End of Touchy Feely Tour

I'm writing this from India, have a down day while I get ready to meet Sunny in Badami for rock climbing.

One thing I'd like to say is to again compliment Bangladesh on the people. Things are different here in India, as a tourist you fight to survive. People see you as a target and they are relentless about extracting money from you. In Bangladesh people are soo poor and live in incredibly cramped and polluted situations but I've never met so many honest, giving people regardless of income level.

My last couple days in Bangla were the best of the trip. I dug up this really cool orphange that is really poor. Bottomley. Run by a bunch of nuns. 140 girls and 5 boys ages 5-15. They nuns are awesome and do great work here. The kids are incredible and so well mannered even though they are sooo poor. They basically wear the same clothes everday and eat fish and rice. So anything you do or give them is like Christmas and they are so very appreciative. They loved the fact that I visit them and I spent a lot of time talking with the kids. My friend Dianne is a teacher in Minneapolis and will setup a penpal deal with these kids and the kids are super exicted about it. They feel invisible to the world so getting this type of attention is big thing for them.

http://www.bottomleyhomeorphanage.org.uk/

I really didn't do much besides talk to the kids. For all the donor people out there turns out the goverment books didn't show up this year so I bought them a bunch of school books at a the perfect time because school starts next week and they didn't have any books!! I also donated a lot of money for medicine and misc. They have to pay their own doctors, and when its rainy season they get a lot of diseases. They really wanted me to take them on a picnic but the timing was not right, so instead I want crazy buying them sweets and candy. They only get rice and fish mostly so sweets are like gold. It was total bedlam, the kids and staff went nuts.

This is not a good picture but the story is good. We went to order some special sweets from the factory. Well the factory is this "house" about the size of the top floor of my house 1000 sq/ft. Basically brick/bamboo walls and tin roof. 5 families live here 40 people!!! Let me say again 40 people!!! Everyone pretty much crams into the same beds together and I won't go any further. The remaining floor space is the factory. They make these egg and sugar balls. The guy was telling me about the great quality as a huge cockroach 1/2 the size of my fist was walking down the wall in back of him.

Here I am handing out sweets. Kids are the best.

Here we are buying sweets in shop. We cleaned them out of a bunch of stuff. The nun was really sweetie, wanted to know why I didn't go to church and prayed for me.

Here are the kids all lined up. I was amaze they were so polite and orderly considering they are so hungry for anything non-rice/fish. They all seemed super happy all the time.

Moms and beggar kids approach cars all the time. 3 years ago there were crowds of them this year only occaisonlly so maybe things aren't as bad. Hard to turn your back on some of them but you are only reinforcing their begging. I hate this part.

I also then visited my other Save The Children kid Selma. She is 5 and is in her second year with the program. STC moved from Shilpi's village in the NE to Selmas village in the west because Shilpi's village is doing great and Selma's village is so poor and the school system is bad and they have so many problems.

I spent two days visiting STC programs and STC training sessions. STC gets about 80 volunteer mothers and sends them to training. They learn about hygene, sex ed, reading/writing cirriculum, group games, etc. The goal is to give kids a head start before they hit school. They work in tandem with the school system.

One of my kids Selma start last year and is really cute. Here are pictures of Selma and her classmates and her dad. I gave them a bunch of candy and jewerly and that was exicting for them. Her dad works as a farm hand. They are all eating and doing well, but if dad gets sick or or there is a disease or the weather is not right then they all have big trouble.

Oh yeah, bird flu hit this village, Dhaka, and New Delhi while I was there. Hmmm common denominator???

SOOOO that's the end of the touchy feely tour for Mike. High points for me were:

1) Saying goodbye to Shilpi's grandma

2) My birthday party

3) The orphange kids were awesome

I am continuing to have contact with all these people and hope to visit them again. I want to adopt the whole orphange and find sponsors for them My next project I guess!!!! One has to dream you know!!!

Anyways after this I'm back to being selfish self-centered materialist Mike, the one you all know and love. Rock climbing in India with Sunny, and biking with #1 girlfriend Laura in Thailand and Nepal. Can't wait to see her!

Poverty and Dignity

So one of the Bangla Save The Children (STC) people is a psycologist. I asked her if there is a high suicide rate in Bangla, and she looked at me weird and shook her head "WHY?". "Maybe if there are dowry problems and the girl is mistreated, other than that no"

Ladies and Gentlemen:Bangldesh is one of the poorest, hottest, overpopulated, congested, dirtiest, polluted destinations that I think averages about 3 feet over sea level (and sinking thanks to global warming) . If I had to live here I'm not sure I could keep it together. But take a guess who has the highest suicide rates (if you can find it):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate


WHY?

The people here as a whole are the most genuine, honest, community oriented, happy, giving,
family oriented, simple people I've have ever met. And you know what? not a single person ever came up to me to complain about their life. Some might say it is 'hard' but that was about it.
I never had kids, but I feel that every USA high school kid would have their best class ever with a 1 year exchange program living in a village with one of my kids. Its hard to understand bird flu, arsenic drinking water, bathing in sewage, unprounouncable diseases, etc until you live in it....but the lesson will hit home. Your family and community is what keeps you in the game and you can't let them down. I could go on but I think you get the picture. Most of the developing world lives like my kids do and they are overall pretty happy BECAUSE they have each other and their community. I guess when you are this poor there is a feeling of "we are all in it together" so life is good.

Preach Preach Preach Blah Blah Blah.

Summary: I'm humbled by these people. I have so much and still complain. When will I learn my lesson?

I've created a posting of photos and stories that I'd like to share:

Gas: $4/gallon just raised from $3/gallon (LPG is a LOT cheaper, can't convert)
Hotel: $50/night outrageous! I paid $15 in Vietnam
Lunch: rice and fish .50 cents
Coffee: 10 cents really good with really good cream
SoftwareEngineer Salary good one: $25K/year
Gas rickshaw: $1 for couple miles
Pizza Hut Large Super Supreme Veggie: $13
Sew 2 zippers into pant pockets: $2
30 minutes cyber cafe: 20 cents
REALLY good 40 minute haircut with massage: 25 cents

Story: Rickshaw pullers (bicycle types) can work 14 hours sometimes. They work in the most polluted, dangerours environments not only exhaust, dust, asbestos, rain, potholes, cold, accidents. I asked how many people die in accidents a year and they said about 500 but that is their culture so no big deal. My guide hired one rickshaw puller 8 years old ( i was just dying inside) career man. We asked him why he wasn't in school and he said "my dad pulls rickshaws". Obvious to me anyways. They are paid about 10 cents to pull you 1/2 to 1 mile depending on how hard you want to weezle them. There are so many of them that the economic reality of the capitalist world ensures they stay slim and wanting more business. So my guide Mazin accidently leaves his bags in a rickshaw and the rickshaw takes off into the swirling mass of humanity with all his clothes and semi-valuables. Guess what happened? Bags showed up when we returned 2 days later but the evil rickshaw driver asked for a $1.50 tip the greedy son of a gun.

Life is actually not too bad if A) head of family has a job B) weather allows crops to grow. However those that are disabled, widowed, orphaned, generally wrong-side-of-tracks are more or less walking dead sooner or later. Options include a really cool Adidas sweatshop factory complete with teen-and-under staff:
















These kids thought they won the lottery because I was taking their pictures they were pretty happy.


















OR....if the sweatshop factory doesn't fit your lifestyle how about a more rural outside setting. See these piles of stones? They use to be bricks. Women LOVE working construction with their little ones hammering these bricks into tiny little stones for potholes and roadwork. Looks great on the resume (Name: Haj AGE 15 working construction 10 years, family oriented)

Hard to choose between all those bottled water brands? In Bangla they have a special brand called Arsenic-ola. Many of the wells turned out to deliver a great source of arsenic, and many people didn't find out until it was too late. Here they are drilling a 200 foot well for more better water...all pounding by hand. I hear some wells have to go to 800 feet.

This is a rickshaw bicycle school bus. They crate up about 10 kids and ship them off into monster rush hour traffic.

This is my friends apartment. This is one of two rooms probably 12x12. They are all software engineers. There are 4 people in these two rooms, that's it. They sleep together because they have to.

These are two highly skilled electrical workers (one standing next to capacitor). The electicity was on while these guys were having a party hooking something up. I was waiting for the sizzling smell....
















This is a school room, probably 10x10. This is my new kid Salma in yellow. They jam about 30 people into here to read books together. And they continue to smile and so do I! I have every reason in the world to because I've been to Bangladesh got to be with people living at the next level in life!!!

Some Photos

Here are some photos. These cyber cafe's aren't very good connections so things are real slow.
Pictures are kinda boring but best I can do:

My .25 cent Donald Trump combover. One of two haircuts I've got in 15 years or so. Both in this town....even comes with face and neck massage, great deal!
















Buddhist priest I was cycling with. He runs free hostpital in Hue middle of vietnam.

















This is orphanage in Dhaka. They are pretty poor so hope to do more work here. Run by Bangladesh nuns. Kids are super cute and love to speak english.


















Vietnam LOVES americans. Crazy.




















Saigon Buddhist orphanage run by buddhist nuns. They are all on super mellow people, not even ADHD Mike could overload them. They are doing OK, they are hooked up with a lot of NGOs and volunteer programs and get donations.






















Shilpi, Grandma and some kid. They are all Hindu.
























Climbing in Saigon on an old cement fountain.

















North vietnam tunnels 60 feet underground where 300 people lived during war while we dumped 40,000 bombs on 300 people.


















This is Walter climbing with me in Hong Kong. It was a beautiful day, normally very smoggy.

Achieving The Mission - Shilpi and College

People ask me why I'm wasting my time in Bangladesh when there are so many poor people in the states. I sponsored Shilpi for 8 years or something and never wrote to her. Then I saw this Jack Nickelson movie where he wrote to his sponsor kid and immediately was hit with guilt. I called Save The Children to see how to write to her, and they said incrediously "YOU DIDN"T WRITE TO HER???MY GAWD!!!" guilt guilt guilt. I told myself I was going to make up for being an idiot and do something special and visit her. When I visited her last time it was a big love fest. My letters and pictures were all over her walls sun stained so I know they've been there a while. I knew then that people here want more than just money, they want hope. They want a future and are willing to work their asses off for it and sacrifice everything. The kids are fanatical about going to school and not having babies. I guess I feel the poverty here is a level beyond the poverty in the states, and the smallest of efforts has unbelievable rewards. In addition, I think that if we get white people talking to Muslim people that would be one less country we have to invade.

Anyways we hop on one of those busses that are all decked out with wild carpet on the ceiling and things hanging from the ceiling and careen down jammed roads trying to kill as many rickshaws as possible. It took 7 hours to get to the village. Rickshaw, bus, scooter, walk, scooter, rickshaw, boat, walk 1.5 miles across rice paddies. Shilpi kinda knew I was coming but not sure when. I walked into her front yard and we just stopped and stared at each other, deer in headlight. She ran to get her mom and everyone poured out of the house yelling. There are 7 sisters, 1 brother, 2 grandparents, mom and dad. Grandma loves me and came running to hug me all hunched over and crooked teeth, almost crying. It was pretty cool. Shilpi was stunned even as I left, she probably didn't think I'd show up. We told them we are going to have my 50th birthday party tommorrow and I'd bring presents.

I asked Shilpi if she still wanted to be a teacher and she said YES! I sat down with dad and we talked immediately about Shilpi and college. In Bangladesh the Grameen bank (the guy that won Noble prize for micro lending) funds every girl to go through grade 12 I think. Dad wanted to send Shilpi to a private advanced college prep where she can learn English, because she is really smart and has recieved all these scholarships to date. He said she was the smartest daughter. Dad said it costs $100/month room and board and tuition and so I agreed to fund it. I told him I want to see her grades every month just to keep the pressure up. They go to school 12 months a year. She is currently in grade 9, so I'm committing to 9-12 for now. Shilpi's dad said I can bring her to the states for English lessons and will get her a passport. So maybe in a couple years I can do that after she learns some English here.

We cold only stay an hour it was getting dark so we had some food to eat and took some pictures and left promising to return. There was a buzz in the air.

I was amazed by the progress in the last two years. This village is in the middle of NOWHERE rice paddy ville and they now have electricity and cell phone service. Unreal. Shilpi's dad is a farmer, rents land and is the town doctor/nurse practictioner (3 months of training). Things are going pretty well, so the son is in high school in the big city and they have a cell phone and electricity. So object poverty is a thing of the past as long as the floods don't wipe out their house and dad stays healthy.

Its two hours from our guesthouse to Shilpi village so we took the boat back. It was 10pm by the time we went to bed, been traveling since 8am long day.

Next day I got a haircut. I've paid for two haircuts in the last 20 years and both were in this town. 25 cents and the guy worked on me for 45 minutes. The detail was incredible and I got a head massage (don't go there). Use to be 16 cents, but I'll let it slide.

We got on the boat and headed for Shilpi's. The kids were waiting and we had a caravan as we walked to town. In her front yard they setup a colorfull tent and everyone in town was there so it seemed. All her teachers and town elders showed up. The kids are pretty shy of white people, but when I broke out the candy it was total bedlam. Shilpi and I went nuts handing out candy. We brought some birthday cake and handed that out too. We had one candle and everyone sang happy birthday in English - weird! Then the speeches started. All the town elders gave speeches using all 6 English words they knew "happy, Mr Mike, I am, thankfull, good health" One guy talked for 20 minutes just repeating those words over and over again. We kept clapping to shut him down, but he kept giving the speech.

Stayed for about 2 hours and we had to get going again, long drive home. Saying goodbye to Shilpi's grandma was tough. We both cried because we knew we'd never see each other again - she's pretty old now.

So needless to say the event was awesome, beyond my dreams. Kids were laughing, parents were happy and Shilpi was going to college. Win Win Win. My mission was complete. On the way home I have to admit I felt my trip was done. I told Laura that if she wanted me to come home, I'd come because I did everything I wanted to do. I'm thinking India is going to be just another Bengladesh and I'm really not into the tourist thing. BTW, its really cold over here getting down to high 30's in north Bangladesh and people are freezing to death. Same in New Delhi, there is a cold system that won't go away. I have been wearing a fleece for two days, its pretty chilly. I'm not sure how these people do it, they don't have a lot of clothes to keep warm.

So I guess I did touch upon my inner child. I think everyone should have a purpose in life and I got to do mine. I got Shilpi in college and have this idea for solving war, poverty, homelessness, hunger and the planet (OK, i'm exaggerating but you all know me). One problem I'm having is that I can't live in a polluted environment, my lungs are dying after a couple days in Dhaka. I'm starting to wheeze and gurgle. So I still think I want to retire in 5 years (assuming the stock market doesn't wipe out my wealth AGAIN! for the 3rd time), and maybe go around the world teaching English as second language part-time and saving the world part-time pursuing my business idea. Laura seems keen to it too, so maybe we can make that happen. But overall I'm getting an idea of how I want to shape my last 30-40 years on the planet, living my purpose. Very fulfilling and certain amount of freedom in it all. Loving it!

So today is Thursday and I have downtime forced upon me because my stomach and body died on something I ate. I slept until 5pm. I want to visit an orphange here so maybe tommorrow we can rig that.

Talked to Sunny and climbing is on for south India. I want to see Sunny but I'm actually ready to come home too. Maybe just sick today and want to lie in my own bed and watch my new big ass 32" LCD TV (completely at odds with my save the world talk talk talk). Laura said she is exicted about coming so Feb 15th I get to see her so I'm pretty excited about that. We are going to bike Thailand beaches and Nepal Buddhist temples.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.








As we head

Dreez Does Bangladesh

You'll have to forgive me today, I ate some vendor food yesterday and my juju (and stomach/head/body) is kinda low. In Vietnam I would coat my stomach with a bag of Doritos before eating vendor food and didn't get sick but couldn't find Doritos here. My theory is that Doritos are so toxic that it would kill any bacteria before they multiply.

I am getting tons of email and apologize for not getting back to people, its been overwhelming and the computers here are kinda crappy so its hard doing computer stuff. I am reading the email and appreciate your comments and its very cool you enjoy my blog. One of these days I'll figure out how to post pictures, I don't have the right cable.

SOOO where to start? Its Sunday the 20th and leaving the airport in Dhaka is a trip. Seemingly thousands of people behind metal gates screaming at you "White Boy with No Ass! Want a ride? (in Bengla so not quite sure what they are saying)" and beggar kids poised to attack. Its daunting walking out into the thick of it. But as I look around I realize none of these people have asses either, so they are all my brothers and sisters and we are one. 150 million people with no asses, I'm in heaven.

Luckily my contact showed up and guided me through the chaos. The original contact Tanvir was driving his car to pick me up, but the cops pulled him over and found out he didn't pay his taxes and took his car and fined him about a thousand dollars which is huge bucks over here.

Sunday just slept but Monday had to get India visa. Tanvir's neighbor was the India visa officer (small world) so I had it wired. Also went to American embassy to check on visa for Shilpi in case her dad let her visits. Get this, I went through 4 checkpoints and searches , and when I spoke with the officer she was behind a blast window. Wild security, the place is a fort. I kinda feel sorry for embassy people. I guess visas are going to be hard to get, so I have some embassy contact people in case I have trouble. They interview each person before granting visas.

At night I went on this massive shopping binge picking up candy, jewerly, pens, etc for Shilpi and her family. Three of us piled into a rickshaw with 10 bags dodging huge trucks and busses (they only let trucks in at night).

Like Vietnam, there are no traffic rules and if there was a traffic rule if you beep your horn you can do whatever you want. So going against traffic, riding on sidewalks, hitting car hoods, a rickshaw drove over my feet, yelling,etc are all fair game. The pollution and dust is incredible and is killing my lungs, not sure I could save the world in this city.

They said pollution was much worse several years ago but get this, Bangladesh has a ton of natural gas. So they are converting all their vehicles over to natural gas which doesn't pollute. All the rickshaws are converted, 35% of cars/trucks and busses. Seems they are ahead of the game when it comes to weaning themselves off oil, wish it was same in USA. They say its a lot cheaper too, I didn't get the numbers.

Finished the night visiting Tanvir's relatives and eating eating eating. Lots of rice, fish, yes meat, etc. Tommorrow we start the journey to visit Shilpi, my main mission so I'm pretty excited and can't sleep. Lets watch TV.

They have lots of American TV for a Muslim nation, some of it pretty racy I'm suprised. Tanvir says the country is very secular and because the extremists backed Pakistan during the 71 war, they are not popular here. I'd say about 10% of the women do the full burka thing, and 50% cover up lightly. But I sense women are not totally totally subjigated like in other Muslim countries. I'm carefull not to touch any females just in case someone wants to jihad my ass. They are becoming more liberal so dating is starting to happen instead of marrying off the daughter to rich guys. Although my guide Mizan?? had to hit the "Buy Now" button and his cost him a couple thousand. But they are not having kids and instead just working and going to school.

So if you are my age you probably remember the Dec 71 "Concert for Bengladesh" by George Harrison when there was a famine. We'll I'm happy to report that you can wipe all that from your impressions. Bengladesh use to be 40% supported by NGO's, but that is down to I think 4%. The garment industry is booming and they are competing with China because they have better quality. THey are basically becoming an export nation of people, garments, manufacturer,etc. Cell phones work better here in the middle of bum fudge nowhere than they do in downtown Minneapolis. They are trying to become a Malaysia/Vietnam. The military got rid of the government Jan 2006 because they were all corrupt and threw all the politicians in jail. A intellectual caretaker government took over and is killing corruption I'm told. The economy is moving forward although not booming, but at least its not imploding like USA economy. Get this, the taka local currency is gaining against the dollar! which has rarely happened. Last time I saw tons of military with big guns, this time not so much. So I think the place is stablizing and moving ahead. I know my contacts Tanvir and Majir are constantly talking about make Bengladesh a great country and kicking Malaysian ass, etc. So people are very proud of their country here.

That said, its not like people are living like Paris Hilton. There are volumes of beggar kids, women with almost dead naked babies begging, amputees, blind people, etc that are basically just tossed into the street. I'm having a hard time morally just turning my back and walking away I have images of some of them burned into my memory that won't go away. I can't give them money or they will never move on, so I'll just have to give to organizations instead.

The service level at the hotel is almost annoying they would almost get in bed and read you the paper if you let them, because they need tips and enjoy speaking English. As a Westerner I bought 4 Heinikens for $10 including tip because the bus boy knew where to get me the stuff and jammed them into his pockets. If he got caught, he might go to jail its illegal for them to have liquor. Kinda hard getting any privacy in the hotel or on the street. People LOVE Americans and it is the big dream is to come to America. Everyone wants to shake my hand and talk to me which is cool, but its hard walking down the street without 10 people wanting to talk to you and ask about America.

Ok, done dribbling on for now. Tommorrow I get to see Shilpi!

Vietnam - The Final Days (but who is counting)

Not sure where I left off, but doesn't matter who reads this stuff anyways?

HoChiMihn(Siagon) got to me, the intense traffic/pollution/noise so I decided to head to China each made famous by a Vietnam series after the same name. Da Nang in the center hosts China Beach a 30 mile long awesome piece of real estate. Just plop my skinny white American ass down on a sunny beach and dream of nothing.....

Sorry to interupt this blog but cold and rain is being reported for the three days skinny white ass is plopped down on beach.

OK, screw that I bought the ticket so time to head to Hue to hang out with Buddhist monks. Hue is the center of BuddhaWorld, and I got to motorcylce with the Venerable Big Buddha guy. He is running a free hospital for poor people and I wanted to donate some cash to the cause. So I got to tour the hospital and ride on back of motorcycle with Buddhist priests in their robes.

Next I always wanted to see the DMZ so I rented a driver and head to North Vietnam. Across the border was the most bombed piece of realestate on the planet. This village estimated that 40,000 bombs fell on them. Fortunately all 300 people were 60 feet underground in this awesome tunnels, so I think we wasted

40,000*$100,000=whateverwhoiscountingweareatwarbombingpeopleintothestoneagetobeatthecommiesatanycost.

Head back to DaNang for flight home and TADA, sunshine and warmth as I'm heading for the plane! So at night I just started hiking to find China Beach and 7 miles and 4 hours later at
night I FOUND IT. Awesome. Took some pictures in morning. Vietnam war history is now
officially closed.

Fly into Saigon and what should I do? Hmmmm.. Rock Climbing of course so climbed with some cool people on this really cool cement mountain 50 feet high. That was a blast. I got totally toasted in the heat and pollution and crumbled.

Run back to the airport and met this cool PHD guy doing sustainable agriculture building closed systems trying to increase farm incomes in Mekong Delta. Totally inspiring that something like this could save the world by not having the masses migrate into the cities but instead make money on the farms and actually be able to survive. Save The World, there is hope and cool people dedicating their lives trying to ensure we don't smoke the planet. Love it! I'm jazzed. I think Shilpi's dad could do something like this so got his contact info.

Basic Vietnam Trivia:
- no barking dogs
- mellow dogs
- no graffiti
- no/minor crime
- if you die on the job, your family gets $300
- basic sexual service $0.16 (a journalist informed me, nothing else)
- 80 million people - 1 "highway" (two lane country road), 1 railroad track
- no mcdonalds that i saw
- everyone loves americans

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

dreez

Inner Child Update

Tons of my friends wrote me trying to help me find my inner child! Ain't that so cool, I didn't know you all really cared about my boring mundane existence.

Anyways, I actually think I know what my inner child is all about and I'm pretty excited that I think I am finding some of it. I think charities are a thing of the past and the future is all about profitable non-profits where a business's profits go back to into the people doing the work. So imagine homeless people owning and running their own factory as business people (OK extreme, but you get the picture). See Catherdal Within.

So I have this new business venture idea I've been working on and I'm meeting people over here checking it out. The dream is that everyone wins, from the workers to the clients.

This might all be another dreezman flash-in-the-pan, but I'm having a blast pursuing
it. Someday I'll tell you all about it, if it comes true.

dreez

The Orphange Update

So I had this image of starving naked kids strewn about packed in
like sardines chewing on tree stumps for food.

Nothing further from the truth. I found this great Buddhist orphange
run by Buddhist nuns. I spoke with some volunteer workers and the
place is super well run by the nuns. The kids have 120 brother and sisters
to play with 24x7, the nuns are like having 10 moms that are warm and
loving, lots of volunteers, etc. Many kids that are 18 years old hate to leave,
they come back and work for free!

So I have to admit I totally failed in my attempt to load them on a bus
and take them swimming. The head nun said they are too busy with
school and studying that it wouldn't work out. So I just donated 1/3'd
of the money from all you guys to the orphange. Seems like the money
is being well spent from my observations. I will try and find
more orphanges in India and Bangladesh to do the bus thing. SORRY!
I'm a total failure.

dreez

VIetnam - Closing the loop

I grew up sitting in the living room listening to the body counts from Vietnam on the nightly news, Kent state shootings, Mai Lia massacre, anti-war protests, the music, Woodstock, etc. Later on I knew vets that returned and had problems, my Vietnamese neighbors that lived through the re-education camps, vets exposed to agent orange, etc.

Vietnam had a huge impact on me ages 10 thru 23'ish, and probably so for others in my age range. The music alone was probably the last time groups made music for the sake of the music and a passionate cause, and not just the money and fame. Fleetwood Mac, CSNY, Chicago, Rolling Stones, Beatles, etc. It was a great age of music that still lives in kids 30 years younger than me.

Turning 50, I wanted to close the loop on the Vietnam thing. So That's why I decided to come here. These are my impressions.

Imagine if Iraq didn't like the results of our Nov elections. So Iraq decides to do a "police action" and assist the USA Islamic forces repulse the democractic oritented terrorists. Iraq pours 72 million gallons of Agent Orange over 20% of the USA, kills 10% of the USA population (20 million - aking some of this up), drops 2,0000 pounds of explosives for every man/women/child, etc. As with any war there are obviously many horrible attrocities on both sides. Eventually USA democratic citizens obviously wind up kicking their sorry asses back home. Then the winning democratic forces embark on policies which isolate the country for
another 15 years and kill/starve/main a bunch more people. At the end you have a starving
country with lots of birth defects from agent orange, mangled veterans, decimated religious/
intellectual business classes, etc.

Now imagine a bald, skinny, 4-eyed Iraqi guy getting off a plane in Washington DC 35 years later. Wouldn't you think most Americans would want to kick his ass?

I'm not trying to make any kind of political statement here. Once leaders pull the trigger on a war machine, its going to be ugly on both sides. When you go to war, you can't sit around and sing kum-by-ya and hold hands. I'm drawing this picture because my impression was that the Vietnamese people would naturally hate Americans for what we did to them. I have never been to a more American friendly country in the world!!! There is this big building in the middle of Saigon with huge letters "Perfect USA" on it. I'm trying to find communism, but this is the most capitalist country in the world. People don't pay taxes (George Bush would love that!), business if BOOMING, economy is nuts, people are fairly free to do their thing, only minor crime compared to the mayhem back home, you can shoot M16 machines guns for $1/bullet. Everyone is making money.

The downside is you work 24x7 for $3/day, the environment is being ravaged, you pay for all your healthcare/pension/school, you drive a moped, people are jammed in elbow to elbow.

And they just love Americans!! Everywhere I go people want to talk to Americans. America "AOK" is what I get. If you look lost tons of people will approach you and try to help you. Now obviously 75% of it is because you have money, but either way they are super friendly money or no money.

During the war I always heard about the "Tunnels" where the Vietcong hid and fought. I always wanted to visit the Co Chi Tunnels, so I did. No wonder why they kicked our butts. They had 3000 people underground 25 miles from Saigon. These tunnels went for 120 miles and down to 30 feet deep. The place is still littered with B52 craters like a moon scape. The whole area was declared a live fire zone during the war, so basically anything goes. There was so much Agent Orange poured on this place it turned into a moonscape. US Planes returning to Saigon had the freedom to dump unused bombs anywhere they wanted. Soldiers could shoot anything that moved. And in the end it just didn't matter, the US and France never could countrol the territory.

Moral of Story #1: Never bail the French out of their own screw ups
Moral of Story #2: White people should never fight a land war in Asia
if you are going to be percieved as aggressors/occupiers
Moral of Story #3: You can bomb people back to the stone age, but you can't bomb their hearts

So the Vietnam loop is closed for me. From the surreal media view as a 15 year old, to walking past Agent Orange beggar kids and mangled veterans - as a 50 year old white bald skinny guy. I was 2.5 years from being drafted in 1975, and I am so very happy to be a bald skinny 4-eyed white guy visiting Vietnam as a welcomed tourist and not a dispised GI tunnel rat.

dreez

How To Contact Me - Cell, SMS

For my family and friends I'll keep this up to date so you can contact me if
you remember who I am. I bought a cell phone and you can text me or
call me in case something comes up. I'll update the phone number when I
switch countries:

Vietnam: 084- 933-71-1112
Bangladesh: 88-017-205-02868
India Feb 1 to Feb 14: 0091-99-58-27-8332
Thailand: Feb 14 to Feb 22
Nepal: Feb 22 to March 1
email: edreez "at" hotmail dot com

If you SMS text me, I can call you back eventually, I know its super expensive over the cell, but they have cheap Internet call centers where I use Skype. If you call me, it costs me nothing but you obviously have to pay.


Later,
dreez

Hong Kong Climbing

OK, so Mike decides to look for his inner child and winds
up climbing in Hong Kong! No inner child there. But I did
get to meet up with old friends on a beautiful 80 degree day
with blue skies and no smog as I remember it. Did some dreaded
slab climbing and some trad climbing on a newly developed area.
Was fun.

My friend June lives in a mega-apartment block on the 25 floor.
She says rent runs $4000 USD/month! Moderate size apartment,
3 bedrooms, tiny kitchen and bath, big livingroom.

Everyone says that teaching English as a second language is a great
job and you can make good money doing it. Big demand for it here.
This place is just booming at the seams.

Pretty boring so far, but I haven't contiplated the 'W' word for a
week or so.

dreez

The Orphanges

I like working with kids because I never had any. Besides I figure a middle age white guy spends $200,000 raising some white kid in lilly white surburbia, so with the same money I can help a lot of kids that eat dirt and have nothing.

So I'm heading off to SE Asia and plan to find some orphange and give the kids something they rarely get - hope. Hope that someone sees them as people and not invisible beings. I want to load them up on a bus and take them to an amusement park or something. (Inspired by Mike Farris and Bob Rowe) Not sure, but I'll think of something to brighten their lives and see that someone cares about them.

People are giving me money to give to the kids. If you decide to do this also, please send me a picture of yourself. I think the kids want to know who is on the other end of the money so it has more meaning that someone cares about them.

To contribute:
Send me email at ----- edreez "at" hotmail dot com
Send me a picture of yourself
Tell me how much $$ and I'll ping you for cash when I get home.

Otherwise:
Paypal: mje "at" secev dot com
Physical Address:
7020 145th Street West
Apple Valley, MN 55124


Love ya,
dreez

Why Am I doing this?

Probably bored you with this story but here it goes.

When you start hitting the big numbers there becomes more to life than staring into computer screens for 8 hours and driving metal boxes burning up precious resources.

One day when I went climbing the gym people looked me up and I was there 1100 time!!! Am I a winner or loser? LOSER. When I die will they say "Mike is a great guy, he went to the climbing gym 1100 times".

So I went home and wrote down 10 goals for myself. One of them was to go to SE Asia and get my Save The Children sponsor kid into college. I also read some new age books and wanted to look for the inner child and talk to old wrinkly holy people and see what they say.

So I told work I was taking off for a while and if there is a job when I get back great, otherwise I'll wing it.

More inspiration:

1) Watched "Into the Wild" Great movie about finding inner freedom...but at a cost
2) Sue Cram - Walked away from her job after trip to Nepal and lived in her car for 3 years
3) Gene Leonard - My mentor - Closest thing to Dali Lamma I'd ever know
4) Joe Mueller - "Be true to yourself"

Where is my inner child?

I've never done this blog thing before because I figure who the heck has the time or even cares about the minutia of my life, but everyone is telling me to do it so I'm doing this for you all. Should be fun.

If you ever want to quit your job and go off into the unknown by yourself and find your inner child, definitely go see the move "Into The Wild". Talk about ultimate freedom baby, its out there....but at a price.

I saw movie and it finalized my decision to walk off into the wild for a while and see what I find. I'm heading off the SE Asia trekking, biking, hunting down new age holy people, going to orphanages and taking kids on bus rides, climbing, visiting my sponsor kids in Bangladesh
and seeing if I can get one of them into college...and not sure what else. Basically just getting off the plane and winging it.

This is the plan:

Saigon - Orphanages, Viet Cong tunnels, biking, beaches- Jan 11
Bangladesh - Sponsor kids Shilpi and Salma, try and get Shilpi into college - Jan 22
India - Ophanages, Human Rights lady, biking, climbing with Sunny - Jan 30
Thailand with Laura - Biking, beaches - Feb 14
Nepal with Laura - Biking and Trekking in Lang Tang National Park - Feb 22nd
Home - maybe March 1st
Joshua Tree - Climbing w/ Josh, Joe and Arah -- March 6th

I'll try and update this as I go but I'm telling you its going to be pretty boring.

Anyways everyone is asking me if I'm going off the deep end and I'm really not. As in the movie "Happiness is best shared" and I have a lot of happiness in my life and I intend to share it when I get back. However, if some Nepal Maoist guerilla decides that skinny white blind bald guys stand in between him and his final destiny.... just wanted to say that I tried to shower the people i love with love (someone should write a song about that), and i hope you were in the shower with me.

Enough touchy feely crap, I'm outta here for now.

dreezman
edreez "at" hotmail dot com