Vietnam Highlight - Cu Chi Tunnels

One of the highlights of the trip to Vietnam was definitely the Cu Chi tunnels just outside of Saigon (Ho Chi Min). In a word – amazing, and in my mind a true testament to the power of determination and ingenuity. This network of tunnels was used by the North Vietnamese (VC) to battle the French initially in the 40s, but also proved invaluable during the fight against the Americans. You could just imagine what it would have been like to be an American soldier settled in safely for the night within the secure perimeter of your base….only moments later to have been awoken by bullets rippling through your tent. The tunnels were not only long (up to 250km in some cases), they were also multi-leveled, and built up from the river. As such, the VC could approach by the river and work their way up to the American camps, and then disappear again without leaving a trace. The tunnels were incredibly small; even the hollowed up tourist areas of the tunnels were too small for this tourist to comfortably get through.


Perhaps the most amazing thing about the tunnels was the fact that their entrances could be concealed so easily. I kid you not, that I watched as the person pictured in this photo popped out of the tunnel, the tunnel cover was put in place, and a few leaves were kicked over top of it. Within seconds, I couldn’t have told you where the entrance was.

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  At the tunnels, I also saw a host of amazing innovations the VC used during battle:
  
  The cook houses used to prepare meals for the soldiers were designed so that the vented heat from the cooked meals was carried away via vents to emerge some several metres or more away. In this way, any aerial attacks would be less likely to strike military personal congregated in one place.
  
• The tunnels required venting, and these vents often appeared as small slits at the base of natural looking mounds of earth – somewhat like oversized ant hills. As the war progressed, the American dogs used to scent for the enemy were able to detect the tunnels existence on the basis of the air exhausted from these vents. In response, the VC simply stole American uniforms and strategically placed them near the exhaust points. In this way, the dog would think the scent was “friendly”.


• The shoes pictured here are truly brilliant. Firstly, from a durability point of view, they are made of sliced up tire, but more impressively, they are intentionally designed to be worn backward. From the soldier’s point of view, this was of little consequence functionally, but to the enemy trying to track them via their footprints, they would conclude they had come from the opposite direction. See the attached photo, and see if you can get what I am driving at.

The Cu Chi people were also masters of improvised traps. Typically simple in design, you can certainly see how these devices would inflict significant and brutal damage to anyone who might fall prey to them. Pictured below is teh See Saw Trap. In brief, this unit would be hidden in ground foliage, and when an unsuspecting person would step on it edge, the entire unit would rotate around its centre axis (in either direction), leading to a series of metal spears penetrating the victims limbs. Although not necessarily visible in this image, all spears are barbed for added measure!

On Being Lucky.....

Apologies all for my blogging hiatus. I have been thrown a few life curve balls of late and have been busy running them down. I re-appear today with a reflective post on what it means to be fortunate. Not to worry, it shan’t be too deep.

There are a great many ways to measure how fortunate a person is. Perhaps they have a great family or network of friends surrounding them, maybe they vast sums of money, or athletic prowess, or a wicked intellect, etc. etc. etc. For that matter, it is possible that a given person may even have all of the above!

But, on this day, I submit for your consideration, a far simpler definition of being lucky, one rooted in the form of an opportunity. At the start of 2009, I tabled a goal to visit two new countries this year. Quite simply, it was time to pull out the world map, and have at it! So many choices! I have always had a penchant for travel in Asia owing to the nominal cost of doing so, and also to the fact that the cultural contrasts between my everyday life and that observed in Asia are so vivid. Long having had a fascination with Vietnam, it quickly became a front runner destination. But how to choose another destination? Would it be Borneo? Malaysia (always wanted to see the Petronas Towers)? Indonesia? Myanmar? Nepal (ah Everest)? In the end, realizing that what was needed most was a little R + R, I opted for Indonesia. Then, a mini travel bonus presented itself in the sense that flights from Denpasar to Ho Chi Min are non-existent. Translation, time to introduce a stopover! What better place than Singapore. I had heard that two days is enough to see the country, and so it was – two days in Singapore.

Both at that time, and with the trip now complete, I sit back and realize that a great many things came together to allow the trip to happen. Among the things that come to mind:

· The finances to make the trip possible.
· The ability to schedule free time from the grips of a demanding work schedule
· The help of one Chinese travel agent to secure an incredibly inexpensive flight package. Info kernel – if you are going to Asia and know what you want, hit up your local neighbourhood Chinatown!
· The help of second travel agent to fill in legs of the journey that flight attendant #1 could not resolve. Info kernel – get your long haul travel done before you go, and if possible and fairly valued, ask for an agent specializing in the area you are travelling to. In my case, I met an Australian travel agent who knew Indonesia like the back of her hand!
· The confidence to travel alone. No biggie in my mind, but some people simply shudder at the thought of solo travel in foreign speaking countries. Chalk this up to my parents who taught me early on that seeing the world is one of the best ways to get perspective and open your eyes.
· The ability to tap my French and Chinese speaking skills to make the trip more comfortable at key moments.
· The gift of travel points from a fried to soak in the amenities of a 5 star Westin.

Perhaps to some, the definition of fortune will seem trivial, but to me, for having had this opportunity, I view myself as being very lucky indeed, especially in light of the sites I saw on the trip.

Those are my two cents for the day!

VB Out!

Air France 447

Last week I awoke to the most disturbing of stories, that an Airbus A330 with 228 souls on board had disappeared somewhere over the Atlantic ocean. Having just broken out of a deep slumber, my first thought was that I was actually still dreaming. Having dismissed that theory after realizing that the information was emanating from my bedside clock radio, I then ascribed the narration to an author touting the merits of his/her new fiction novel. Sadly, neither prove to be the case. In fact, an Airbus A330 with 228 souls on board HAD disappeared somewhere between Brazil and France.

Instantly, I was overwhelmed by a tremendous sense of disbelief. I felt as though I had instantly been transported by to the early 1900s. Not that there is anything particularly significant about the early 1900s, but rather that somehow in my mind, had this event occurred in the early 1900s, it would have been more acceptable to me. At least, far more acceptable than it is for mid 2009.

With reality setting in, I naturally began to ask some questions.

#1. Given GPS technology, how can we not know where this aircraft is and/or was? For a mere $300, I can affix a Garmin GPS to my wrist and tell you where I am at any point so long as I have a clear look at any one of the numerous satellites that circle the world and contribute to our GPS mapping capabilities. One would have to figure that the technology available to a multi-million dollar jet being flown and serviced by a multi million (billion?) dollar company might have the same, or better, abilities.

#2. How is it that aircraft seats and life preservers are recovered in the area that the aircraft went down, but that they don’t belong to the A330. Keep in mind that this is 400 nautical miles north of Brazil, not a mere few miles offshore. Can I take this to mean that other aircraft are going down in this reason and are not accounted for? Or is there some aircraft wreckage yard somewhere in the world whereat citizens throw debris into the worlds’ ocean currents and watch them drift away – a modern version of the message in a bottle technique?

#3. There is chatter that the black box may never be recovered given that the ocean depths in the area in question are about 24,000 feet – a mere 5000 feet short of Mt. Everest’s height (~29,000 feet). So another question comes to mind. If black boxes are so vital to reconstructing accident events, and given the percent of the earth’s surface that is water, would it not be reasonable to make the black box buoyant? I fully recognize the durability requirements of the black box; after all, it is supposed to survive all manners of accident that involve tremendous G forces. I also recognize that there may be some value in having this box located in a region where it is well-integrated with other aircraft systems. HOWEVER, would it not be possible, at least on newer aircraft, to have it encased in enough buoyant material to offset its weight? And, furthermore, given its purpose, would there not be intrinsic value in having it easily break free from the rest of the wreckage at which time it would emit ELT like signals? In this way it could be more easily retrieved from the water’s surface, and would be easily located due to the signals it would emit.

#4. How is it that we hear absolutely nothing from the pilots before the aircraft went down? To me, this is SOOOOOOO bizarre. Theorists have suggested that the plane was travelling into an area with heavy storms. Fair enough, but suppose that this storm was intense enough to break up the aircraft. Even under those circumstances, the pilots would certainly have said something, at least a mayday call? To me, this simple piece of information alone suggests that whatever happened, it happened VERY suddenly!

At the end of the day, it will be some time, if ever, before we know all the details about the flight.

Appliance Makeover

Question -- what happened to clothes washing appliances?

For the vast majority of my life, washing machines and dryers were nearly perfectly square, squirreled away in the basement, and generally came in one of two colours: white or taupe.

In recent years, they have become sleek, colourful, and now adopt a position of prominence within the house. Consider for example that this is what greeted me upon entering a department store the othe day:

Was I in the appliance department? No. I was, in fact, in children's clothing and this applicance set was very prominently displayed at a T intersection I walked up to as soon as I came into the store. Look at these, I mean really look at them. The colour is fire engine red, the buttons are stereo like, and they come with drawers on the bottom.

So, my question is simply this. What in the H-E double hockey sticks happened to spur on this radical change in applicance appearences? More specifically, which designer woke up one morning and said "I'm going to make washing applicances sexy"? Something like that must surely of happened because clothes washing applicances could have evolved even moderately at any point in the last 20 years, but for some reason they didn't!

Anyhow, just another random thought to make up my two cents for the day

What do you “do”?

One thing I find odd about society is how much importance we place upon our professions. You see it all the time, people form virtually instantaneous opinions about others based on their profession. Even the greeting “what do you do”, how now devolved to the point that most people simply throw out their job as the answer to the query. Although most of us spend a lot of time at our places of employment, we truly are much more than the mere tasks we perform while at work.

For example, we adopt a variety of very significant roles as sons/daughters, fathers/mothers, brothers/sisters, mentors/mentorees, and volunteers. We also engage in a variety of extracurricular activities such as playing sports, joining service clubs, reading, taking/teaching classes, travelling, writing, drawing, singing, hiking, etc. etc.

I would argue that this collection of non-work activities are every bit as important, if not more so, than our chosen career when it comes to shaping the people we become. In fact, I would propose that many people seek stability in their employment, and as such, prefer not to face adversity and/or change. As such, for a significant portion of the population, I would venture to say that work becomes routine and rote. This is great from the point of view of knowing what to expect, being consistent, and getting a paycheque, but it does very little toward challenging you and seeing what kind of growth you are capable of. This kind of challenge is often delivered to us through our non-work activities. Perhaps a family member is truly taxing us, a course opens us up to a whole new world, or you develop a skill or ability you previously did not have. It is through these growth opportunities that we redefine who we are and become better people.
So, the next time someone asks you what you do, tell them you actually do a fair bit, and then proceed to tell them just what it is that keeps you busy all the time, not just during business hours.

Those are my two cents for the day!

Advent Calendar Payback – Hannah

This past week, I took another step toward being debt free from payouts for this year’s Advent Calendar Quiz. I met up with Hannah and she cashed in a drink – sadly, as I was in the midst of a month-long cleanse, no drinks for me L. Ah well, next time!

Only 30 more drinks and counting – now how to get to Calgary and Toronto to pay back the non-locals? The Stampede might work for Calgary ... and what for Toronto? Carabana? Only half a year left with only have a year left…..

Cleansing Time!

First day of the month and a blog entry already -- booyah!

The topic of today's blog is cleansing. I have a run later this month, and a trip on deck for mid next month. In prep for both, it is time to cleanse. In specific terms, I have thrown down the gauntlet. For this month, no:

Alcohol (yikes!).
Cola/soda of any kind.
Chips

Also, I will:

Run at least 40 kms.
Workout at least 10 times.