Callum Macdonald

It’s official, the debauchery has started. We went out to a club called “Heart of Darkness” last night and I got to bed about 6am. It’s the first full on night I’ve had since I arrived in Chiang Mia, and it’s good to be back on form!

Spent the day practising my pool skills today and then we’re heading out for a repeat performance tonight! Bring it on…

We went to see the remnants of war museum yesterday. It’s an interesting place and it provokes different things in different people. Personally, I found it overtly one-sided, and totally anti-American. Some might say that’s fair enough, but from what I’ve heard, the North Vietnamese employed tactics as unethical as the American’s.

I’m not suggesting the American’s were right, I’m not really commenting on the war at all. But I felt the museum, instead of portraying the horrors of war, portrayed the horrors and atrocities committed by America in Vietnam. They have American tanks in the courtyard with signs explaining their firepower and how many were in Vietnam. Nothing about how many American soldiers were killed, or how many suffered sever mental problems after returning from Vietnam, purely the after effects for Vietnam.

My limited understanding of the war leads me to believe the American’s supported the South Vietnamese, along with South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Thailand. The American’s sent more soldiers than anyone else (according to the museuem), but they were not the only ones fighting, and it wasn’t their war. There is little mention of how many soldiers the South Vietnamese armies had.

I left before Fergus and Sameer because I couldn’t take any more. There were horrific photos and evidence of the chemical weapons used agains the North Vietnamese and I felt their powerful emotional impact was being unfairly used to tar the war as an atrocity by America.

I think war is an ugly, evil thing. It ruins countries and their people for generations. I don’t think that’s what the evidence at the Vietnam Remants of Warm Museum was used to re-inforce. I felt it was blatant propaganda mongering against the Americans by the victorious North Vietnamese.

No doubt my take on it will provoke some debate, it certainly did with Fergus! Comments on a (comment) postcard…

It’s been a day of book buying today. I bought Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons for a mere 50′000 Vietnamese Dong, or around 3 US dollars. Not a bad price really. It’s not the best photocopy in the world, but it’s a lot better than some I’ve seen!

Then I traded Tom Clancy’s Op Centre for Tom Clancy’s Op Centre - State of Siege and 25′000 Vietnamese Dong, the equivelant of about 1 pound sterling. Not the best deal in the world given that the previous book to that was a mere pound to buy and I swapped it for free for Op Centre. However, we’ve got a long bus ride tonight and it’d be a pain not to have a book.

Having 2 books now means I’ve got more weight to carry, but it also means when I fininsh one I can swap the other while reading the second one. So in principle, I should always have a book on the go!

Other than all this book business, we were out last night. I made it back about 6 this morning. It was a reasonable night, not quite the 24 hour debauched beach party the Lonely Planet promised us, but it’ll do! We’re heading south again to Ho Chi Minh City tonight, yet another night bus to look forward to!

It shouldn’t be all that bad, it’s a mere 11 hours and the road should be reasonable, Ho Chi Minh’s a pretty big place so I’m guessing it must have a reasonable road.

It’s amazing how much time you spend discussing plans with other travellers. It’s the constant topic of conversation, are you going to Cambodia, I hear Sihanoukville’s great. We’re going to Mui Ne, oh yeah, I hear the weather there’s pretty bad at the moment. Really, I heard it was great. What about Phu Quoc, it’s right next to Sihanoukville, must be ok weather. Hmm, check the forecas, no it loosk pretty bad as well. And so on it goes.

I’m looking forward to relaxing the pace a bit in Cambodia. Mosying around as I see fit. I saw a job advert last night for promotional work at a bar here in Nha Trang, so I’m hoping there’ll be some work down in Cambodia on the coast. Sihanoukville’s meant to be the new Thailand and there’s rumours of lots of work, so I might be pulling pints and whipping up cocktails on the beach Tom Cruise-esque before too long!

We’ve gotta check out of the hotel now and get ready for the bus, so until next time, see you on the ether!