Monday February 20, 2023
Another enjoyable day at sea as we progressed towards Vietnam. We first went to the port lecture by Ruth on Bali, Indonesia. We have not been there, but are glad to be visiting this exotic place. This was followed by Conversation with Major Charlie Lynn. We had not been overly impressed by him during his first lecture, but thought we would just stay put in the theatre after the first talk. We were glad we did, as he spoke of his time with the Australian groups in Vietnam during the war. He spoke eloquently about the horrors of war and made it personal by recounting the story of a good friend who had his arm and leg blown off and how he followed him during his convalescence and how his life turned out to this day. Very powerful. We skipped the noon talk in favor of lunch in the Britannia but made it to the geographer – Dr. Christine Drake, who spoke about the country of Vietnam and the tremendous progress after the last war that the country has made. It has been colonized and subjugated to the Chinese for 1,000 years, to the French, to the Japanese and others. Since the “America’s War” as the “Vietnam War” is known there, the country has a very young population and is becoming a major force (a “Tiger”) in the region.
The evening performance was the Liverpool comedian Ivor Richards who sang a song to start and end his routine. He was moderately amusing and a good way to pass the evening. Tomorrow will be an early start in Phu My as we need to be on the tour by 7AM as it is 1 1/2 hours to Saigon and traffic is horrendous.
Roger & Anne Travels 