Art in Bangkok's main International airport
I have left this Open Thread until 6PM (and my target for publishing is always 7PM) so obviously this will be a well-thought-out Open Thread with tons of content and links to the best sources in the business. The Colorado State Open Threads are usually pointed towards those from our square(ish) state and those interested in the goings-on that are related to our state.
I do wish to remind people that in just three short weeks I will be heading off to “The Land of Smiles” which, no, isn’t LODO, RINO, HODO, or any of the other smile-worthy places in this state, but instead will be a few thousand miles away. I need to check out a possible future refuge that would be far away from a Republican country should disaster strike in November this year. I really don’t expect Trump and his minions to win, but it really wouldn’t take many new wins in gerrymandered districts for them to make life here miserable for at least the next two years, or longer if the Republicans do, actually take power.
My trip will not only be to Thailand, the aforementioned “Land of Smiles”, but I will be taking my sweetheart on a Viking cruise from Bangkok to Sihanoukville, Cambodia (their one and only large port) where we will take a trip up to Phnom Penh which I visited last year, but my sweetie has never been to.
Street market in Phnom Penh
I didn’t go on any formal tour last year, so I expect to see a rather different side of Phnom Penh (or PP as it’s usually abbreviated).
Last year in Phnom Penh, I went to a high school the Khmer Rouge had turned into a torture facility that fed bodies to the Killing Fields.
Torture room in Phnom Penh high school, turned memorial museum
That took place after the Vietnam war, but I saw people in Cambodia who had limbs missing from land mines and other weapons of war. It’s still within our collective lifespans and memories.
After Cambodia, we will be heading to three stop-overs in Vietnam. First will be Ho Chi Minh city, with visits to things like a few markets and some historic buildings, monasteries and maybe even the old US Embassy. After that, we travel up the coast to Danang and China Beach, followed by an overnight to Hanoi. I was going to choose a trip around Ha Long Bay on a Junk boat for our expedition while staying in Hanoi, but I decided I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to see more history with an overnight trip to Hanoi. I have heard that the Hanoi Hilton prison is now pretty much a tourist trap, which indicates to me that the Vietnamese have learned a great deal from America, but I do feel an obligation to go see where our soldiers were imprisoned and tortured during the war. They went and many died in our name, even though I didn’t agree with the war when it was being waged. I was too young (born in 1963) to have served during the war, but I did have many of my impressions of that area of the world formed during the war.
I was rather nervous visiting PP. I knew that it was supposed to be friendly; I really didn’t know how to feel, visiting a country that the US had bombed and that we had ultimately abandoned to their fate, which included not only the Khmer Rouge but then having to root for the Vietnamese and Viet Cong to save the Cambodians from the Khmer Rouge. I did not need to worry, but it still made me feel rather regretful about what happened to the country even though there were many causes of the wars, pain and suffering of the people. Now, I’m going to go see Vietnam, where the US, during my lifetime, dropped more bombs on the country than the US did during WWII, where essentially the US was lied into war, and where 58,000 US troops were killed during the war. I have been told it’s a country that is friendly to people from the US, but I will feel sorry for the death and destruction we inflicted upon Vietnam even though the war wasn’t started or finished by us. I hope I have more of a settled mind when I’m finished with the three stops, and I hope I do see the positive country I’ve been told to expect.
After Hanoi, our ship will sail to the final destination of Hong Kong. I have been there before, but not since 1984 when it was still a British colony and it was still many years from being returned to China. That was 40 years ago. I’m positive much has changed and I’m curious to see the modern city. I will be going from a land where the US fought a war 50 years ago to a city that is having protests to try and preserve what democracy they can have in this modern era. I hope that there’s no problems while I’m there, but again, I feel some mixed emotions going to a very troubled part of the world. And hoping I don’t experience problems back here in America in November and the next four years.
We will stay a few extra days in Hong Kong before flying back to Thailand and traveling to her home village. I was there last August and I felt like I had gained a new family, which was very welcome since my wife passed away early last year and I felt someone disconnected from family. I do have a sister that I’m close to, but still, it was nice to have a new family.
During the time that I’m away, I would love to have someone take on the Open Thread responsibility. It really isn’t that hard — while doing this column tonight I’m also cooking dinner (chicken legs on my smoker) and it will take me less than an hour for the diary. I have seen some very interesting diaries when I’ve gone on trips before (with the Internet I can check in to read the stories and comments from anywhere) and with Daily Kos I can even queue up diaries to publish if I cannot get any guest hosts. It’s much more interesting to have guest hosts than it is for me to post a one or two sentence story that says “I’m still away, so talk amongst yourselves.” I will need hosts for March 25th, and April 1st, 8th, 15th and 22nd.
I will certainly help people know the various sources I use for my stories and news updates, but there’s no requirement for you to use any of them. It’s an open thread, so anything you want to write about is fair game. It doesn’t even have to be about Colorado. If it’s written by someone with an attachment to Colorado in some form (you live here, you used to live here, you traveled through Colorado a time or two, you can find it on a map or in Google, or any other relationship with Colorado, you’re qualified to write one of these Colorado State Open Threads.
I hope you write me and let me know you’d like to take one or more of the dates. Thanks in advance, and until then, the floor is open...
