March 19 / Retur to Hue
Da Nang - Hue / Beach Bar Hue Hostel 110 km.
After 2 days here in Da Nang, I have chosen to drive back to Hue, so MC mechanic Kim hopefully once and for all can solve my electrical problem.
It is again today overcast skies and slightly foggy.
After 30 km. there are again some mountain driving. On the other side of the mountain, it gets colder, as the fog here is closer. It's great that this road has a painted center line that I can stick to. Fortunately there is not much traffic of oncoming cars.
It is again today overcast skies and slightly foggy.
After 30 km. there are again some mountain driving. On the other side of the mountain, it gets colder, as the fog here is closer. It's great that this road has a painted center line that I can stick to. Fortunately there is not much traffic of oncoming cars.
12:30 pm I arrived at Hue and MC. workshop. Kim set up a security system to the battery. He believes it will solves my electrical problem. After 5 kilometers drive, again no power. It seems there are some problems with the generator. First 3:30 pm Kim was ready with my motorbike as he has many other customers with MC. problems.
Kim gives me this Mickey Mouse cloth, which has been a pair of pants, so I have a cloth to dry hands. With this American cloth, delete the Vietnamese symbolically the dirty past, wiping the slate clean and move on. I continue out to the open sea.
Finally, on the way out to the South China sea
Finally, I can move forward toward Hue beach to take a swim in the South China Sea, as I many weeks have looked forward to this. I'm lucky, there is a Beach Bar Hue Hostel with restaurant at the beachfront. They can offer a Hostel room for 4 people, for $ 12 or a room all alone for $ 36 per. night.
I choose the single room since 4 people room was far too pinched and close. In the hostel room for $ 36, I can sit in the shade in the doorway with my computer and enjoy the sound of the waves wash onto the beach, the fresh air and the beautiful landscaping.
I choose the single room since 4 people room was far too pinched and close. In the hostel room for $ 36, I can sit in the shade in the doorway with my computer and enjoy the sound of the waves wash onto the beach, the fresh air and the beautiful landscaping.
I soon find my swimsuit and hurry down to the water, to give my body the refreshment, it had looked forward to all day. It has in the meantime again become hazy. The air is 25c and the water 19 c. I had expected that the water was somewhat warmer at this time of year. The fresh water and half big waves remind me of the North Sea. I have to swim me warm. I enjoy lying on my back and just float and let the waves slowly flush one against the seashore.
I conclude with a jog along the water's edge in the fog. Great to get touched and loosened one's muscles after the body has been stuck in the same position for long hours on the motorbike.
I conclude with a jog along the water's edge in the fog. Great to get touched and loosened one's muscles after the body has been stuck in the same position for long hours on the motorbike.
The next day the sun shines
'The Dead City’
Officially 81% atheists, Buddhists 9%, 7% Catholics, 2% Hoa Hoa, 1% Cao-dai. The communist regime, has over the years allowed people to continue their religious traditions
Buddhists, Taoists and Confucianister have formed a trinity and most Vietnamese nationals will say that they are Buddhists, but they are not very religious. In return, they cling to rituals like worship ancient spirits - the deceased family members - to protect them after their death. In most Vietnamese home is a house altar, where it says jars with incense sticks, with the names of the man of the house's deceased relatives. The dead are buried and after 4 years in the ground dug the decomposed remains up and placed in a jar.
The last 20 years, the funerary monuments have become bigger and more pompous, it is because firstly, a better economy, but also a matter of status, according to a Vietnam Know.
The Dead City
Again a misty morning, so everything is damp.
After a morning swim, breakfast and a little writing, I am ready to take off and visit 'The Dead City'
The receptionist told me that 22 km. from here, at the end of the sand spit, there is an area called 'The Dead City'. A huge cemetery.
12:00 am and the sun had supplanted the gray mass.
After a morning swim, breakfast and a little writing, I am ready to take off and visit 'The Dead City'
The receptionist told me that 22 km. from here, at the end of the sand spit, there is an area called 'The Dead City'. A huge cemetery.
12:00 am and the sun had supplanted the gray mass.
On the way to 'The Dead City' I drove past one temple and cemetery after another. I had decided that I would first photograph 'The Dead City' and on the way home I would use energy to photograph some of the temples and cemeteries.
Beach Bar Hue Hostel
I enjoy 3 days here near the water in a relaxed aesthetic atmosphere with few guests to the sounds of waves rhythmically sound. Here I can also get them to make vegetarian dishes.
The young chef offers to bake a Vietnamese rice papadam to me, when I ask if could get one. Next day he had 2 large papadams with him, which he had baked in his privat kitchen. In the restaurant they hadn't the ingredients. Freshly baked, they were fantastic, lovely crisp with a very delicate flavor. It is a completely different texture than the white sandwich and baguette bread, otherwise I have got.
In the open landscape, I see again many cemeteries up against the gray sky.
March 22 / Heading into the demilitarized zone
Hue / Beach – Phu Viet 145 km.
The day starts again a little hazy.
I have planned, to see Vin Moc tunnels, which is situated by the coast about 100 km. due north from Hue Beach in the demilitarized zone. I will then decide how much more I want to drive.
I have planned, to see Vin Moc tunnels, which is situated by the coast about 100 km. due north from Hue Beach in the demilitarized zone. I will then decide how much more I want to drive.
The sun breaks through the clouds slowly and gives the incredible number of temples I drive past color and life. It is clear that imperial town of Hue has left its religious touch to the entire province of Thua Thien Hue.
2 Backpackers are taking the chance driving along the water edge. I do not know how or where they have come down to the water edge through the wide piece of loose sand. Will they find a ramp at the end or do they have to withdraw their motorbike through the loose sand. I give up the idea to follow their example. I might have enough power to haul or make the attempt to control the MC with luggage through the loose sand. But I really feel like more hardships. At my age the sense voltage takes over in such elections
30 km. before I reach my interim goal, the underground tunnels, I drive out to the beach. The sun is now high in the sky. Finder my trunks back and goes down to the water's edge . Great again to float on the waves.
30 km. before I reach my interim goal, the underground tunnels, I drive out to the beach. The sun is now high in the sky. Finder my trunks back and goes down to the water's edge . Great again to float on the waves.
After experiencing the tunnels and 1 hour drive, I found a OK hotel near the small town of Phu Viet. After unpacking I drove out to a small fishing village at the sea.
Bronze relief on the Vinh Moc Tunnels museum. Great specific and culturally spiritual thought
Vinh Moc tunnels that were made during the war went down 30 m. Depth and stretched over 3 km. with 13 inputs. Here lived a community of 600 people in the period 1968 -1972. Each family had a small part time at 1x2 m.
Vinh Moc tunnels just north of 17 latitude as was the demilitarized zone between North and South Vietnam where they were obligated to not have stationed military forces or maintaining military installations.
Vinh Moc tunnels just north of 17 latitude as was the demilitarized zone between North and South Vietnam where they were obligated to not have stationed military forces or maintaining military installations.
It is very traumatic to move around in the narrow claustrophobic tunnels. I follow someone who has a guide ahead of him. I do not want to get lost in a 3 km. dark tunnel system. It is very hard to imagine how it must have been to live four years underground. We humans are amazing survives, it's only our imagination limits. The guide lead us out of an entrance, adjacent to the sea. Incredibly liberating to see daylight
The tunnels were used in The Vietnamese guerrilla war. Over 200 kilometers. Tunnels were dug out of the room with shovels and were used as protection but also to the surprise attack.
15 million bombs dropped on Vietnam during the war from 1965 to 1973 corresponding to eight million tons of bombs. Three times the amount that was used in the 2 world war.
Agent Orange: In the period 1965-1970 sprayed Americans 20 million liters of material containing chemical herbicides and defoliants mixed with jet fuel, down over parts of Vietnam, eastern Laos and Cambodia. It is the largest amount of chemical weapon ever used in war. The impact was on people and nature in the first phase of diseases, including cancer. In the second phase were born freaks. Half a mil. children are born with defects. First now, 2-3 generations later, they didn't get so many deformed children
The image of the 9-year-old Kim Phuc 1972 there naked runs away from her village, hit by a Napalm bomb, got the majority of US citizens to turn against the war's continuation.
Napalm used Americans in the period 1965-1973. Napalm is a mixture of polystyrene plastic, hydrocarbons, benzene and gasoline. This mixture creates a jelly-like substance that sticks to almost all the torch and for up to 10 min. The effect on the human body is intolerably painful and almost always result in death.
Napalm used Americans in the period 1965-1973. Napalm is a mixture of polystyrene plastic, hydrocarbons, benzene and gasoline. This mixture creates a jelly-like substance that sticks to almost all the torch and for up to 10 min. The effect on the human body is intolerably painful and almost always result in death.
My Lai Massacre. The month of March 1968, around 500 civilians, half of them women and children got in 4 hours systematically murdered. It was a pure act of revenge because some of their soldiers colleagues had been killed.
I participated in the Vietnam demonstration in Washington d. 9 May 1970 - when I was on a 8 months stay in the United States.
New York 01.04.1970 / A new hellish year has begun. - Bjarne
A depressing New Year's greeting sent to my friend Svend Erik from New York. It shows how strong the Vietnam War affected me and many of my American friends.
A depressing New Year's greeting sent to my friend Svend Erik from New York. It shows how strong the Vietnam War affected me and many of my American friends.
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War ended in 1975, when the last American escaped and Vietnam was reunited under a communist regime. But after 30 years of war, first against the French and then the Americans, with 3 million deaths and a country that was bombed, chemically poisoned and with tremendous brutalization and corruption.
40% of the land and forest that could be grown and utilized were destroyed. It was an almost impossible task, to rise again, especially as the beaten party, Americans and the Western countries isolated Vietnam for trade.
From Chairman Mao Tse-Tung little red book that I read in my younger days, I remember this simple powerful quote: 'An army without culture is a bad army'. It correctly quoted Mao quote is: 'An army without culture is a dull army, and a dull army can not beat the enemy'.
The Vietnamese had something important to fight for their independence and their culture. The young American soldiers had a faint idea why they were at war. Therefore prevailed Vietnam not because of superior military strength, but because of an inner rigidity and rooted in their culture.
It's now been more than forty years since the Vietnam War ended. Action on the surface, it looks green and lush out. All crater holes and huge areas of defoliants forests, is now covered with eucalyptus trees.
In the 4 weeks I have been driving around in North and Central Vietnam, I have not seen any visible physical signs of nature or met Vietnamese people with visible disabilities. It is probably because the malformed has become older and therefore no longer in the public domain.
Beggars and homeless, I have not met someone. It seems that the Communist Party will take care of as it is forbidden to beg.
40% of the land and forest that could be grown and utilized were destroyed. It was an almost impossible task, to rise again, especially as the beaten party, Americans and the Western countries isolated Vietnam for trade.
From Chairman Mao Tse-Tung little red book that I read in my younger days, I remember this simple powerful quote: 'An army without culture is a bad army'. It correctly quoted Mao quote is: 'An army without culture is a dull army, and a dull army can not beat the enemy'.
It's now been more than forty years since the Vietnam War ended. Action on the surface, it looks green and lush out. All crater holes and huge areas of defoliants forests, is now covered with eucalyptus trees.
In the 4 weeks I have been driving around in North and Central Vietnam, I have not seen any visible physical signs of nature or met Vietnamese people with visible disabilities. It is probably because the malformed has become older and therefore no longer in the public domain.
Beggars and homeless, I have not met someone. It seems that the Communist Party will take care of as it is forbidden to beg.
Their leader Ho Chi Minh, with his ascetic appearance, mind and strategy as Mahatma Gandhi, but with a gun in his hand, used strategically and wisely, his people's strength and indomitable survival mentality in their long liberation struggle that led to victory.
The same philosophical wisdom, the Communist Party selected in their future struggle to move on after this total inhuman traumatic massacre that they had experienced.
They chose psychological and concrete, to focus on moving forward. Not to perceive themselves as victims and cultivate hatred of the enemy. But put the traumatic events and hatred behind, to keep a lid on and concentrate on looking ahead.
In Son Track, out of the rocky caves, I met a Danish / Vietnamese 20 year old girl. She was born and lives in Viborg of Vietnamese parents who had fled from Vietnam. She was not at school or directly from her parents heard nothing about the Vietnam War. She was in Vietnam with a friend to visit her grandparents.
Of a young receptionist I was told that she had never heard his parents talk about the Vietnam War, but her grandparents talk about the war to her when she was a child. Now they were dead.
It seems that the Vietnamese are generally not reluctant to Americans and their culture. In the major towns you find Burger King, Starbucks and advertisements for various American brand like Coca Cola. In theme parks are plenty of Walt Disney characters. English is an important language for them.
I heard some years ago a report about a psychiatrist who after World War II, worked with children who had survived their stay in a concentration camp. His therapy treatment went out that they do not concentrate on their traumatic experiences, but instead focused on what they could, and what they had of the ability to do and would in the future. Give them faith in their own ability to move forward.
The same philosophical wisdom, the Communist Party selected in their future struggle to move on after this total inhuman traumatic massacre that they had experienced.
They chose psychological and concrete, to focus on moving forward. Not to perceive themselves as victims and cultivate hatred of the enemy. But put the traumatic events and hatred behind, to keep a lid on and concentrate on looking ahead.
In Son Track, out of the rocky caves, I met a Danish / Vietnamese 20 year old girl. She was born and lives in Viborg of Vietnamese parents who had fled from Vietnam. She was not at school or directly from her parents heard nothing about the Vietnam War. She was in Vietnam with a friend to visit her grandparents.
Of a young receptionist I was told that she had never heard his parents talk about the Vietnam War, but her grandparents talk about the war to her when she was a child. Now they were dead.
It seems that the Vietnamese are generally not reluctant to Americans and their culture. In the major towns you find Burger King, Starbucks and advertisements for various American brand like Coca Cola. In theme parks are plenty of Walt Disney characters. English is an important language for them.
I heard some years ago a report about a psychiatrist who after World War II, worked with children who had survived their stay in a concentration camp. His therapy treatment went out that they do not concentrate on their traumatic experiences, but instead focused on what they could, and what they had of the ability to do and would in the future. Give them faith in their own ability to move forward.
US war crimes
Americans who wanted to get communism to life in Southeast Asia, started the Vietnam War with a massive bombing in 1965 under the pretext that the Vietnamese without reason had attacked US ships in international waters.
Made the US war crimes during the Vietnam War?
Already the year 1967 benefited from an international tribunal, on the initiative of the English philosopher Bertrand Russell. Tribunalen concentrating on evidence in the following areas:
· Aggression crime, including violations of international treaties
· The use of experimental weapons, such as gas and chemicals
· Bombing of hospitals, sanatoriums, schools, levees and other civilian facilities
· Torture and mutilation of prisoners
· Implementation of measures to genocide, such as forced labor, mass burials and other eradication methods in south
This tribunal was great largely ignored by the US
USA had even helping to carry war operations against the Germans and Japanese after World War II. And to introduce the Nürnberg principles of the UN General Assembly, which approved principles. Therefore, the United States are like Germany accountable for its war crimes.
It is important that the United States and Americans are confronted with their past. In a time when many countries around the world, is in the process of processing the past, the question arises whether the only superpower can ignore information about war crimes committed in various wars.
WWII is crystal clear in our mind's eye as the inhuman deeds and the philosophical thoughts behind the actions have been endless debate and Germans have acknowledged their misdeeds. But that have the United States and the American people not done 40 years later. Although they have carried out war crimes.
The US has in all their wars justified their actions and war crimes that they are fighting for freedom and democracy, and used these concepts as the moral catalyst for their actions. But it is not freedom and democracy they struggle, but the capitalist and liberal thoughts.
Since the United States is allied with NATO and also is a military superpower, it has been difficult for Western countries, actually to hold them accountable.
Therefore, it was without much reflection and a little aimlessly to the United States in 2001 as retributive action for suicide attacks end on New York and Washington d. 11 sept. 2001 went to war against Afghanistan's fundamentalist Taliban regime.
Then they attacked aimlessly Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein.
The Danish government chose to support the US 100% of their war, first in Afghanistan, then the war against Saddam Hussein because of misstatements and later against Syria. We Dane now has over 15 years actively participated in the war.
We Dane has not been much better, we went with a war based on false pretenses, just as the US population. The current Danish government has put a lid on and stopped the impeachment that would otherwise be able to determine how the error information occurred.
The Vietnamese have with their silence on the various war crimes the US has made during the Vietnam War, made it too easy for Americans to forget their crimes and thereby easily repeat the pattern.
Made the US war crimes during the Vietnam War?
Already the year 1967 benefited from an international tribunal, on the initiative of the English philosopher Bertrand Russell. Tribunalen concentrating on evidence in the following areas:
· Aggression crime, including violations of international treaties
· The use of experimental weapons, such as gas and chemicals
· Bombing of hospitals, sanatoriums, schools, levees and other civilian facilities
· Torture and mutilation of prisoners
· Implementation of measures to genocide, such as forced labor, mass burials and other eradication methods in south
This tribunal was great largely ignored by the US
USA had even helping to carry war operations against the Germans and Japanese after World War II. And to introduce the Nürnberg principles of the UN General Assembly, which approved principles. Therefore, the United States are like Germany accountable for its war crimes.
It is important that the United States and Americans are confronted with their past. In a time when many countries around the world, is in the process of processing the past, the question arises whether the only superpower can ignore information about war crimes committed in various wars.
WWII is crystal clear in our mind's eye as the inhuman deeds and the philosophical thoughts behind the actions have been endless debate and Germans have acknowledged their misdeeds. But that have the United States and the American people not done 40 years later. Although they have carried out war crimes.
The US has in all their wars justified their actions and war crimes that they are fighting for freedom and democracy, and used these concepts as the moral catalyst for their actions. But it is not freedom and democracy they struggle, but the capitalist and liberal thoughts.
Since the United States is allied with NATO and also is a military superpower, it has been difficult for Western countries, actually to hold them accountable.
Therefore, it was without much reflection and a little aimlessly to the United States in 2001 as retributive action for suicide attacks end on New York and Washington d. 11 sept. 2001 went to war against Afghanistan's fundamentalist Taliban regime.
Then they attacked aimlessly Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein.
The Danish government chose to support the US 100% of their war, first in Afghanistan, then the war against Saddam Hussein because of misstatements and later against Syria. We Dane now has over 15 years actively participated in the war.
We Dane has not been much better, we went with a war based on false pretenses, just as the US population. The current Danish government has put a lid on and stopped the impeachment that would otherwise be able to determine how the error information occurred.
The Vietnamese have with their silence on the various war crimes the US has made during the Vietnam War, made it too easy for Americans to forget their crimes and thereby easily repeat the pattern.
Portrait 1970 of me as a young frustrated 25-year political, spiritual artist Hippie who opposed the US war against Vietnam, wearing military jacket with ribbon, 4 safety pins with colored beads and black armbands.
The photo is taken by Gerard Malanga on the roof of Andy Warhol's Factory / Union Square / New York. I stand 'symbolic' with my friend Bill, who is good friends with Andy, on top of the visual arts best symbols of capitalism and liberalism - 'Pop Art' - Andy said: 'You should paint what you love most' He portrayed one Dollar bill 1962. The One Dollar painting was sold for $ 32.8 million. 2015.
I was for some years a member of the Revolutionary Socialists. In this my political period I stoppede painting, the buyers of art at that time was only the upper class. Then I moved into my spiritual period where I went deeper into the yoga philosophy and was trained yoga teacher. First, in 1982 I was again active artist since it was now financially possible for me. I had come to the political realization that, in parallel with the struggle for the political Property Economic Revolution, there was another equally important revolution, which I as an artist could fight for, the Spiritual Freedom. With my art, I try to open up people's senses, so they see and feel the world. No one is happy only of material goods. In this my artistic period, I have therefore only created installations that can not be owned, but must be experienced and sensed.
The photo is taken by Gerard Malanga on the roof of Andy Warhol's Factory / Union Square / New York. I stand 'symbolic' with my friend Bill, who is good friends with Andy, on top of the visual arts best symbols of capitalism and liberalism - 'Pop Art' - Andy said: 'You should paint what you love most' He portrayed one Dollar bill 1962. The One Dollar painting was sold for $ 32.8 million. 2015.
I was for some years a member of the Revolutionary Socialists. In this my political period I stoppede painting, the buyers of art at that time was only the upper class. Then I moved into my spiritual period where I went deeper into the yoga philosophy and was trained yoga teacher. First, in 1982 I was again active artist since it was now financially possible for me. I had come to the political realization that, in parallel with the struggle for the political Property Economic Revolution, there was another equally important revolution, which I as an artist could fight for, the Spiritual Freedom. With my art, I try to open up people's senses, so they see and feel the world. No one is happy only of material goods. In this my artistic period, I have therefore only created installations that can not be owned, but must be experienced and sensed.
Political greeting from Vietnam
Ho Ho Ho Chi Minh
Bjarne v.H.H.Solberg
The slogan we cried in front of the American Embassy in Copenhagen
When we demonstrated against the war in Vietnam
Ho Ho Ho Chi Minh
Bjarne v.H.H.Solberg
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