Tag Archives: Vietnam

Battle, Lam Son 719: Tchepone, Laos and the Hoh Chi Minh Trail
avatar

Posted on by
Reply

From supposedly reliable intelligence, Abrams was able to follow the progress of troops and supplies south, and judge where and when the North planned to attack over the border into Vietnam. To paraphrase from A Better War, Lewis Sorley: Troops advanced south in waves 500 to 600, moving at 12.2 kilometers per day, mostly by foot, the trucks saved for supplies and ammunition. We were able to move perhaps 60 Kilometers on the unimproved section, partly because our load was not on our feet, but on our bicycle, and partly because we had no backup supplies; we had to get out of that jungle in short order. Read the rest of this article…

Tchepone, Laos and the Southeast Asian War
avatar

Posted on by
Reply

Because of our most recent travels in Asia on our tandem bicycle, I have developed a new interest in the Vietnam War, really the Indochina War of my youth. My draft board called me in 1964. I presented myself, got on a bus and taken for a physical and mental evaluation. I was just out of hospital for a bleeding ulcer. They didn’t know how to cure ulcers in those days, and they knew military food would kill me: 4F. I have always had some survivor’s guilt, partly because I have seen the toll that particular war took on many of the surviving draftees. The vets I have shared this feeling with have said I didn’t miss anything, and to let it go. I think I have. Maybe traveling there, seeing the land and the people involved has had something to do with my coming to terms with those feelings. My appreciation for anyone who fought there is deep. It was one helluva place to have to fight a war. Read the rest of this article…

Hai Van Pass, Vietnam
avatar

Posted on by
Reply

This view is probably familiar to many in my generation who served in Vietnam in the 1960′s and 1970′s. It was taken, looking north, from a headland jutting out into the South China Sea, forming a barrier to weather, and no doubt troop movements, between South Vietnam and North Vietnam. Hai Van Pass, Vietnam. Read the rest of this article…

Shangri-la Posts In Reading Order
avatar

Reply

Bob and Claire Rogers have moved their Shangri-la, 2009 Asian Adventure blogs to a First to Last blog format. Relive their adventures from Tibetan China through Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. Read the rest of this article…

To Your Adventurous 2010
avatar

4

Before we began our Asian tandem bicycle adventure, I read Confucian quotes and often couldn’t relate. This I chalked up to lack of depth on my part, and perhaps the enigmatic nature of Eastern thought. After encountering many times the simplicity, and discomfort, he describes, I now understand. Read the rest of this article…

Remembering Shangri-la
avatar

3

Bob and Claire Rogers’ video wrap-up of their adventurous tandem bicycle journey from Tibet to Thailand via Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. Rescued from freezing by Tibetans, taken in by a village when they were lost in the Lao jungle. Read the rest of this article…

Thailand: No Baht, and Asia Roads
avatar

6

This tour bus/truck accident had to be fatal. The truck was destroyed, and from the looks of this bus, the driver and tour leader were killed, and no doubt some passengers.

In SE Asia they mark the pavement with white paint, showing the outlines of where the victims, and their vehicles came to rest. The first few of these fairly fresh markings were a bit shocking, but we became accustomed to them. The bent bicycle, with a person lying motionless in a rice paddy of Yunnan Provence, China, was more personal.

The majority of the accidents were motorbikes, with bicycles coming in a close second. In most of SE Asia, motorbikes outnumber autos and trucks 50 to 1, but bicycles are just on the bottom of the food chain. Read the rest of this article…