Zip Line - San Lorenzo Park

Gran, Scott and new Zip line buddy Jon.

Web Link for Zip line photos

La Paz - Waterfalls and National park

Link to Photo Gallery

Here is the link to the main Photo Gallery. There is also a link on the right panel.

The Hotel Bougainvillea: Heredia Costa Rica

At the Atlanta Crown room

Delays are not too bad when there is an open bar.

Scott's Dead Soldiers: Bloody Mary's

Iphone shot of the NWA world lounge

First Curve Ball

Got up at 4AM to get down to the airport for the flight. I was looking forward to the big seats, a little breakfast and a few tunes on my ipod.

Curve Ball. Flight was canceled out of Wisconsin and I was moved to a US Air flight that was taking off in about 8 minutes on the other side of the complex. Julio the gate agent seemed to think I would not have a problem making the flight. "You will have plenty of time." I passed on this option.

Instead booked a Delta flight leaving at noon. Bought a pass to the NWA world club to relax grab some wifi and a cup of liquid coffee. Putrid coffee but the rest of the experience worked.

Now am routed through Atlanta. Good thing I don't check bags or it would have been a horror show trying to run down my duffel. Instead of poolside at 5:00, we will be lucky if the bar is still open. The good news is that we will land today an still make the tours for tomorrow.

More later.

Costa Rica Touring Schedule

Day 1: Travel Day: Poolside in Heredia with Cubans and Imperial beers

Day 2: Tour Doka Coffee Estates (not a great web site, too cluttered) then head to the Poas Volcano in the afternoon. More Cigars.

Day 3: La Paz Water Falls and Rain forest touring. Visited in 2002, spectacular.

Day 4: Canopy and Zip line touring in the rain forests.

Day 5 and 6 in San Jose doing the city touring. More cigars.

Costa Rica Coffe Tour

I will be leaving on Saturday AM at the 0:dark:30 to head to Costa Rica. Joining me with be a coffee crew of vendors and clients to tour coffee farms and get a general feel for the Central American culture. We will mostly be in the San Jose area and not venturing to the coasts. Instead we will be staying close to the coffee farms, volcanos and rain forests.

Below are a few photos of the general areas we will be visiting. More later on the schedule of events.

Christmas Photo 2007

Christmas 2007 - The Perfect Tree

Leaving Vietnam

Quick entry. Am leaving Saigon and jumping on a plane to Thailand. Not sure if I will have internet for final notes.

Been a great trip. Thanks to any and all viewers.

Cu Chi Tunnel Tour

You've probably seen them in any number of Vietnam movies (We Were Soldiers, Forrest Gump, Casualty of War to name a few). The tunnels were a famous part of the Vietnam War and worth seeing.

It is a major attraction for tourism and about 2 hours north of the city. I would say the top 4 tours that are promoted are the city tour, Mekong Delta, Cu Chi tunnels and trips to the beaches. Perhaps even a temple or two. I booked it through the hotel, since I could not decide between the many tour operator options available on the web. We meet Diet, our guide promptly at 8:00 in the lobby and we walked out the front door to a waiting black Mercedes. Very stylish with lots of room, it was different from the go cart we took down to the Mekong the day before that topped out at 30 mph. This had power and the driver was the private driver of the hotel GM. He looked the part with his formal attire and blue tooth secret service earpiece look. He was on the phone a lot and his ring tone was a rooster which I might have to download my treo when I get back. Every time the phone rang it brought a chuckle from the back seat.

Diet's English was very good; better than 10 or Mr Teng and she had a pretty good sense of humor. We asked lots of questions about the war and the people and it was nice getting her perspective as she detailed her view on the many differences between north and south. In all tours the drivers never talk. They just drive and all communication goes through the tour guide. You never really know how much English they know until they pipe in with a question.

The tunnel complex is a sprawling affair that already had a number of tour buses parked out front that had offloaded the usual diet of Aussies, Koreans and Chinese. Again, not as many Americans. I am sure the 20 hour plane ride is hard to compete with the 5-8 hours the other countries enjoy. You pay at one end and walk through a large underground walkway to the other end, passing by a number of armed guards along the way. They smiled and I smiled. Always be nice to dudes with guns. They have a great link for the tunnels if you want more detail on the history and the official line.

Walking down the paths with Diet, the first pop quiz you get to play is "find the tunnel entrance". Of course this was next to impossible even when you are given the clue that you are within 3 feet of it. The rectangular hole you drop into is very small, about the size of a Byerly's bag. If I hadn't seen what they looked like from pictures I would never known what to look for. One of the guards lifted up the cover and jumped in to his waist demonstrating to the group of 20 or so, how it was done. Anyone else want to try it he says? Recognizing the photo op for what it was I quickly volunteered. I went in feet first after peering down (to make sure it was not a 20 foot drop that required a ripcord) and worked my way down. Oops, not so fast. I made it to my hips and bam, was stopped at the waist like a 10 pound sausage in a 5 pound skin. With a diet of Tiger beer and pasta, this kids was going no further. Shoot the picture quick and pass the butter for my hips to slide out of here.

We were told that they had shortage of weapons and conventional combat supplies. To compensate for this, they devised cheaper alternatives with materials that were readily available. We were then introduced to the traps. There were deadfall style traps and about 10 others all designed to do one thing: kill enemy soldiers. This little shop of horrors we were introduced to, were all ways conceivable to step or fall into sharpened poison tipped jaws of death. Know what the poison was? Feces.

After seeing how that was accomplished, we hit the entrance of a tunnel. There are various levels of depth with these tunnels: 10 feet, 30 feet and deeper yet. They expanded a sample tourist tunnel to accommodate Western body types and you were able to follow a guide for about 30 feet at the 9 foot level. This was not a Hogan's Heroes complex with lots of space to move around. This was something so small it was hard to picture what the production model would look like day to day. The best way to move forward is to assume a Joe Mauer crouch and shuffle forward. I zipped through pretty well. Brian had a bum knee and was bit too tall and had about as much fun as he could stand at the 9 foot mark. We made it to check point Charlie where a hard left turn took you to the surface by way of stairs. Do you want to continue our guide asked me? Sure. The tunnel size shrunk to 2/3 of the original size to the real war dimensions, what a great way to get a feel for what it was like. My guide had pen light he was using and I shuffled behind him as we descended down to the second level. At first it was like being at Universal Studios and you were doing some Indiana Jones thing. Lots of fun and adventure. Then we went deeper. Then deeper yet. My knees were fine but it sure felt stuffy down here. Shuffling another 30 feet, stuffy gave way to hot. Then really hot. The air got thin and the temperature soured and it felt like I was a clay pot sitting in a kiln. This went on for a while until we made our way back up to an underground small room with a small desk. Great, I made it and headed for the stairs. I felt hot and looking down at my shirt I looked like I had been lactating. Covered in sweat, I became more drenched by the minute. I looked like someone threw me into Ottertail Lake and wondered if they were going to let me climb back into the Mercedes like this.

It was a great tour and gave profound insights to the war on a tactical level on how the war was fought. More on that later.

The Majestic Hotel

A view of the Saigon River from the hotel room balcony and the rooftop bar. The hotel is famous for it's mutli-level rooftop bar and panoramic view of the river.

Cu Chi Tunnel Tour Photos

Link for Tunnel Tours

Vietnam Saturday Afternoon Random Reflections

Vietnam is not what I expected economically. Being a communist country, I was expecting all the command and control usually associated with Cuban style communism. This place is different. They employ a form of "limited capitalism" here much like the current China model. Even though the press is controlled and there is not a 2 party system, you do have more control than most would think.

General factoids:

• You can buy property both here and abroad choosing where you live and how to spend your money.
  
• The country is growing at the sizzling pace of around 10%
  
• Sales tax (VAT) on foreign built car is 250%. For electronics it is 100% with very little in the way of income tax. It is mostly based on consumption rather than earning. We could learn something from this general philosophy.
  
• They have to pay for their schooling. I thought the commies funded all that stuff.
  
• There is no public transportation, which explains all the scooters and motor bikes.
  
• Starting in December there will be a helmet law going into effect. Everyone is not happy with this because of the heat and how slow they drive in the city anyway. Frankly I cannot picture it but the fines will be very high for those not following the rules.
  
• Downtown District 1 looks just like a happening downtown in any major US city. Cabs, cell phones, young people and tourists are everywhere. The Tourist Police are unarmed and where a lighter green uniform. They have a strong street presence to be sure that the money rainmaking they are making with the tourist trade gets no bad press. Again, with all the extensive walking we have done these past few weeks, I have never felt unsafe at any time. Uncomfortable maybe, but not unsafe.
  
• Aussies could be the worst dressers you can ever imagine. Brian describes them as an un-kept Brit. Who wears socks to the knees with sandals any more?
  
• The women wear the masks and the long gloves on the motor bikes because of the heat and the sun. Fair skin is considered a sign of wealth and prestige, meaning you don't have to work outside. No tanning booths in site that I have seen.
  
• Bartering is a way of life around here. If you want something be prepared to walk away. I have filled up a large back of trinkets for less than $20.
  

Maybe it is because of the heat but this town rolls up pretty much by 10:00. It is a good time anyway to grab a scotch on a rooftop bar, but somewhat counter intuitive. Part of the reason may be that because of the heat, the days get going very early. Most will take off at about noon until 2:00 for lunch and whatever the Asian version of a Latin siesta is. The kids all come home for lunch and do not eat at the school.

Google Talk has been fantastic. I have spoken with my family almost every day. Since I have a laptop Wi-Fi is in almost every hotel, giving them a call has been a great way to stay connected. It's the cheapest say I know to make a call.

When asked about the, most people say it is history and a long time ago. They have moved on. They call it the American War understandably. We are now in the South, and they say that is a bit different than the North above the old DMZ area. Because most of the bombing happened in the North, they have a more bitter taste in their mouths than those from the South. I have been told that the differences in attitude, dress, food tastes, and music from North to South are very different. The South is very market oriented, while the North is the seat of government and more conservative. Most of the people you see in the street are quite young so the War is not even a memory, but a chapter in the history books.

When touring the palace and the tunnels the expected propaganda was much more limited than I expected. I thought it would be the usual Communist doctrine, war atrocities, yada yada yada. Not so much. They have stuck to the facts and kept the political statements to a minimum. They do not like references made about Viet Cong, rather they prefer being call guerillas.

When eating the safest strategy for me has been to mix up the local fare with a base of Western food. I no longer trust their interpretation of a cheeseburger, they never seem to get that right, but pizza, pasta and chicken are all pretty safe options.

I have a lot of thoughts and impressions on what it would have been like to fight in the war over here. I will save that for a different entry because you get a better idea of the Hell it would be like during a rainy season here.

Again, as a collective group, these are the nicest people you will ever meet. This includes the Thai's, Cambodians and the Vietnamese. It is hard to get the Asian thing unless you put the boots on the ground and see it for yourself.

More later.

The Mekong Delta

I was expecting rice paddies and straw huts. Instead I saw a sprawling mass of humanity from Saigon to the Delta. There are a lot of people here without break between these 2 areas.

Our tour guide was great, I give her a solid 8 on my scale, about the same as Mr Teng. We took a taxi from our hotel to our jumping off point which was their office base of operations in My Tho, the regional center for the area.

From there, we hopped in a boat and did a general river survey before getting on an island area to watch them make coconut products. It was interesting, but clearly a stop to get you to buy coconut stuff and the same ticky tacky stuff you see all over the place. Prices are of course negotiable.



The boat was very interesting in that the design makes it so that as the big barges float by it sheds the water from the wake so it does not come inside the boat. This is not what I would call a good dive destination either; the water is a caramel brown and very muddy.

An interesting part of this tour was all the different food sampling they had us do. We had everything from their version of a single malt, to fruits. to the really gross stuff they were pulling out of the river. Sorry, a catfish is ugly no matter where he is. Our fish in the picture was called an elephant ear. It wasn't too bad to eat, they shaved the meat off the sides of the fish and placed it in a rice paper wrap with veggies. Some of the other offerings I was not game for are listed to the left. They were pushing the snake for $10 pretty hard. I passed, Brian considered.

Mekong Delta Tour

Just returned from out Mekong Delta tour from today and checked into our downtown hotel. Just had enough time to upload pictures from my camera (will do Brian's camera later) and post them on the Picasa site.

We are going to head out for some dinner in the area, since walking around holds little appeal at the moment. Our hotel rooms face the Saigon river and are quite nice.

Click here to view shots from the Mekong Delta. I will post narrative from the trip later tonight to help with the context.

Good Morning Vietnam

Another great morning in Vietnam today. Weather looks good for a day trip down to the Mekong Delta.

My feet are still sore from all the walking around yesterday in Saigon, but there will be plenty of time to rest next week on the plane.

Saigon reminds me a lot of NYC with it's intensity and sprawling shops. Not long ago Vietnam had a poverty rate of over 68%; that number is now down below 20%. That is some amazing growth that is evidenced by the retail shops and cars you see in the street. Again, you never feel there is a safety issue here, at least not during the daytime.



Not much in the way of Americans around here, mostly Aussies and Western Europeans. The language barrier has not been a problem because English is posted everywhere, even on most menus and you learn to use a passable sign language with people to get your point across when you have to. The national currency is the dong and it is easy to have a couple of million in your pocket on any given day trip. I think 100,000 dong equals about $6.00.

Great trinket shopping and very cheap. Can't say too much about it without spoiling what I am bringing back.

Loaded up a lot of pictures up on the Google picture site. Click on this link to view them.

So far the only people to drive on the left side of the road have been the Thai's. All others are on the right, when they choose to use that guideline.

I have been mostly drinking the locals beers: Tiger, Saigon and 333. Both are lager style and very good. Since I know I won't get sick off beer, sometimes it is the safest beverage to have. My buddy Davis asked "what is Harlow eating over there?" A reasonable question considering my sense of culinary adventure usually means that I am putting an exotic cheese on my burger. The rule of thumb is a lot like going to Mexico. If it looks like it was hand washed in the gross water you see around here, don't eat it. My stomach has been in mild knots most of the trip, but nothing too difficult to deal with. When eating the malaria pills, you have to be sure you do it on a full stomach, which can be tough at times since you don't know when you will have a proper full stomach. Also their version of pizza is very big around here and I will usually carb up if I have hit a food wall. The granola bars and beef jerky I brought along have been lifesaver.

Brian, being a boy scout leader, always seems to have the right drug at his fingertips and also knows which one to take. That is helpful since is I usually cannot even pronounce most of these drugs beyond aspirin.

Leaving today to go to the Majestic Hotel. We have been upriver at a residence style hotel called the Domain Hotel Saigon, that has been fantastic. 700 square feet usually reserved for executives on an extended stay for business.