When did Joes become Cobra?

I'm reading a Noam Chomsky book called Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance. It details basically how the US has fucked other nations for the past fifty years. Virtually every president since WWII has green lighted terrorist activities in other nations under the guise of national security. There was even one point during the Cuban missle crisis where the US government was thinking about sinking a ship or shooting down a drone airplane (said to have carried college students on holiday) in order to sway the US public opinion in favor of invading Cuba.

I'm only a hundred pages into the book right now, but every page is full of insights. Chomsky says the US goes to war with countries that: 1. Can't defend themselves 2. Has a much needed resource and 3. Can be demonized as a threat to US national security. For Iraq one and two were not a problem. The third point took a bit of work, but the US propaganda machine took care of that in no time.

The US government can do anything to any country anytime it feels like it. No one can stop them. They disregard the UN and world court orders because they can. The US is the playground bully pushing aside any opposition and taking whatever they want in the world.

Having been outside of "normal" life for a while now, I've had the luxury to think about the bigger picture. I've reflected on my life as an American and how brainwashed and complacent we've become (I'm seeing this in other nations as well). At an early age we're already in the grip of the machine. I still love cartoon and watch Cartoon Network when I can. The advertising on that channel is fierce and nearly gives me seizures. Kids are already taught to want even need things in order to be happy. This carries on through to adulthood and is one way of pacifying people.

In school you are taught to do well in order to get good grades to get into a good university. Why? Is it to become educated? A thinker? An artist? I think that most of the time it is to find a job and make a shitload of money in order can buy all the crap people think they need. This is what helps alienate the US from what is really going on in the rest of the world. I know. I used to be there.

I didn't really know or care about the rest of the world, I was dealing with my own crisis. I had a routine. I went to work in order to pay my various bills, buy food, and hopefully have a little left over so I could go out and forget about life. And of course buy whatever crap I thought would make me feel better, for a little while.

I feel like countries all over the world are becoming more like the US in this sense, where things are more important than anything else. I think things are coming to a head for me because here in Vietnam communism rules by being capitalistic. "Communism refers to a theoretical system of social organization and a political movement based on common ownership of the means of production. As a political movement, communism seeks to overthrow capitalism through a workers' revolution and establish a classless society."

The family

Vietnam hasn't been as stressful as I've feared. My parents haven't been trying to find me a wife. Although my cousins and aunts have talked about trying to hook me up no one has actually done anyting. Yesterday while getting new glasses the girl helping me pick out a frame asked me to father her child, which made me blush. If I had the moral standards of a prostitute I would've taken her up on the offer because she is quite attractive. Today while visiting the Cu Chi tunnels I got separated from the family. One girl told me if I didn't find the family I could come home with her. I should probably just open a sperm bank.

Now that I've been on Vietnam for over a week and had time to digest the onslaught of family, I think I've basically figured out who to trust and who not to trust. It's as simple as this. The ones who ask me for money or expect me to pay are not to be trusted. One of my cousins acted very kind and seemed like a generally good guy until he got me alone and asked for money to buy a computer for his son. This was after my parents gave him money, asked them for more, then got shut down. His brother is as much of a prick as he is, but that's far too long and compicated of a story to tell right now. I can only hope their younger siblings, don't turn out like them. There is plenty of gold digging between my parents siblings, but also a lot of kindness.

My father's half brother and kids are some of the poorest people in the family. Six people live in a two room place with a polished cement floor which is also where they sleep. My uncle stepped on a mine, blew off his right leg and most of the fingers on his right hand. His son, Phuc, contracted son kind of illness (polio?) when he was ten months old so his legs are in braces. Phuc has never run and played like other kids in his life. His younger brother died of a heart condition a few years ago. Still, they are the sweetest people I've ever met. Of the family I've met, I know for certain they are genuinely happy for us to be here. I'm sure there are others, and perhaps it's because I met them first, but I felt connected to them the moment I met them. Phuc's older sister Cua is the kindest and sweetest woman you'll ever meet.

This part of the family are not speaking to my father's younger half sister and her family. Phuc won't tell me why, and my dad doesn't know why. Because of this we spend one day with Chu Thang (Uncle Thang) his family and Co Hai (Auntie two) and the other with Co Nam (Auntie five).

Co Nam and her kids are strong willed. Of the four surviving kids, who are all older than me, there are three females and a male. I would take any of these women (Ngoc, Yum, and Thuy) into a barfight with me. I heard Yum used to beat the shit out of Ngoc's husband when he got out of line and Thuy, well I'm glad I'm on her good side. She's intimidating. Vu the male is a nice guy and raising two sons on his own. By on his own I mean he's not married, but his mother, father, and sisters, and neice help care for the kids.

My mother had eight siblings. I've met four. The others, I think, are dead or my mom has a beef with them. Yi Ba (auntie three) is the aunt that every kid should have. I love her. She's the best. I wasn't so sure about her son, but he turned out to be an all right guy. Her daughters are nice, one of them is sick with some kind of intestinal worm. Apparently she's lost a lot of weight.

Cau Sao (Uncle six) is the blacksheep. He has eleven kids from four or five different women. He and Yi Ba don't speak. I've mentioned his sons already. Yi Bay (Auntie seven) is looking for a handout. I didn't feel comfortable with her kids at all. The boy (Thong, thirteen) a few times wanted me to promise to buy him things. The girl (Phuong, twenty one) seemed ok, but caused me a bit of a headache and a bit of cash last night. It's something I'll try to piy behind me, but it causeed my mom to lose a lot of sleep last night.

Cau Ut (youngest uncle) seems to be the most sucessful financially. He, his wife and sons are well educated and nice enough. The raise livestock, have a rice paddy, and all kinds of fruit trees. They basically grow and make their own food and cook over a fire pit and make rice wine, which I think is pretty cool.

That's a quick rundown of my aunts uncles and first cousins. I'm sure I've missed someone.

Dude WTF?!?

I've just experience a problem JP has had on his website. Fucking spam in my comments!

Just words

Since arriving in Thailand I've been a bit lazy about documenting this part of my trip with pictures, so I have only words.

Germans could possibly be my second favorite people behind the Spanish. I'm not saying this because my brother in law Norbert is German, but because since being in Thailand I've spent many nights (at the bar) in the company of frauliens. The first being Andrea and last night Sylvia and I had a great time listening to a Thai singer, which leads me to my next point.

Thailand has many talented musicains playing in local bars. I think the name of my favorite place at the end of Khao San, on the far side from the police station, is a place called Sabhai Sabhai (again I could be wrong about the name). THe first night we had the sing along and last night the girl, Rose, was doing her singer/songwriter thing. She covered Thai tunes as well as Cranberries and a song that reminds me of someone from my university days, Sarah MacLachlan's Angel. It makes me feel like setting up a little studio to record Thai bands. They have just as much musical skill as anyone in the world.

I've befriended quite a few Thais in my short time here. It's funny how her name is on the sexual side in english terms, but Porn (Pahn) and I have spent some good times together. She is a mid thirties Thai woman who I proposed to last night after seing Rose perform and putting on a good beer buzz. I got her email and digits tonight. Usually after a few drinks I'm helping her sell t-shirts. Since my features are very similar to Thai, people are quite amazed when I speak with an American accent. I think I pulled in about one thousand baht in sales tonight. In return I got a t-shirt which I think Josh Lee will like. Khe and the others around that area now know me as the American with Vietnamese origins. We shared some beers tonight just cause.

I quite like Thailand and have considered staying here a bit longer to possibly teach english. Life here is laid back, people are friendly and even after midnight I can have my fill of barbecue skewers, spring rolls, and fresh mango shakes.

Tomorrow I fly to Vietnam to rendezvous with my parents and meet the family I've never met. My oldest sister asked me to keep my parents calm, but who will keep me calm? I have been quite anxious and even afraid of this part of my journey. My parents have never told me much about the family there and I've never asked. My dad told me to contact Chu Thang. I asked him who that was and he said his younger brother. This is how ignorant I am about my family there.

My parents are staying only two weeks, but I'll try to convince my dad to stay longer. My mom works for a shitty company that will not let her have a month off, even though unpaid. I wonder if she is using that as an excuse to leave sooner. I feel quite a bit of pity for my mom, but the feelings are too personal to reveal right now.

I've had quite a lot of advice from friends during my travels to mend the gap I have between father and son while I see where my parents grew up. There are a lot of emotional issues I have with both my parents, so I hope it will be worked out there. All this time I've told myslef not to place such importance on being in Vietnam with my parents, but in order to quiet the demons inside me I feel I must break through to them as a grown man not as their baby boy. This seems like the time to do it.

On a side note in Vietnamese my given name is Nam and my middle is Viet. In Vietnam I would be known as Tran Viet Nam, but of course in the states because my parents put my name down in that order I became known as Viet. My parents would address me as Nam (or my nickname which now moves on to another generation because my nephews call me that) and even my childhood neighbors would call me Nam. Well it's too late for me to ask everyone to address me as name and I like Viet as a name.

Here comes the rain again

I watched Koh San flood a little bit. The street running parallel to it was bad. Some of the shopkeepers were sweeping water out of their stores. During the heaviest part of the storm I was loitering outside of a bar showing T2. I had to wade through ankle deep water to get to my guest house. This is again one of those times when I thank India for preparing me.

I ran into Tina and her friend who were on KoPha Ngan. I had a Thai massage for an hour, then ran into the Belgian girl Ann. I hope the street vendors open up again. Can't let a little rain shut down their business.

Paradise

I was on Ko Pha Ngan for eleven days and spent most of my time on the northern beach of Hat Thong Nai Pan Noi. For most of those eleven days I did absolutely nothing. Before getting to Ko Pha Ngan I planned to stay in a few places around the island, see some waterfalls, and maybe do a trek. Some days I didn't get much farther than 10 meters from my bungalow. This all sounds very lazy, but I didn't need to go much farther than this.

My bungalow was situated at the far end of the beach from the road. It's only a five minute (I'm not sure cause I rarely wore my watch after the first few days) walk from one end to the other. Walking towards the bungalow on the soft sandy beach, I had views of coconut palms on my left leading up to the hills behind the bungalows and the greenish colored sea on my right, usually calm because it's protected by a bay.

Most days it was sunny when I woke up, so the morning choice was swim now or after breakfast. The decisions I had to make! Sometimes I decided to order breakfast, go for a swim, and while floating around in the clean perfectly temperatured water, Yi would whistle for me to come in and have my breakfast of rice soup. I'd usually sit at I -Sea bar and have a bit of a conversation with Strewyn or Karl, the expats working there.

One of the other regulars or travelers would be there and we'd make some small talk that usually come around to "what are you doing today?"

I'd think about it for a second and say, "I'm going to go into the water, sit back here, and repeat." I did that until the sun went down, not because it was too cold to swim, but because I wanted to rinse the salt water off of me. Also at nightfall I'd put on trousers because of the mosquitoes and finally put on a shirt for the same reason.

The days were not all that different, but there were events to help seperate them from one amalgamated clump of memory. We went to the "big" beach, Hat Thong Nai Pan Yai, across the bay for the islands beach football (soccer) tournament. On the day the championship game was played they had free food and beer. Sometimes I would walk to the main road and have a fresh mango shake and lunch from the little restaurant there. At night we would usually start at I-Sea and work our way down the beach to Flip Flop for a drink and some pool then into "town" which meant the one road leading in and out of Thong Nai Pan. If we didn't already have dinner at the guesthouse or Flip Flop, then we'd go to Bamboo. Depending on what night it was we'd go to Hideaway or Jungle Bar for the weekly party. If it was an off night the Premier League football would be on somewhere. As the night winds down Mr. Handsomes burgers would be the thing to cap it all off before starting over again the next day.

...

Two nights ago I left paradise. I was still on Ko Pha Ngan, but I stayed in the main town of Thong Sala where roughly half the population of 15,000 live. I was surprised by how busy it felt there, and how noisy it seemed. In Thong Nai Pan I had to deal with water gently crashing on the beach, frogs croaking, and insects in the trees. I'd rather deal with these noises than motor bikes and screaming babies. I wanted to make a tactical retreat back to TNP. Earlier the day I left I joked with Brian about finally communicating with someone from the outside world. It would be a phone call to my parents telling them to enjoy their time in Vietnam, I wouldn't be seing them there.

That's what that place did to me. It pulled me in and it was hard to find a way back out. It was like the sirens drawing my in. I was surprised by how quickly I got used to the slow life on Thong Nai Pan. Nothing outside of that beach mattered. I could've and should've made phone calls or emails, but I just couldn't be bothered. If I didn't have the rendezvous with my parents I don't think I would've left except to make a visa run.