30th April 1975, Independence Day?

Minsk made the front page today of the English language paper, Viet Nam News. So it was about trade agreements with Minsk, capital of Belarus, but the same Minsk which gave name to my motorbike.

30th April, Independence Day, somewhat subdued in Sai Gon, Ho Chi Minh city, no air of celebration here. After all the restrictive influence of Han Oi has percolated down to penetrate the more relaxed lifestyle previously used to, the 'good living' the French introduced.

Walking back from the City Opera House near the Hotel Continental Saigon whch had been my 'home' for a month 18 years ago when working here, I saw an old lady hawker selling rice snacks in banana leaf from a woven tray, breaking from the clutches of motor cycle police searching for illegal traders, losing several packages as she dashed off, maybe assisted by the raising of my camera too late to capture the event. Independence Day indeed.

A war vet looked with thoughtful interest at his history on the Independence Day display on the central reservation of Le Loi Avenue wondering where the good times had gone, and his leg.

Yes, there were flags and banners around but in an organised manner rather than the fierce abandon of up north where their pride of being Vietnamese is abundantly clear. There is a parallel somewhere there, is it the 18th?

One guy confided his father had emmigrated to America before 30th April 1975.

But this day, 30th April, represents Peace for Project Pineapple. After the Americans left in 1975 no more Cluster Bombs were dropped in Indochina.

Obama Suppports Ban on Cluster Bombs

A copyright piece by UPI dated 12th March is worth a look at the following URL

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/group-obama-ban-cluster-bomb/story.aspx?guid={C69C0597-8E17-4FF7-8B61-41B02E55148A}

in which Obama says he will take a further look at the Cluster Bomb issue.

At the moment that 'look' seems only to ban the use where there may be civilians. Huh. Usually civilians get out of a war zone if possible to return later. Also a USA general was interviewed saying Cluster Bombs are a 'good' weapon. The political and military argument continues. But not for Project Pineapple. Cluster Bombs should be banned outright as stipulated in the Oslo Treaty.

Please view also the following URL

http://www.globalsolutions.org/press_releases/groups_urge_obama_review_landmine_and_cluster_bomb_ban

in which 'Humanitarian, Faith, Medical and Veterans Groups Urge Obama to Review Landmine and Cluster Bomb Ban'.

If America signs the Oslo Treaty agianst Cluster Bombs then the pyramid of countries under its influence would likely follow suit.

The same would apply to Russia and China. We need to pursue this goal other wise more Indochina situations will continue to arise as in Iraq and Afghanistan. Arms and legs all over the place for generations to come. Keep an eye on it.

Tamed Terraine, Road War Rages

The next few days is merely getting down to Ho Chi Minh City for the 30th April, the day the American War ended and a goal post for Project Pineapple. A day representing Peace. A day to tell our war mongering governments to cease using Cluster Bombs and clean up the mess they have already made in other people's back yards.

The Ho Chi Minh Trail is quite well displayed graphically on the following link

www.bookrags.com/research/ho-chi-minh-trail-ema-02

I have followed it quite closely. Even this area, now fairly tame to the eye, with its rows of coffee bushes, pine trees and some pantiled houses could remind you of a French wine growing region. It's cultivation no doubt assisted by America's determined effort to assist it's clearance with the help of its special agent, Agent Orange. These rolling hills consist of the rich morraine soil deposited by the receding glaciers on these toenails of the outreaching skeletal toes of the massive Himalaya body to the north west.

But the present day's prosperity has brought another kind of war to the region, road war. The well designed roads, constructed over the old Ho Chi Minh Trail and which are once more being upgraded to major highways, are the worst I have ridden so far, in terms of inherent danger. The volume of traffic is significantly greater than further north.

Trucks and buses eat across the centre line into a third at least of your space and motor cyclists just come and go as they please seemingly without a care, pedestrians too. This has contributed to one clashing of my front fork with the others rear mudguard and exhaust as he suddenly turned across my path. Fortunaely as I hollered at him, I was able to guide the Minsk out of full entanglement. Both stopping on the laterite siding, for once I saw a sheepish look on a Vietnamese face.

Next day a young schoolboy, 6 or 7, walked out in front of me and with just decimeters to spare, avoiding action prevented a serious accident.

So these short sections of the old HCM trail from Kon Tum to Buin Ho, to Gia Ngia, to Dong Xoai and the next to Thu Dau Mot are actualy the most stressful despite the surrounding beauty.

But Ho Chi Minh City, Saigon as those in the south still call it, awaits the 30th April, the day the war ended. In all those city centres, Vietnamese flags and banners fly reminding us of the day. It must be said the national flag is much less apparent on private housing and shops of the south compared to their northern couterparts.

Some say the war was to do with a susidiary of Standard Oil making seismic survey in the Gulf of Tonkin under the protective blanket of war which simultaneously ended with the last helicopter leaving Saigon. When I was managing another oil company there, BP, having taken over various American oil companies, moved into Ho Chi Minh City lock stock and barrel for a full development HQ in 1991 spending it is estimated 70 million US$ without so much as one exploration well. Now how could they have done that without full technical knowledge? The Iraq war too is widely accepted as being a play to gain access to the three largest known undeveloped reservoirs in the world similar to 60 year producing reservoirs in Saudi Arabia

Cluster Bombs, were not only used to carpet bomb Indochina, but also were the first bomds to be dropped on Iraq on 19th March 2003. Should not the oil companies also finance the clearance of Cluster Bombs as well as their national governments?

The Southern Approaches to Saigon

The multi strands of the Ho Chi Minh Trail wind down through and around the broadening lower reaches of Indochina. Having now crossed the border back into Viet Nam, I pause after my first leg in Kon Tum right on one of them. Difficult to tell these days, the road construction and city expansion that is progressing fiercely with no regard for the economic downturn in he rest of the world. See what Peace can do for your national economy?

The Rural horizons are similar. As in Thailand where over the decades the farmers have been busy transforming the forest to manicured high yielding crop lands so the Vietnamese have also done the same. 40 years of industrious activity with that focused determination shown in all that they do, the land is almost like a garden with each altitude level being cropped to that most suitable.

It is almost a joy to see. But when you talk to the locals and tell them what you are doing you don't see joy but they see you and understand you. You even get the seat of your saddle worn longpants rethreaded as a courtesy. You don't get that response on a bus journey.

Forest Fire

After an encounter with a couple of 'farangs', foreigners, one of whom kept me up till 4am with Beer Lao and stimulating conversation, it was a difficult to rise bright and early. So I didn't. This left a short ride to the Viet Nam border and time to rest for the formalities next day.

A night in the jungle. The border post of Phu Cua is but a collection of timber and bamboo dwellings with basic reastaurants. Not for long I suspect judging from the pace of development at other border crossings. I found a 'room' in such a restaurant/guest house.

It was richly enjoyable, no tv's, radios or loud music playing anywhere. The jungle was natural multichannel full surround sound, sometimes silent, you could hear the scream of the butterfly. The light show as the sun set was like a forest fire which sent the young footballers on a patch of levelled laterite for their showers.

What fires there must have been 40 years ago when USA was carpet boming with Cluster Bombs and applying their special agent, Agent Orange, to the region.

The Road To Recovery

A Viet Nam visa was required so I whizzed down to Pakse where I rested up over the weekend for the Consulate to open after the extended Lao New Year holiday. I still felt I in a state of shock not only from the extreme route I had just completed but the extreme contrast within Laos social strata. These folks along the way are so distant from attaining modern life it is a step back into another era.

Visa in hand earlier by several days than expected I took easy rides over the next days going round one mountain range just to keep on the black top to reach Attapeu. I had had enough of rough riding for a while.

These roads have been recently upgraded, some of the best I have ridden, making obvious the recovery and development of the straddling towns and villages. So too in due course will the remote regions gain their access to modern life.

This whole region is further south so the climate warmer, the terrain less rugged and access to infrastructue better. Prosperity shows through widespread land clearing, slash and burn, opening up the land to the riches of its fertile soil.

Up north, one bungalow owner who could not afford the UXO clearance payments, cut the bush and set fire to it, ducking for cover as the Cluster Bombs exploded. Who knows what still lies around his bungalows awaiting unsuspecting visitors. This is but one sample from the entire region which was carpet bombed.

Surely ALL clearance should be paid for by those who laid these atrocious weapons 40 years ago.

In Xepon, I met Tawee and his 80 strong UXO Lao clearance team, delivering more COPE's limb fitting brochures informing them of the District's Pakse office. Where they go few others approach. I saw some of their pics of 4 wheel drive vehicles up to their headlights in the rainy season, reminded me of my 4 day hazardous journey from Vientiane to Luang Prabang in 1989 before the blacktop. And what my recent ride from Nong to Saravane could have been.

International Artist Cuts a Swathe Through Cluster Bombs

Man Winkler kindly donated one of his idiosyncratic drawings to support the project. Man, a German artist, has been living in Thailand for many years. Earlier this year he kindly gave this contribution to Project Pineapple. He now has a one man show in Bangkok. Please go to www.catherineschubertfineart.com for futher details. See Graphic above.