We just flew out of Viet Nam today and have arrived in Cambodia. This has been an amazing experience so far; we've seen some of the sides of globalization that no book can teach. We've seen families in their homes producing traditional crafts and foods as they have for generations. We've seen gleaming new factories that produce some of the most popular products in the world. We've met indigenous people living isolated in the northern mountains, and rode out on motorbikes with thoroughly western young people in a huge world-class city.
This is a photo of the building made famous as the US evacuated from South Viet Nam after the war. The last helicopter launched from this roof. A photographer captured the moment and the photo is a famous marker of the final American withdrawal. My photograph isn't as prosaic, but you can see the flat topped building is the same one, only now it's surrounded by the bustle of the thriving city center.
Ahem, I think this picture is a wonderful poignant last view as all of you are leaving Vietnam. I know this view, I was only about 15 years old when the helicopters landed on the roof My older brother was 18, he was in the draft lottery, it was scary. I think you have captured very eloquently the purpose of the trip that you are sharing with our children, the next generation, looking forward and backwards.
ReplyDeleteThe picture tells the story, and I am very grateful to you for all the work you put in so that we can come along.
Of course being there is the real point, smelling, being hot and adrift in a sea of foreign humanity, sleeping in a very different kind of bed in an others home. What a stream of sounds you must be hearing. And of course... occasionally having the chance to kiss a frog. And then eat him.
Terrific.