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Hanoi in rush hour

Wanting something a little more positive to do during the evening I went to the Water Puppet theatre.  I could appreciate the talent involved and found myself wondering how they had managed some parts but really its a bit of a girls thing I think and the romance was lost on me. After it was finished I replenished my war thirst with a couple of beers in the Apocalypse Now theme bar. It was pretty tacky and full of upwardly mobile Vietnamese and middle age bald western men (I even saw one of them do some air guitar to Money For Nothing!). Still the DJ desk housed in an old Huey cockpit was quite cool.

"Any questions?" "I got a question, Sergeant. If I'm dead, how come I can ask you a question?" (4)

Every tourist sight in Hanoi is closed on Mondays so I decided to spend Monday and Tuesday on a tour of Halong Bay and Cat Ba island, just three hours east of Hanoi. Halong Bay is a beautiful sight, the bay is littered with limestone "islands". However after about three hours on the boat cruising round them they do lose their appeal somewhat. We did stop at a cool cave to walk around but after the amazing caving in Vang Vieng it was a bit of a non-starter. We docked at Cat Ba island in the evening to spend the night. Cat Ba town is like Cromer on the North Norfolk coast. Cheap and tacky it would probably have been popular with the "Carry On" crowd. All Cat Ba needed was a few slot machine arcades and it would have been complete. One thing Cromer has got going for it is a great secondhand bookshop, Cat Ba did not have this luxury. What it did have was a plentiful supply of Beer Hoi "bars". These outlets have a most two small plastic tables with tiny playschool sized chairs. Beer Hoi is the name given to any locally brewed draft and the quality ranges from beer impersonating vinegar up to a semi-decent draft pint. The best attribute it has is its price, between 1000 and 2000 dong per glass (that is about 7p). As you can imagine these places attract travellers like flies on manure. A blurred night ensued.

Halong Bay

"Somebody once wrote: "Hell is the impossibility of reason." That's what this place feels like. Hell." (5)

We awoke to the sounds of a typhoon ripping over Cat Ba island.  We all piled onto the bus and headed out to the pier only to have to turn around when no boats were going anywhere. A typhoon sounds exciting but it meant spending another day on Cat Ba, not something I was looking forward to. I had almost finished my book and there didn't seem to be another book on the island so I had to confront the boredom head on. I did this by having three breakfasts though this did not prevent my morale from dropping to a new low. The guy I shared a room with last night, Michael a dentist from the U.S, had the crazy idea of chartering a fisherman to take us off the island. We got 15 of us together and took a bus across the island to find a fisherman, armed with 200 dollars between us to pay our way.  We had no luck but at least it passed some time. Michael and three others actually stayed on the other side of the island in the vain hope that something would turn up. I never saw them again. Back in Cat Ba town I took a wander over to the unprotected side of the bay and saw the real carnage that had occurred. The wind was so strong at this pint that many trees had been blown down, the waves were ferocious and some of the houses had lost their roofs, floating around in the air like unstuck toupees. I was glad I hadn't got the boat. I spent the rest of the day playing cards under cover.  Even Beer Hoi couldn't rescue the mood as the constant electric black out had put the bars out of business. I had no choice but to frequent a more salubrious establishment at premium prices.

"Even if you never say a word about it. You can't spend two years in Vietnam ..." (6)

Luckily we got a dust-off the next day, the typhoon had changed course and was heading up to chase Tony Blair out of Hong Kong. The sun was shining, the birds were singing and the sea was dead calm. A leisurely trip back in Halong town, stopping briefly on the way for a quick swim. After a few problems locating a bus to take us back to Hanoi we were soon on our way. I nursed my mood by listening to some light-hearted music by the Sex Pistols and The Clash on the way home. My mood was lightened back in Hanoi however when I found that my hotel had installed cable TV in my absence and the owner was eager for me to appreciate this new toy. Not wanting to appear rude I sampled some Simpsons, vintage Cheers and last seasons match between Newcastle and Chelsea at St James. It’s not all bad. Because I had gotten on so well with all the hotel staff (they gave me free beer, fruit and offered me dinner for free every night and they hardly tried to rip me off at all) I bought them a box of chocolates, only to find when they opened them that the chocolates had gone bad and there were little bugs eating it! Number 10.

"Oh, yes, and one more thing, dear Lord, about our enemies, ignore their heathen prayers and help us blow those little bastards straight to Hell. Amen." (7)

So, back in Hanoi I managed this time to visit Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum, a rather creepy affair, looking at a body of a man that died well over thirty years ago. It is incredibly well preserved and it glows. After this I visited his old stick house, noticing the Lenin biography strategically placed by his bedside and the Ho Chi Minh museum. The museum was quite surreal. the first floor was dedicated to his struggle to escape the French and get away from Hong Kong in the late 20's early 30's. The second floor however was the story of Ho Chi Minh, past, present and future. I couldn't follow all the logic, especially the section on the Spanish civil war and abstract art. What was the connection there?

Ho Chi Minh mausoleum

In the afternoon I walked out to the Air Force museum, 5 klicks out of town, motivated by the promise of a MIG-21 that visitors can sit in the cockpit and be photographed. When I got there however there was no plane so after a quick wander around, much the same, cool exhibits but serious propaganda I made the dejected walk back to the Old Quarter. Time to leave Hanoi I got a night bus to Hue, close to the 17th parallel.

"All right, listen up. You people are not dying on me in combat.  You fucking new guys will do everything to prove me wrong.  You'll walk on trails, kick cans, sleep on guard, smoke dope and diddy-bop through the bush like you were back on the block.  On guard at night you'll write letters, play with your organ and think of your girl back home. Forget her.  Some hair head has her on her right now and is telling her to fuck for peace.  This is Han.  Those of you who are foolish will think of him as gook, slope, slant or dink.  He is your enemy.  He came over on the Chieu Hoi programme.  And he will go back there after he fattens on C-rations.  And he will be hunting your young arses in the Ashau Valley. Now forget about this Viet Cong shit.  What you'll encounter out there is hard core NVA, North Vietnamese, motivated, highly trained and well equipped. If you meet Han  or his  cousins, you will give him respect.  And refer to those little bastards as the Nathanial Victor.  People, I am tired of filling body bags with your dumb fucking mistakes.  Do you think this is funny?" (8)

There are book selling kids all over the streets of Hanoi.  They sell bad copies and try to charge ridiculous prices for them, a serious amount of bargaining willpower is called for, though I have found that if I want to divert the attention of these touts letting them inspect my tattoos usually makes them forget they want to sell me anything!  They only have four or five books, every traveller ends up reading at least one of them due to the lack of choice. The books are -  The Sorrow of War by Bao Dinh - a war book by a member of the "other" side; The Girl In The Picture by Denise Chong - the story of Kim Phuc and her life, the girl made famous in the picture of her running naked from a napalm blast; The Quiet American by Graham Greene and When Heaven And Earth Changed Places by Le Ly Hyslip - another life story of a victim of the war, it was also the basis for Heaven And Earth, Oliver Stones third Vietnam film after Platoon and 4th of July. It bombed. I also picked up The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, a former GI, just to keep an even perspective. Unfortunately with all these books I am now humping beaucoup stuff.

"If it wasn't for a drunk I would have picked you up. He wanted to go to the DMZ." "The DMZ?" "South Bronx. The worst." (9)

So after a few Z's I woke up in Hue, the closest city to the DMZ. It was also the site of many battles during the war.  Hue is split into two areas. On one side of the river is the old town, very beautiful, the centre-piece being the Citadel. The Citadel is the ancient forbidden city and is full of ruins, pagodas and ornate architecture. I spent a long while there, first wandering around and then sitting under one of the pagodas, trying to get out of the scorching heat. The citadel was amazingly peaceful, it’s hard to imagine the hustle and bustle that awaits outside the gate, but you pay through the nose for the luxury, the foreigner pricing system here being more greedy than in Hanoi. On the other side of the river is the ugly and industrial new town. After leaving the Citadel I headed back this way and spent the rest of the day wandering around, visiting cafes and later the DMZ Bar that I had written about in an assignment last year. It’s quite weird to see places that you have studied and see how much they differ in reality from your imagination. A main tourist attraction in Hue is to go on a boat trip along the Perfume River, stopping at historic tombs along the way. I didn't bother with this though because each tomb costs $4 entry (that double-pricing again!) and there are about four or five I think.

DMZ bar, Hue

"We had a...we had a short timer once. Johnny,  I forget his name...he wore a flack jacket,  two helmets...and armour underwear. Ashau Valley.  If your time's up, your time's up." (10)

I was looking forward to the next day as I went on the DMZ tour. It consisted essentially of being driven around places that have historic military significance but are now just mountains, fields and rivers. This did not reduce my excitement and I was raring to go at 0600 hours, what does the 0 stand for? 0 my god its early!

The tour started off by heading up to Dong Ha town, just south of the DMZ. After the obligatory-and-no-choice-of-venue-breakfast we headed out west into the central highlands following the old "McNamara line". The first place we stopped was the Rockpile, an old hill lookout that the U.S used as a R and R base. For those of you familiar with Hamburger Hill you will recognise it as the place where they are swimming before coming under fire. After this we went to a(nother) minority village, though I failed to see the war significance. The highlight of the tour for me was heading up to the Khe Sanh combat base, location of the largest U.S. base. I was told that all you could see now was the hill but they have actually constructed a small museum there, complete with bunkers and two choppers outside which was all well worth inspection.

Khe Sanh Combat Base

From Khe Sanh we drove back towards the coast before heading North and crossing the demarcation line at the Ben Hai river. There are actually two rivers there and sometimes refugees would cross one overnight, think they had got to the other side, and wake up in the morning still on the same side! Just north of the DMZ are the Vinh Moc tunnels. Different from the Cu Chi tunnels near Saigon these ones were used to live in as opposed to being used for strategic purposes. This meant it was more comfortable to get through. It was incredible how much they developed these places, they had a room where they could sometimes see movies, maternity wards, kitchens, meeting rooms, etc. Also some of the exits led out onto the beach making it a kind of resort as well. This marked the end of the tour. An interesting and informative day. Though again the guide put her own creative slant on events.

Back at my dormitory I was shocked but pleased to see Hamburger Hill was actually on terrestrial Vietnamese TV. I did feel a tad uncomfortable watching it with three Vietnamese guys who worked at the hostel especially beings as its one of the more gory films and i tend to get over excited watching it, as well as quoting lines under my breath. Too beaucoup.

"Who got hit Sarge?" "The cherry. Man, that boy was bagged and tagged the minute they cut his orders to this place. They should've just shot him at home." (11)

The next day I got the bus down to Hoi An a bit further south along the coast. It is a well-preserved beautiful old town, showing much Chinese influence and I spent much of the day just wandering around, photographing old buildings and structures. There are many very talented Vietnamese artists around at the minute, I know the British museum had an exhibition last year, and Hoi An is full of galleries. I stopped at one and picked out a few sketches I liked. The artist, an old guy called Minh who had travelled all over Vietnam since "liberation", would not let me buy them until I had sat and had a chat with him. We ended up sharing a litre of Mango rice wine, bananas, crisps and green tea. He also sang me some of his poetry in both Vietnamese and English (it sounded much better in Vietnamese). I finally left when he produced this big pipe and, as we had already both begun to slur, thought it best to quit whilst ahead. He only charged me $3 dollars for six sketches so I think he was in worse shape than me!

The road from Hue to Hoi An

A Hoi An culinary specialty is Cau Lau, which is flat chewy noodle soup which I slurped down for dinner before returning to my hooch to watch the final of the Premiership Asia cup, a tournament in KL between Malaysia, Chelsea, Newcastle and Birmingham. Predictably the final was between Chelsea and Newcastle and Chelsea won on penalties. Jermaine Jenas missed a shocking penalty and Bobby Robson went absolutely ballistic. I don’t think penalty shoot-outs are his favourite.

Japanese bridge, Hoi An

"He broke from them, and then he broke from himself. I'd never seen a man so broken up and ripped apart." (12)

I spent the next morning visiting the ancient Champa ruins at My Son. Its really weird to see ruined Hindu temples outside of India. I saw many photo opportunities but all the other tourists kept clambering all over the ruins and I couldn't get a good shot off. The ruins were impressive and by straying just off the main trail it was easy to find some less visited sites, with the added bonus of being able to run around jungles war style.

I hired a moped for the purpose of visiting Danang, China beach and Marble Mountains. I took it out to the beach at Hoi An, a very nice palm tree shaded beach.

"We train young men to drop fire on people. But their commanders won't allow them to write "fuck" on their airplanes because it's obscene!" (13)

I awoke early to get a good start. Riding out to Marble mountains I still got caught by touts, shouting across at me from other bikes as we rode along.

Marble mountains was absolutely beautiful, a handful of green hills stuck next to the beach. Situated in the hills are various temples and caves and the view from the top was pretty cool, you can see why the U.S had a lookout post up here. After this the city of Danang was a bit drab. Its Vietnams fourth biggest city at 1.1 million but it was very empty, hardly anyone on the streets.  The only place of any intrinsic interest was the Cham museum, but after seeing the ruins in their glorious environment at My Son these were a bit of an anti-climax. There is also a new beach development on the other side of town which in a few years time might attract some domestic tourism.

Travelling back down towards Hoi An I stopped off at China beach, scene of many incidents during the war due to the heavy U.S. involvement at Danang and in the area. The beach itself was OK but a bit open and protected but the sea was amazing, so warm and clear. I noticed a storm coming in so I quickly made off towards Hoi An. The Storm was in front of me however so I had to ride through it, the bike being blown around the road, dirt and grit being blown up into my eyes and raining hard.

China beach

I left Hoi An on a night bus to Nha Trang. The whole road was being dug up and the bus was totally packed making it the worst journey yet on this tour of duty.

"Day by day I struggle to maintain not only my strength but also my sanity. It's all a blur. I have no energy to write. I don't know what's right or wrong anymore.” (14)

Nha Trang is supposedly Vietnams premier beach resort but I was largely unimpressed. he beach itself was fairly decent but being a city beach you walk off the beach and into a dirty urban town. I sat on the beach for a couple of hours but left before midday as I was starting to burn up. I think I may be suffering from increased sensitivity to the sun, a side effect to my Doxycycline anti-malarials.

Walking off the beach I bumped into Brendan and Becky who used to work at ebookers which was quite freaky. I chatted to them for a little while, catching up on the news each of us had heard from back home.

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Nha Trang beach

The main tourist draw in the evening is the Nha Trang Sailing club. Not wanting to miss out I went down there for a couple of drinks, meeting up with some guys I met on the bus to Hanoi. I thought the Sailing Club was really tacky and overpriced, similar to the new waterfront development in Barcelona. To make matters worse a whore and her pimp followed me back to my hotel, trying to persuade me that I wanted "boom-boom". Nice. I could have lectured them on the moral issues of prostitution and the social problems it creates but I don't think they would of seen the funny side!

"The possibility of your ever walking again is minimal ... almost impossible." (15)

Looking forward to cooling off somewhat I took a bus up to Dalat, a hill station in the central highlands, stocking up on C-rations along the way. It is Vietnams premier domestic destination and a favourite spot for honeymooning couples. God knows why, the place is a total cess pit. I wandered around for hours getting very lost as roads share names with others that are parallel or adjacent to each other. It is quite a dirty, crowded place and the people seem unfriendly even by Vietnamese standards. I did see the lake which was quite cool, reminiscent of Kandy lake in Sri Lanka. I am sharing a room with an English lad named Paul and he returned also having got lost on numerous occasions. Definitely Number ten-thousand! We did catch the Vietnamese dubbed version of Jaws 3 though which lightened our mood, it has been renamed Shark Attack 3 (I don't think Jaws translates very well).

"We was always taking long walks, and we was always looking for a guy named 'Charlie." (16)

Trying to salvage something from this excursion I went on a recon mission, diddy-bopping in the surrounding areas the next day. After one and a half hours I found myself in a field of cabbages and cauliflowers (the climate is cool enough to grow many vegetables here, they also do juicy strawberries and an international standard wine) and turning a corner found myself facing the farmer. Knowing the hostile nature of farmers at home I retreat quickly and quietly returning back to the lake area. I found a better route and headed out towards the Cam Ly waterfalls. When I got there they were the worst waterfalls I have seen, more like a dirty stream running down a hill and they were full of tourist kitch, fibreglass animals, Vietnamese dressed up as cowboys, souvenir shops selling stuff you wouldn't even find in Great Yarmouth! I am beginning to see the downside of this being a centre for honeymooning couples, they are obviously blind to this whole situation.

One good place in Dalat is the Crazy House, a guesthouse styled to rival Gaudi's modernista architecture. It looks like something out of Alice In Wonderland, each room is an animal theme room and there is a massive model giraffe attached to the outside.

After a lunch of mashed potato (I needed some western food to raise my morale) I hiked out 6 klicks to the "Valley Of Love". I should of known better from the name it had the same negative points as the waterfall but in greater abundance. Still, it wasted a couple of hours. I finished the day by eating at a really posh restaurant with two Israelis. Comfort eating has never been so good.

"I wanted to see exotic Vietnam, the jewel of Southeast Asia. I wanted to meet interesting and stimulating people of an ancient culture and ... kill them. I wanted to be the first kid on my block to get a confirmed kill." (17)

Escaping the dirt and decay of Dalat we headed down to Ho Chi Minh city, or more accurately District 1, also known as Saigon. Getting there in the mid-afternoon we barely had time to wander the local area. The  guesthouse has a makeshift barbell up on the roof so we had a quick work-out, gaining attention from the hotel workers and from people looking from the buildings across the street. I visited a famous ice cream parlour which was expensive and nothing compared to Italian ice creams but well worth a splurge.
 

Crazy House, Dalat

"Seven-six-two millimeter, full metal jacket." (18)

The premier war tourism attraction in Saigon is the War Remnants museum, formerly known as the Museum of American War Atrocities. It housed some excellent exhibits, probably the best yet in Vietnam. Highlights included unborn foetuses in jars, malformed due to exposure to Agent Orange and a gallery of photos from some of the best Western photgraphers that covered the conflict.

Reunification Palace, Ho Chi Minh City

To continue the days sightseeing I took a tour of the Reunification palace, the scene of the final capitulation of the South on April 30th 1975. The tour lasted 50 minutes and covered the whole history of the palace and its inhabitants, including the reinforced two story basements that were used as military command centres. Feeling in a museum mood I next visited the museum of Ho Chi Minh City. I felt out of place however as it is Sunday and many wedding parties pay to have their photos taken here due to the sweeping staircase and nice surrounds. I had to keep sneaking around the back of photo moments! I don't know what the museum was like because I got hooked by a small stand selling war relics which I drooled over for ages, eventually plumping for a pen spotlight, complete set of original dog tags, "original" vintage G.I zippo lighter, a open blade standard issue razor, and an old U.S. mess coin.  Well pleased with my purchases I wandered around the museum pre-occupied. Number 1.

"Saigon, shit, I'm still only in Saigon. Every time I think I'm gonna wake up back in the jungle." (19)

Paul and I took a tour to the Cao Dai temple at Tay Ninh and the Cu Chi tunnels the last day we were in Saigon.  Our guide was a veteran of the war , he used to be an interpreter for the U.S. He was really cool and was not as biased as the other guides I have had.  His favourite saying was that if someone was shooting at him and he didn’t know who it was he could tell...if they missed they were VC! On the way to the temple we saw the place where a monk self-immolated himself in protest and they have erected a small temple and we also saw the spot where the famous picture of Kim Phuc emerging from the Napalm blast was taken. Beaucoup. The temple itself was really interesting and we attended a service. Cao Dai is an exclusively Vietnamese religion taking parts of Catholicism, Buddhism and Taoism as well as bits of Hindu, Islam and all major world religions. The temple was as garish as most Hindu temples but in the same impressive way. They have four services as day at 0600, 1200, 1800, and 2400. If you miss one you have to go to the next one, if you don’t go you get told off! As a further link Kim Phucs Grandad used to attend the temple services regularly.

Cao Dai temple, Tay Ninh

''When you get the AK, open up. You got me? Open up.'' (20)

In the afternoon we went to the Cu Chi tunnels, dug by the VC.  They were different to the ones at Vinh Moc because these ones were designed for use in battle and Vinh Moc were designed to live in. They were extremely cramped inside.  The lengths the VC went to in order to protect themselves is amazing, they sued all manner of booby traps and wrong turnings which they changed twice a day so only people who knew which way would survive.  At the sight of the tunnels is an open-air museum showing how the VC made some of their weapons and the booby traps they used, which were pretty gruesome. Also at the sight is a shooting range and I took great pleasure in lock and loading an AK-47 (they had run out of M-16 bullets) and taking a few shots. I got a medal for hitting a target but that was more luck than judgement. After a few shots I flicked it onto automatic and opened it up. Very cool.

Booby trap at Cu Chi tunnels

Not learning from my Hanoi experience I visited the Apocalypse Now bar in Saigon. It was really seedy, instead of being filled with upper-class Vietnamese it was filled with bald westerners and young Vietnamese (working) girls. I only stayed for a drink but I did end up buying the t-shirt, I could not resist!

"We were on patrol in the delta, search and destroy, but we were not making any enemy contact" (21)

The end of the tour drawing near we embarked on a three day tour of the Mekong Delta, finishing in Cambodia. After driving a while out of Saigon and seeing many temples, churches and buildings that had been overlooked by everyone, kind of reserved for locals we made our way to My Thien.  Once there we took rowing boats into a short area of the Delta that was really winding and narrow and that not surprisingly was a VC stronghold. It was really creepy silently rowing through. To top the whole feeling off the boatwomen wore the traditional VC uniform of black pyjamas and a black and white checked scarf.

In the afternoon we made our way to Can Tho, capital of the Mekong province. We spent the night there. It was quite interesting to walk around and was quite relaxed and normal priced after the excess of Saigon. On the way to Can Tho our bus driver hit a moto rider. It had been coming all day as he had been getting closer and closer and beeping later and later. He took out the moto, the driver flew into another moto and took him out. They both seemed fine however. The driver went to check on them and left us on a hill and we started to roll back, he hadn’t pulled the hand brake on properly!

"Been here a week now, waiting for a mission, getting softer. Every minute I stay in this room, I get weaker, and every minute Charlie squats in the bush, he gets stronger." (22)

The second day involved a little more exertion than the first. We started off by cruising around the Can Tho area visiting a floating market, operational rice factory and a not quite so operational rice noodle factory. These were all interesting, especially seeing the workings of the rice factory, but were not particularly exciting. After this we visited a house and tried a variety of different ''tropical'' fruits (banana, pineapple and some little berry things). We hung out swinging in hammocks until the heavens opened and we cruised back to the dock.

Mekong Delta

We finished the day by taking a bus to Chau Doc, very close to the Cambodian border. The Mekong Delta region is flat as a pancake so it was quite strange to see a hill at Chau Doc, the only one for miles around. We climbed the hill, and at the peak found a group of Vietnamese lads having a kick about. We ended up playing a bit of three-aside with them, getting so much into it that we overstayed up at the peak and had to descend in double quick time to try not to annoy our minibus driver too much! It was so good to play some football for the first time in ages.

"My mission is to make it up into Cambodia. There's a Green Beret Colonel up there who's gone insane. I'm supposed to kill him."
"That's typical. Shit. Fuckin' Vietnam mission. I'm short and we gotta goup there so you can kill one of our own guys? That's fuckin' great! That's just fuckin' great. Shit. That's fuckin' crazy. I thought you were going in there to blow up a bridge, or some fucking railroad tracks or somethin'." (23)

My final day in Vietnam was full of formalities and delays, as per usual for a border crossing. Before reaching the border we took a boat ride around a floating village, kind of like visiting a hill tribe but on water. After this began the slow journey to Phnom Penh. A cruise up to the border, ''Vietnam War'' music blaring out, sunbathing on the roof of the boat was the pattern of the morning, many times I was tempted to shout out INCOMING! Through the border we changed boats and sat inside one as it took us up into the heart of Cambodia from where it was supposedly a one hour bus ride to Phnom Penh. We were scheduled to arrive at 3pm. We arrived at 6pm, quite successful for South East Asia!

"You smell that? Do you smell that? ...Napalm, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for twelve hours. When it was all over I walked up. We didn't find one of 'em, not one stinkin' dink body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like... victory. Someday this war's gonna end..." (24)

Whilst in Vietnam I have been listening to one CD that I compiled before coming away. It has all th Vietnam classics on it from ''Ride of the Valkyries'', ''Born to be Wild, ''The End'', "Spirit In The Sky'' and so on. It was not until I arrived In Country that I realised how may rookie errors I had made. ''Weve Gotta Get Outta This Place by the Animals, used so well in Hmanburger Hill was stuck somewhere near the end, Spirit In the Sky should of follwed I Get Around but was later and there was no sign of any version of Suzie Q! Beacoup bad shit.

"I think now, looking back, we did not fight the enemy, we fought ourselves. The enemy was in us. The war is over for me now, but it will always be there, the rest of my days. But be that as it may, those of us who did make it have an obligation to build again. To teach to others what we know, and to try with what's left of our lives to find a goodness and a meaning to this life." (25)

Me love you long time,

The horror. The horror.

1 - Good Morning Vietnam (1987)
2,5,14,25 - Platoon (1986)
3, 20 – The Deer Hunter (1979)
4 – Tigerland (2001)
6 – Jacobs Ladder (1990)
7 – We Were Soldiers (2002)
8, 10 – Hamburger Hill (1987)
11 – Casualties Of War (1989)
12,13,19,22,23,24 – Apocalypse Now (1979)
15 – Born On The 4th Of July (1990)
16 – Forrest Gump (1994)
17,18 – Full Metal Jacket (1987)
21 – ‘Richard, its business as usual’ by Barry Adamson (2001)