If you know the next line of the song, and what song it is, you friggen rock, even more so if you're not a hardcore nammer like myself. That's right in Vung Tau, a former resort city about an hour SE of Saigon. Troops in Vietnam could have a week vacation in places like Hawaii (usually reserved for married couples as the wife and kids don't have to leave the country), Australia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Toyko, etc and if they decided to go to Vung Tau, Nha Trang or Da Nang they'd get two weeks of vacation as it was cheaper for the military. As a resort/vacation centre what would you put there? It had a golf course, go cart racing, plenty of swimming and surfing, movies, and one key ingredient to make any week off from work in a combat zone. BOOZE!!! haha. Vung Tau was also a key shipping and supply area instead of twisting and turning up the Saigon river. Outside of Vung Tau to the NE is Ba Rai, another city and they now make up their own province because of the high population. Again, NE of Ba Rai is Nui Dat, a steep hill and therefore an idea location to put a military base. Honestly to this day, if there's a hill or a large flat area, 90% of the time it was a military base, but it served as the Headquarters (HQ) of the Australian contribution to the Vietnam War and I toured that today!
This morning I woke up at 6 and actually had a decent sleep. I went to Tran's house and met his family last night and i forgot to gush. To be invited to somebody's house is awesome, but considering that I'm in another country, they speak another language and I'm foreign to them, for them to openly welcome me to their home is a huge honour. I could be crazy or something, a nutjob haha, they don't know me but they know I'm a decent human being and Tran wanted me to talk to his kids so they can practice english. To make a good friend in another country so fast is rare, and welcomed into their home is a real honour and compliment and I was the only foreigner they've ever had over, so that meant a lot more. Anyways I woke up on time, had my banana pancakes and humped it down to the Petro oil hydrofoil station. Vung Tau is an oil town and I'm assuming petro oil opened up a transit station for it's workers and allowed the public to ride it as well. I was told to be there for 8am and I got there at like 7:15am haha, then I found out that I was on the 8:30 hydrofoil so I had time to kill. Again people come up to me and want to test their english skills which is kinda funny. "Oh, you're white, hello!" haha. The station security guard was talking me up and it's funny because if they walk up and talk to you for their own purpose, I have no purpose to talk to them and it becomes one sided. I smile and all, but they came to me, I'm not telling them my life story. If they wanna ask me something feel free, if not I'll be killing time in my own way, this morning being trying to guess who was from what country and watching ship traffic, which I learned to like at Fort Malden. I get on the hydrofoil (oh and everyone is starring at me because I have a good 50lbs on my back not just my Large Alice Ruck but an ARVN ruck ontop of that and a laptop case) we find our seats and it's like an airplane, they have attendants, they give you water, they have the safety video and play a movie, in this case it was movie trailers from six months back like GI Joe, The A-Team, Transformers plus crazy Vietnamese drink ads like Pepsi with kids doing backflips and racing each other in a parking garage (Pepsi does that to me too!) and something that if you drink, the emporor's wife will make out with you haha. I had a shitty view but I went out of the hatch (there's two sitting areas and to get from one to the other you have to go outside where people smoke, but you're outside and going 60km/h and let the wind blow your hair back which is a nice rush.
From there I got better views and took most of my pictures, which I took maybe a hundred and a few videos. It was awesome seeing the treeline. I don't like the movie, but Apocolyspe Now shows the PBR (Patrol Boat - Riverine or River, whatever) twisting and turning up the river, but it's so close to the treeline it could get hit at any second and they engage you first since you can't see shit, you and only react. From what I've read engagements were short. One guy got sniped and both (sometimes three) M60's and twin .50cal machine guns from each PBR in a convey (usually 2 or more) cuts down all the trees and anything living within 100 yards haha. Anyways I would just stare at the treeline, not hunting for anything (I'm hardcore but I'm not looking for Charlie haha) but just looking at it like "Yea, this is what it must have been like..." and loving it haha. Half way down to Vung Tau you can start to see the mountains and hills and they were the first I've seen in Vietnam and like I said odds are they were military outposts. We got into Vung Tau and I planned a tour to the Long Tan Cross a few days back. You have to apply for permission and I think it's just a cash grab by the government but whatever, I had a tour guide and a car to pick me up. I detected a pattern that seat belts aren't worn in Vietnam. Cars are built with them, but their always tucked under the seats and can't get at them. Everytime I got back in the car I grabbed for my seatbelt as I have for the last... I don't know, 21 years? haha.
We hit the tunnels at Long Phuoc, which was a Viet Cong base which the Australians never found. Mind you it was 150m of tunnel so it was more of an outpost then a super duper military tactical secret to winning the war as they made it seem. Areas in Vietnam have memorial buildings which have the names of everyone in the community who died in the war. Let me tell you every building is big with at least 1,000 in each area over 15 years of war. Behind that we walked to a path that led to the tunnel area and museum. I was ambushed. I met a nice man that didn't speak any english, but he was part of the Viet Cong that operated in the tunnel. I shook his hand and was happy to see him. Sure he was the enemy but he did what he though was the right thing to do at the time, and I have to respect that. I went into the tunnel with my guide and he warned me not to touch the walls because of fire ants (ex: Begining of Platoon when Charlie Sheen sits on an ant hill. That was fine, ants don't bug me and neither does the dark or tunnels. Half way in the tunnel there was a spider. By the way I recorded all of this and you get to see me get worried haha, don't give me a hard time about it. Everyone has their fears and if it was a fucking clown or ventriloquist you'd flip too haha but mine is spiders. If I see a spider I find the closest thing I have and kill it, no bid deal at home as spiders are the size of a loonie max. This this was the size of giant crab! Take both your hands and put your wrists together and open your fingers to make your hadns into a spider. This thing was about that size! Audrey told me to bring a machete to Vietnam. I had a pocket knife on me but that didn't make me feel safe. Now a sawn off M79 grenade launcher loaded with flechettes I would have shreadded that bastard in a heart beat and fire another to make sure haha. I backed up and paused, and the guide to take a step forward and I sped past that bastard. After that I got lower from the walls and just focused on my guides feet until we got to a display (they had a kitchen, first aid station, etc set up) since if there was something like that in the tunnel with me, I didn't want to know! I thought it would be cold in the tunnels as they were at least 6ft underground but it was warm.
So I learned something today about myself. Since I'm 5'8 I though I'd be a tunnel rat if I was in Vietnam, and I would have until I saw that monster haha. All tunnel rats rats did encounter stuff like that, from hundreds of bats crawling all over you, a cobra jumping out of a trap door and a long list of other creepy crawlies haha. Tunnel Rats were only allowed 6 months on a tunnel rat team for psychological reasons as it was mentally hard to do. Sure it's hard on your knees and you have to crawl, but that heals. Seeing your friend get stung to death by ants, fall through a pit of spikes or encountering creepy crawlies is in your head for a long time. Now after the tunnel I'm looking under things for spiders and shit haha which I haven't done for years. Very interesting to see, but I was cool until that spider and I don't think I'm going into the tunnels at Cu Chi or Vinh Moc. I'll check it out but no way I'm going into there haha. I can now relate to how they felt. Most weren't afraid of the Viet Cong down there, it was the bugs, rats and bats! Alright, I'm done talking about spiders haha.
Next we hit Nui Dat, which was the main Australian base. We got to walk around and I stood where the helipad, the command tent and the communication bunker was. The guide had a bunch of pictures from vets showing the layout of the old base. The pictures don't do justice to the landscape. I'd take a picture and review it thinking "that's it? It's better than that!" It was cool and there were people herding goats and cows in the area as the area was demined. Next we went down to the old runway. It was 2,900ft long and too short to land a C-130 Hercules, the backbone of the US cargo fleet at the time but it could land C-7 Caribou (which was Canadian made), C-123 Provider, C-119 Flying Boxcar and any helicopter. The reason why the base was in the area is because the whole area was Charlie's backyard like Dat Do, Duc My, Hoa Long and Long Tan. I took some pictures of the runway and an Australian that was based in the area came back and built an orphanage just off of the old runway (most old runways were turned into streets as they were paved haha) which was cool. After that we hit Long Tan. The Battle of Long Tan happened in a rubber plantation Austrailian units were patrolling when they were ambushed with overwhelming force killing 18 and wounding 24. Number wise it was 120 Australian troops vs. over a thousand Viet Cong and local support troops (who assisted the Viet Cong but weren't a combat unit, just everyday people with a gun). This was the first big contact for Australian troops, much like Ia Drang Valley was for the 1st Air Cav (We Were Soldiers) and Operation Crimp for the 173rd (wiki it haha). It was used as an example in the future on how to co-ordinate troop movements with air support, artillery and armour together. The Australian company killed a confirmed 245 enemy troops although we all know that the Viet Cong and NVA bury their dead as soon as possible, even in a fire fight or drag them into the jungle where they usually died. I liked looking at the rubber trees since I think it's interesting that their all inline perfectly, I know it's not natural, but because of that I think it's cool, I don't know how to explain it hahaha but rubber trees all have bowls attached, kinda like maple trees have buckets for syurp. What's really cool though is that I though they made rubber, like rubber balls or tires, but it comes out as latex which I thought was funky. I figured latex was man made and not natural. We walked up the path which was muddy and it was red! About 50km north up in Bien Hoa their mud had a yellowish tingle to it so I though that was dinkydau (crazy). I know that most of the soil in Vietnam was red so I got a kick out of it "I'm walking in red dirt!!!" haha. We walked up the path to the cross and I laid a rose on the monument and looked around the plantation trying to imagine it. There's no place to hide, that's the horrbile thing. The trees are a few inches thick and the ground is level. When they tripped the ambush the Aussies had no chance. The only good thing is that once the VC gave away their positions and the Aussies called in Air and Artillery (Arty) they had no place to run to. Some could get away but the rest would get caught in the steel curtain falling around them. I don't know, the war's long over but I'm glad the Aussies gave more than they got. We walked back to the car and my guide made me stomp the mud off my boots but I didn't want to! I wanted my boots covered in red clay!!!!! But I gave in haha, didn't wanna be rude and nastify the car. We jumped in and I grabbed the seatbelt that I couldn't get to again and headed towards Fire Support Base (FSB aka Firebase) Horseshoe. I saw how it got its name as its a bit like a "U". We couldn't go up to it but we just saw it from the road. It's purpose was to be the southwestern eyes and ears for the bigger base Nui Dat. All US military bases were set up so that one military base was always within artillery range of another base, in between 12-20km away. That way if Firebase A was in trouble, Firebase B and C can fire their guns to help. If Firebase B was attacked, Firebase A and C could help out with their guns. Now picture this across a country haha. The US literally had most of South Vietnam (and portions of Cambodia, Laos and North Vietnam) constantly in range of artillery and could place a 105mm to 175mm artillery round anywhere in the country. That's how it should be! haha
This tour was about an hour and a half, which was good, saw a lot but it didn't seem rushed. We headed back to Vung Tau and they asked what I wanted to eat. I'm not that adventourious when it comes to food (I might have ate dog and I know I ate Ruldolph the Red nose Reindeer) and I'm sticking mostly to westerner food. They suggested a hotel and after the town's bank wouldn't accept my ATM card I had to get a VISA credit advance for cash. We hit the hotel and it had what I require (hot water, A/C and free wifi so I can do this haha) and it did, except the power was out at the time. It was like 2pm so I didn't care, I locked bags up and hit the town. Vung Tau is under a lot of construction and I'm not sure if it's because of the city expanding, recent demolition or rebuilding from a tsunimi but I'm guessing a construction crew digging hit the local power line. If it wasn't fixed by the time I got back, I was switching hotels. Vung Tau has small hill and big hill, hard to remember right? Well on small hill they have a massive Jesus statue which I planned to check out. How often am I going to see a massive jesus that you can climb!? So i had to hit it and could see his head from walking out of my hotel.
I found Jesus and started walking up and someone wanted to test their english so they chatted me up. I was thinking this Jesus better be worth it since it seemed like 1,000 steps up hill. I've walked down streets and the hardest thing I've done is carry 60lbs for a few blocks. 1,000 steps in 42 degree heat was rough let me tell you! haha. On the way up they have religious statues of Abe and Issaic, Mary, Moses and other Christian stuff but I finally hit Jesus and he was huge! The funny thing is that at the feet of Jesus they have on display what makes perfect sense with religion. BIG CANNONS!!! Hahaha. I assume because it was a mountain position and not because of Jesus but looked funny. Like I said maybe 10% of the population was, maybe still is Christian so they needed a massive Jesus to counter all those evil pagodas and temples. The Jesus was cool though. I got to go inside Jesus and I was a little surprised how many people Jesus allowed into himself. There was room for about 50 people but we'd all be squished. He has paintings of himself and his family inside him which was neat but odd. How did they get there? 100 steps take you to his shoulders (yes he has stairs in him! Now I know why he always stands, sitting must hurt!) and when your on his shoulders you not only see that he rocked a goatee first, making all post-goatee wearers posers! But you also see all of Vung Tau! It's so awesome looking around as you're atleast 1,000ft in the air, checking out the beach, seeing where everything is in town, watching ships roll in, and watch them roll away again, sitting on Jesus's shoulders wasting time...
It was too early to eat so I moto'd to the hydrofoil station to buy my ticket back to Saigon as I was done with Vung Tau and gotta ship our Vietnam stuff back home, more on that in a bit. Vung Tau isn't that big and there isn't a ton of stuff to do, good for a day trip but not much else to me. I could have hit the beach but I'll wait until Nha Trang. I looked up in my Lonely Planet book where was good to eat and I found GooooooooooooooooodMORING VIETNAM!!!!!!! (which i now have set every morning to wake me up until I leave Vietnam). I found it on my map and started my way there. All the moto drivers wait at the hydrofoil station as there isn't much else and they started following me. I'm nice and I don't want to lose honour by "showing face" but drivers keep annoying me but I gotta suck it up. In Vietnam nobody walks on the sidewalks and they park motobikes and food vendor carts on there. I was walking on the road and a driver pulled up beside me to ask me where I'm going, I said "Goodmorning Vietnam, but it's close so I'll walk" and he told me it was 30 minutes away which I knew was bullshit and showed him the map and he kept lying to me. I kept saying "Oh well, I'm walking anyway" and he left and another came up. We did the same thing, I wanted to walk and he wanted my money. He pulled in front of me to cut me off and make me stop. i jumped up on the side walk, he does too and cuts me off. He's stalking me on his bike on the sidewalk and he pulls up beside me. What do I do? I stop and start walking the other way, beat that mutherfucka haha, so he jumps off the sidewalk, on the street again and back up on the sidewalk. Jesus Christ leave me alone!!!!!!! is what I sooooooooooo wanted to say but it would make me look retarded instead of this moron who can't take a fucking hint haha. I forget how but i got him to fuck off haha. I found Good Morning Vietnam expecting an American owned bar and grill but it was an Italian restaurant. I know Italians served in Vietnam but what else does Italy and Vietnam have in common!? I assume they're trying to appeal to Western tastebuds as I like Fettachini Alfredo and pizza. Plus Adrian Cronauer served in Crete, not Italy and I don't think he's Italian haha. Anyways I had a pizza with pep and cheese as you can't mess that up. It was alright but the Pepperoni tasted funny. I remember my guide saying at the market you can even buy dog meat. Don't fricken tell me I'm eating dog again!!!!!!!!!! I just told myself Vietnamese pork and beef taste different. Ice cream and milk does so why not meat? haha. After that I tried to walk to my hotel and I eventually did thanks to Jesus's big head on small island. Now I'm here and I'm going to head out a bit. I don't have to be up till noon so I figure I'll have a beer and rock Vung Tau like they did in the 60's, or drink until it's fun. Night y'all!
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