time...