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Forty-second Job of Bob - In-country cultural writer; Laos, Viet Nam Part III - Date with fate post 56 - Chicken and contraband bus across Laos
This entry was posted on 9/15/2011 1:30 AM and is filed under Jobs of Bob, Fate Fairies.
On my second trip to 'Nam in the summer of 2005, I set up shop at my little hotel just outside of downtown Saigon. I took it easy for a few days and then Heide joined me for a couple weeks traveling around old South Vietnam. One of the comic highlights of Heide's entry on the Saigon scene was a comment by one of the lead hotel woman (the gaggle of female hotel workers would sleep on the small kitchen floor - during the day they were consummate players in the smooth running of the small establishment). Anyway, she looked at Heide and then at me.
"She is sooooo pretty," the woman said as she looked at Heide and smiled.
"And you are sooooo awful," she said as she frowned at me and my scruffy travel cloths.
Heide would do well in this matriarchal culture. Women seemed to run everything. Men hid in the back ground or drove trucks and or repaired all the broken things in a society pieced together with tin, wire, mortar, and old motor scooter parts.
After Heide left for home back in Wisconsin, I had a week or so to kill so I embarked on a journey to Laos and rural Thailand up by the infamous Mekong River. I headed up to the ancient capital city of Hue via train - a long arduous ordeal of a ride through the rugged coastal areas.
I had secured a Visa for Laos back in Saigon. Americans need no Visa to enter Thailand. On a footnote, I never saw a country with so many fees for the bureaucratical widow's and orphans funds, in my travels before this. A couple years later I would have less red tape and hurdles to wade through to get into Iraq (a country with an active war) than I did to enter Laos (a country only replete with theifdoms). Equally as puzzling, Laos seems to have...., no one in charge. Yet at every turn I was charged a fee. An extra fee for the Visa, an extra fee to enter Laos, and extra fee to exit Laos into Thailand, an extra fee to re-enter Laos....and on and on. Most of the check points were manned by dudes in sandals, shorts, and Hawaiian shirts with AK-47s slung across their shoulders.
None-the-less, after a couple days in the old city of Hue, I held my breath and bought a ticket for a junky mini-bus to make the journey into and across Laos - marginal mistake. I later discovered the big tour bus is about the same price, with air conditioning, and no stops to unload and pick up contraband.
Once past the pesky Laotian border - and their fees - the mini-bus periodically stopped to load up supplies. The roof was loaded down with bananas and cases of whisky. Inside with the dozen of us passengers was a couple chickens, a pig, and a goat. I knew enough to get in the long seat that went across the back wall of the bus. With me was some duffle bags, suitcases, bags of rice, a couple of Laotian dudes..., and a young woman with a couple kids and...., a baby.
We bounced down a jungle road - turning, twisting, through the hilly, and ravine-laden southern corridor of Laos on our way to the Mekong River and a town named Savannakhet. It is about the size of Janesville and Beloit, Wisconsin, yet, it is the second largest city in Laos.
Not too long after we departed the border, the young woman sat her baby on my lap. Said young woman smiled at me, turned a bit to put he head on my shoulder, and promptly took a nap. I will say this, the baby was well behaved and slept the whole way as did mom.
We were all awakened to realize said mini-van had diverted to a small house in the jungle. Men entered the van carrying wooden boxes. They matter-of-factly grumped at us to lift our feet at they shoved the boxes under seats. Seats already loaded with bags, boxes, babies, animals, and humanity.
I recognized the boxes as resembling the kind that new M-16 and AK-47 riffles were transported in back in my Army days. As I rousted myself to alertness I could not ignore the irony of riding across the jungle of a former enemy country with my feet resting on...., machine guns.
Old military surplus packaging and construction material was re-used all over Vietnam and Laos, even 30 years after our war there. So the boxes under my feet probably just contained miscellaneous trinkets and goods to sell at some street market someplace.
Right?!
Note: This blog "Jobs of Bob" Category does not list the jobs chronologically - I write about the experiences as they pop up in my memory and I often revisit an older job. Go to the Cooldadiomedia Web site and the Jobs of Bob Page for an ordered chronology.
Note: This blog "Fate Fairies" Category does not list the brushes with fate chronologically - I write about the experiences as they pop up in my memory and I often revisit an older event. Go to the Cooldadiomedia Web site and the Fate Fairies Page for an ordered chronology.
Wisconsin Military Service Person Special Mention of the Week
(each week Cooldadiomedia mentions a Wisconsin service person killed in Iraq or Afghanistan)
Army Private First Class Ryan Jeffery Larson, 19, Friendship, Wisconsin, died on Wednesday, June 15, 2011 in Kanadahar Province, Afghanistan. Insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device (roadside bomb). Larson was in a Stryker vehicle during mounted patrol. Private First Class Larson was assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, out or Fort Wainwright, Alaska.
The Wausa Daily Herald via their Web site mentioned Ryan was remembered as a dynamic student at Adams-Friendship High School. He was a 2010 graduate. Larson participated in cross country competition for four years. He also played trumpet in the band, was senior class president, played baseball, and was an honor roll student all four years in high school. Larson was also a member of the multiple championship wrestling team. The Daily Herald went on to say Larson's 4000 member Army unit deployed to Afghanistan in April of 2010.
The Wisconsin State Journal noted Friendship is in Adams County, Wisconsin. The high school has around 500 students. Larson signed up for the army while still in school. The State Journal's Web site noted two other soldiers were wounded in the attack. The paper quoted Larson's high school principal Timothy Hodkiewicz as saying: "[Ryan] had a quality of quiet leadership, common sense, very personable, not the too-talkative type....He had the respect of everybody. A top-notch gentleman from top to bottom."
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said Larson was remembered as having an infectious attitude, loved being involved in activities, and being a team player. He participated in the 103-pound wrestling weight class and finished his career with a record of 56-28. He had also played Little League Baseball when younger.
The Web site hswrestling.com says Larson's former wrestling team was participating in helping establish a permanent memorial in honor Ryan to be placed at the high school.
A Rockford Register Star obituary posted on legacy.com noted that Ryan Larson was born on October 29, 1991, in Rockford, Illinois. He moved to Adams-Friendship, Wisconsin, in 1992. At the time of his death, Private First Class Ryan J. Larson was survived by: His mother RaeAnn Larson; father Rick Himmel; grandparents Ron and Ellen Larson; grandmother Sophia Himmel; great-grandmother Myrtle Pavlak; uncles and aunts Ronald and Shelley Larson, Russell Larson, Ritchie Larson, Jim and Wendy Himmel, and Cindi (Marty Cielesz) Himmel.
Army Private First Class Ryan J. Larson was the 32nd Wisconsin military service person to be killed in Afghanistan since October of 2001.
As of this blog entry's posting date:
102,416 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003 (actually documented).
10,125 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
4,477 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
1762 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
318 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
944 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
1 American/Coalition casualty in Libyan "Operation Odyssey Dawn" since March, 2011.
32,189 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
592 Wisconsin Service persons have been wounded in Iraq since Spring 2003.
13,700 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
192 Wisconsin Service persons have been wounded in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
107 Wisconsin Service persons have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
34 Wisconsin Service persons have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
3 Wisconsin Service persons have been killed in the U.S. related to "The War on Terror" since September, 2001.
149 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
21 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since September, 2001.
5 journalists (regional and independents) have been killed in Libya since March, 2011.
Wisconsin military service person special mention of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; washingtonpost.com; thehighground.org; Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs; iraqbodycount.org; www.defense.gov/news/casualty.pdf; and, icasualties.org .
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