| Brad and Jen's journal entry for:November 19, 2001 |
| Page 2: The reason that it was decided to use Agent Orange, was so that it would be easier to pinpoint where the guerrilas were hiding. At one point an American base was directly on top of an exit hole for the guerilla forces, and it took the Americans a month to figure out why soliders were being murdered during the night. It was very chilling to hear this. We actually went down into the tunnels, Brad could hardly fit through the entrance hole. It soon became clear why there was no way that we could have won the Vietnam War. The tunnels are three levels the first level has sleeping rooms, a kitchen, and a medical room. The other two levels are all tunnel systems that run for 200 km with entrances and exists secured by booby traps. As we walked around the area and saw the B52 craters, all we could think about were our friends and family that were actually here. It was another extremely emotional day! We then decided we needed a brake from the big city and decided to go for a two day trip to the Mekong Delta. The first day consisted of a boat ride that took us to four islands to see the daily lives of the Mekong people. We saw how they made cocunut candy,and oil and crafts from coconuts. We also sampled different fruits from the region, and drank tea as some of the people performed tradtional music. Our guide on this trip was a bit younger, and he could hardly wait for us to try some snake wine! He took our group to a local place for dinner and brought out a huge jug that had 7 different kinds of snakes in it including a cobra. He dipped a cup in and it was shots all around! Jennifer has never seen Brad drink any hard alcohol, but he was a good sport and did the shot with our whole group. The three german guys that were with us ordered snake and Jennifer was brave enough to try a bite. Much to her surprise it was delicious! It was very tender and tasted like veal. The next day we took a boat to a floating market and went down some small canals and observed the people living their lives. Washing their hair, dishes, making food, going to school, on their way to the market... it was a nice experience. Tomorrow we are on our way north, our first stop is Dalat, this is where many honeymooners from Vietnam go, how appropriate! We are traveling by bus, even though our friends have bought motorcycles and Brad tried to talk Jennifer into doing the same. He soon realized that Vietnam was problably not the place for her to learn to drive a motorcycle! As for our web page, we are unable to call it up or work on it at all here. We will write stories through email, then transfer them and pictures to our site when we get to Loas in a few weeks. Until next time, have a very happy Thanksgiving, eat some turkey for us! They do not eat turkey in the south, in fact they keep them for pets. Lots of love and happy thanksgiving, Jennifer and Brad Pictures of the Cu Chi tunnels Pictures of the Mekong Delta |