Well I started today at a decent time and beat my alarm clock. I got up just after 9am and got a free coffee with my fruit salad, I guess it's free because I showed initiative by getting up before 11am. After breakfast I went to the surplus market to buy Chris M1967 canteen pouches I had set aside for him a few days ago. I picked them up and forgot to load my wallet with enough ammo and I had to come back home. While I was checking other booths for gear I saw two massive rats scurry from vendor stall to stall. Freaky but that wasn't enough. I encountered another Monster Spider! This fucker was again the size of both your hands and it crept from under a table out into the open, walked about six feet and someone kicked it a little and it scurrying away. Now if you're read earlier, I have a fear of spiders. The ones back home I'm more than fine with now and will stomp on them or set their webs on fire as I have that technology to do, so I use it! It's an irrational fear of spiders thought to come from a past life if you believe in that stuff. 

So this is my past life I figure, or one of them and it explains stuff about my life. During Operation Crimp, while checking out tunnels a 173rd soldier turned tunnel rat died in the tunnels and it was claimed that it was due to lack of air. They tossed in frag grenades which when they explode pollute the air and makes it hard to breath. Tunnel rats carried DDT which was a pesticide in a tank, and when they encountered bats, fire ants, scorpions and spiders to kill them and they would live as they had gas masks on. I encountered spiders, I hit the DDT to kill them but my mask wasn't sealed on my face. It was hard because you're all sweaty and in the tunnels you bump your head around. I took a good dose of DDT and spider bites and I died in that tunnel. That's why I have such an interest in Vietnam, the 173rd, Cu Chi, being short and Tunnel Ratting. If anyone wants to prove me wrong please email me :)

Anyways that spider spooked me. Not in a scream like a little girl way, but a controlled slow and cautious withdraw from the area expelling a short, quiet "ahhh....". Do you know how I know it's irrational? 1) I got gators on and I could squish that muthafucka! The girl kicked it though since she knew if she stomped on it, it would be a big mess! 2) I know it's not real, but I envision those spiders everywhere now! For the next 24 hours I'm on a cautious hunt for spiders that won't be there, but I'll look because I'm fucking paranoid now in seeing another. I later went back to the market after I grabbed more cash and I looked more at the floor than military gear, waiting for another fucker to pop out and hopefully a vendor has an E-tool or something long to kill it haha. Afterwards I went to KFC and looked under the table for the monster spider which wasn't there. 3) Every time I think of it, I get a shiver down my spine. Something in my head's being a jerk though, because I think "Look out for the spider!" and then I shiver and check it out haha. My subconscious is being a dick!

At least I won't be as scared at next year's Fort Malden hahaha. I'll be welcoming the loonie sized Wolf Spiders and Garden Spiders compared to these fuckers!

Alright, I hit the market again to check out maps and M67 E-tools. I also found a USMC OD e-tool and carrier, so Josh if you lose the webgear auction I at least have a USMC e-tool for ya! Maps, I checked out a bunch yesterday and googled them as I could see town names and occasional highway but couldn't think "Hmm.... what unit was here?" or "Where the fuck is that!?" They had a lot of maps from Dak Lak, so if you like the Ban Me Thout area in the middle of no where, where most Americans units never touched then let me know and I'll hook you up for $5 each! I hit the pile of maps again having some info on which I wanted which I should rescue from my ruck (does that...) and found one of Bo Tuc which is clueless to me where that is, but it was dubbed "The Fish Hook" as Cambodia kinda curls into Vietnam like a fish hook (yea, now you're learning!). 

The Fish Hook was park of the 1970 Cambodian Incurring. Nixon was elected because he said he'd stop the war in Vietnam. He started pulling US Troops out of Vietnam, but secretly bombed Cambodia, another country, and shortly after sent about 30,000 US troops to invade Cambodia! I fucking love it hahaha!!! The reason is that Cambodia was "neutral" but the North Vietnamese used Cambodia as a place to store weapons, ammo, war supplies and the North would just run back and forth from Cambodia instead of marching all the way to North Vietnam for a break in the fighting, to lick their wounds, eat plenty of rice and slug it out again for six months with US troops. The US invaded and let the enemy know they're only going in 20 miles and wouldn't go further. This allowed enemy troops to drop everything and run. The US made little contact but took millions of bullets, thousands of rifles, machine guns, mortars, rocket launchers, medicine, included some donated by Americans (damn hippies) and misc items. The main reason why I got it was (oh you know there's a 173rd link in here somewhere!) Operation Junction City was in the area and the 173rd (there it is! :) ) parachuted on the Cambodian border because in 1967 it was illegal to enter another country, thanks Nixon! and the closest town was Katum which is where I wanted to go but settled on Tay Ninh for my dirt sample. I'd like to learn more about it and eventually be able to draw the battlefield and troop movements. 

The 2nd map I got was of Play Cu = Pleiku which was a major town and home to an Air Force base. It was the main base for the 4th Infantry Division and a place the 173rd Airborne Bde and 1st Cavalry (Airmobile) would visit. Speaking of which, the map is SW of Pleiku. Anyone know what happened here? Anyone? Anyone? Anyone? (Ferris Bueller's Day Off). Give you a big hint. Hill 732, Chu Prong Mastiff, small dried up river in a valley, 1st Air Cav Division, Drang is the name of the IA=River. Lt. Col. Hal Moore... If you don't know this and you're in the group... Last clue. Mel Gibson....... We Were Soldiers, on history channel once a month. Yea I was going to pass on this map but then I saw it was SW Pleiku, saw the Chu Pong Mastiff and knew it was the Battle for Ia Drang Valley. First big battle with the US and the North Vietnamese and really a test to see how each other operates. Big battle, the US lost about 400 troops but the NVA lost more so it's all good, right? :)

The 3rd map was of Binh Dinh province which displays An Khe, home to the 1st Cavalry Division from 1965-71 and home to the 173rd Airborne 1967-1969. It also covers Phu Cat AF base which was the source of local fire from the sky, Qui Nhon naval base and supply base, Lane Army airfield home to the 174th Assault Helicopter Company - "Sharks", the hueys with the red and white shark teeth and one of my favourites, QL-1, section of the national highway kept secure by South Korea (fucking scary dudes to fight! Lets hope they scare North Korea!) and up north firebases like Uplift, Hammond, Duster Hill, 8-Inch (Artillery) Hill, Easton (named after Lt. John Easton, 1st/69th Armor, KIA 25Sept68), Bong Son - Home to the 173rd Airborne from 1969-1971 and LZ English, the 173rd's main base during that time. It's home to Happy Valley and An Lao Valley. I know the area intimately as I mapped it on google earth using Ray's map room online who served with 1/69th Armor in the same area with the 173rd. Sadly I know the bases better than anywhere else, and I have no info on the 173rd while they were in this area! Drives me nuts! haha.

Alright, it stopped raining so I just got some dinner. Before that I headed near Ben Thanh market because I saw a street vendor selling unfiltered Camels smokes with the old logo on it. Since their unfiltered the box is more square than rectangular like other brands. It even has an old and vague message saying the Surgeon General warns that quitting smoking NOW Greatly reduces serious risks to your health. It didn't before when we told you to smoke, but NOW it reduces risks to your health haha. They don't say smoking is bad, but if you stop smoking you can still die, but it reduces risks to your health. Thanks for the two-step JT International. Anyways the warning is on the side and blends in nicely, so if your looking at the pack you won't notice :) Not sure if it had the plastic wrap in the 60's though but I don't want to take it off yet. Feel better having Camels in my helmet as the Lucky Strikes have the old school look but newer school box. 

I was cutting though the park to get back to my neighbourhood and I was recording about the Camel smokes and someone wanted to practice English on me. Before I knew it I had 5 people around me listening in and asking questions about Canada. I recorded a shitload of it but just basic stuff, they asked me questions, I answered, I asked about Vietnam, etc. I talked for about two hours hahaha. We exchanged email address and they want to meet up with me again, in the park, not the one I met fuckstick and bitch in. I'm cool with it as it's in public with plenty of people. The one kid is going to Cu Chi Tunnels and wanted to know if I could come. Pass up another chance to crawl though tunnels!? I'm in! In the tunnel though, he's on point. Cong won't shoot another Vietnamese not in a uniform and unarmed unless it's Tet 1968, a mass grave was already dug and it was in Hue (watch full metal jacket). Plus I'll give him my E-tool to kill bugs. Fuck! If he's on point he'll have my flashlight. I have Matt's gas mask, just need to find some 40 year old canister of DDT haha. Naw it'll be cool because on the way I can teach him about the American War Tunnel Rats, the non-commie side of Cu Chi, away from the propaganda. Since everyone at Cu Chi is dressed as Viet Cong or NVA I'd honestly love to show up head to toe in US kit. If only I could legally work there hehehe. I'd settle as a tour guide for a travel agency, as long as I could be head to toe in US kit :) Explain about tunnel rat tactics, tunnel demolition, etc. And if the situation blows up in my face going to Cu Chi with this kid I'll beat him to death with an M1967 Tri-fold Entrenching Tool (E-tool). Does a bit more damage than a near empty swinging water bottle to the ear or nose :)

Alright, I came back here, started writing this since I wasn't hungry, then it started raining. Luckily I can hear the rain somehow from my 2nd floor room (think it's like 4 stories) so I hit up a place that stole Boston Pizza's logo, atmosphere and menu! The food wasn't the same but they had chicken fingers and the last ones I had were tiny satay-like twigs instead of a finger. If they were fingers, they weren't human ones. Anyways these were passable, but overcooked. Could have been fish for all I knew but I ate them. Better than sending them back to the kitchen and wanting new ones as the sauce would be tainted haha. It was a sports bar so there was soccer and some olympic trails, had pole and freestyle gymnastics and a Russian guy got gold on the poles and Canada got silver and bronze, so it was cool to see a piece of Canada other than myself. Also on the front of the menu was a small Canadian flag. I asked the waitress if the owner was Canadian but the language barrier appeared. I wouldn't doubt it though. Who knows Boston Pizza, moves to Vietnam and starts a copy of it? I figure an American would literally bring the franchise over. That's one thing I like about Vietnam in a way. If I had a bar or restaurant in Vietnam, and it was catering to the war tourism, what would I name it? We Were Soldiers, Hamburger Hill, Full Metal Jacket, Bright Shining Lie, Uncommon Valour, Rescue Dawn, Charlie MoPic and Boys in Company C don't have a ring to it, although Hamburger Hill would be on the menu. Good Morning Vietnam and Apocalypse Now are taken... wait! Good Morning Vietnam is an Italian Restaurant (horrible name, make it a place with coffee or war) and Apoc Now is a shitty club people go to just for the name and 90% of the people there are whores.

I'd honestly love to open a bar or restaurant here and I know some people who can open the kitchen and do the menu and I can steal either Good Morning Vietnam or Apoc Now as Vietnam has no copy write laws!!!!!!! Nice one 2nd world country! Plus if I can build a house for $1,000 and buy a nice big house in the capital for $11,000 I don't think a restaurant would be out of the budget, mind you it would dip into my Vietnam gear fund back home. Hmmm....

Anyways the chicken fingers weren't good, the bar was alright but service wasn't great and I'm here now. I'll probably watch a movie or American Dad before bed and the girl at Dan Sinh market is brining more maps for me to check out. I'm only buying them if there's Bien Hoa or detailed area around An Khe/Bong Son area or the An Lao valley as it was the 173rd's responsibility after 1968 to keep clean. Night!