https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2WHk5RRoHI Here's the original trailer for the 1963 film "The Ugly American," starring Marlon Brando in an Asian country, thinly-disguised as Vietnam, but filmed mostly in Thailand. He over-simplifies a complex situation as a simple struggle between communism and capitalism. The movie bares "scant resemblance" to the1958 novel, but both proved to be "startlingly prescient,"... Continue Reading →
When I visited the Khe Sanh battlefield, it felt like there were ghosts all around. These photos suggest there were. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/05/02/a-young-photographer-took-this-harrowing-image-of-the-vietnam-war-he-didnt-live-to-see-it-published/
Lucia wrote her mother: "We walked through Saigon to the old Palace. It has been kept in 1970's style with war rooms, old communication equipment, and state rooms. Last night, because I'm so ignorant of a lot of that era, I spent time reading about the Diem brothers. What kind of Catholics were they to... Continue Reading →
Thomas Fuller, NYT: "Watching the rise of Asia during my time here, I have wondered whether there can be continued prosperity without justice. Can societies so thoroughly riddled with corruption carry through with the remarkable economic advances made over recent decades? To see wrongdoing here, sometimes all you have to do is knock....What seems to be... Continue Reading →
Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone
Demilitarized Zone Museum, Vietnam. The creation of a national mythology includes a patriotic woman who dreamed of a unified country free from war.
"Vietnam is a nation going places. Fast. Its people are energetic, direct, sharp in commerce and resilient by nature. This is an outrageously fun country to explore, the locals love a laugh (and a drink) and you’ll have plenty of opportunities to socialise with them and hear their tales.The American War is over, and yet... Continue Reading →
Never thought I'd say, "I can't wait to go to Vietnam!" But in a few days I will be there, ready to challenge or update those television and movie images from my youth of "the horror, the horror" -- jungles, quicksand, napalm, the Hanoi Hilton, Hanoi Jane, an unwinnable war, and falling dominoes. Southeast Asia fascinates... Continue Reading →
Exploring Asia and Oceania 
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