WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD

(NK) We left Vietnam not feeling somber but instead optimistic. Optimistic that the truth is there if you’re prepared to look hard enough. Optimistic that we do have the freedom to say no, against anyone who makes an attempt at oppression or terrorism. Both foreign AND DOMESTIC.

Cambodia turned out to be a very different story from Vietnam. The unwitting peasants of the countryside were unaware of a world outside their villages. The brutal force with which the Khmer Rouge destroyed the population is almost too much to comprehend.

There’s been a lot in the press/opinion about Margaret Thatcher and her death, many condemning her, many jumping to her defence for her hard policies that saved the UK economically speaking. I don’t condone ‘grave dancing’ however respecting someone when they die when you didn’t respect them alive is also an absurd concept. We will all die and the mysticism we place on death due to our inability to cope with it will also one day be seen as absurd. It is our fear of death that makes us so controllable.

I don’t profess to be a political expert or knowledgeable on Thatcher’s policies that seem to have divided the nation. It was, however, surprising to see people leaping to her defence like trained monkeys. I do know this - she didn’t win the Falklands back. She is a politician. Soldiers - Marines, Paratroopers, Navy etc who put their lives on the line win wars, not politicians. If anything there is evidence to suggest she ignored early intelligence reports making the conflict more bloody than necessary.

And what war was there to win? A group of islands thousands of miles away that have nothing to do with us - except in terms of oil and gas - that perhaps represented a last stand for the ‘British Empire.’ An empire built on death, torture, theft and slavery. Hashtag - ProudtobeBritish

“How can land be owned by another man? One cannot steal what was given as a gift. Is the sky owned by birds and the rivers owned by fish?”  

In support of British trade she ignored Anti-apartheid movements labeling Nelson Mandela’s ANC as a terrorist organization. As long as money was flowing, racial discrimination was perfectly acceptable.

That means we can perhaps call her a firm believer in fiscal progress and human suffering.

She’s gone now and it’s in the past so we shouldn’t dwell on it but learn from it. If you were one of the ones defending Thatcher, then there’s a tower of skulls in Cambodia you might want to take a look at.

Note - Despite Pol Pot being a maniac with a penchant for torture and genocide the US and British Government gave him their full support, as he was the enemy of their enemy (Vietnam). 

Note - the previous blog – communism, democracy etc are of no consequence. Money is THE only driver. 

Note - Pol Pot was never brought to justice for his crimes, he lived a long life and died in peace.

Note - Many of the Khmer Rouge forces were trained by the SAS 

Note - Its leaders were educated in France, where they are said to have developed their communist agenda.

Note - The Khmer Rouge hierarchy retained their seat on the UN council in one form or another until 1993.

Note - The Cambodian lawyer defending Ta Mok, the Khmer Rouge military leader captured last year, has said:

“All the foreigners involved have to be called to court, and there will be no exceptions . . . Madeleine Albright, Margaret Thatcher, Henry Kissinger, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and George Bush . . . we are going to invite them to tell the world why they supported the Khmer Rouge.”

So, while everyone has finished squabbling about Thatcher’s policy on welfare, privatisation etc – let’s take a look at what happened in Cambodia all those years ago.

Our first stop was S21, the notorious detention centre for ‘political’ prisoners. Intellectuals and anyone who might have the faintest idea what was happening were brought here first. The conditions are grim and the torture techniques as creative as they are primitive. For many starvation and isolation was just the start, being tortured until you lose consciousness is a sure fire way to get a confession.

Notorious

1984

 We saw many confessions from people who were basically just saying please make it stop. Can you imagine being in that much pain you would say anything to stop it, even condemn members of your family to death?

The cells inside

From here they were taken to one of the many Killing Fields around the Capital Phnom Penh. A total of roughly 1.7 – 2.5 million people were killed in the genocide, though genocide seems the wrong word here. It's just killing, indiscriminate killing. That’s 1 in 4 of the population to give you an idea of what that might look like in your country. It’s also clear from walking the streets of Phnom Penh that an entire generation is missing.

The Killing Field we visited just north of Cambodia is still a painful memory. Fragments of clothes and bone are still working their way up out of the ground from the many mass shallow graves in the area. No bullets were used at the killing fields as that would be an unnecessary expense. Instead blunt force trauma was implemented to smash humans to death. Sometimes basic farm tools would be used.

One particular tree was found with bone and brain fragment from babies still on it. It is at this tree that babies would be picked up by their ankles and swung against the tree to smash their skulls in, before they were tossed into a shallow grave next to the tree.

The tree that is forever etched into our memory

 The shrine at the end of the walk - which is done as an audio tour - marks the end of your visit. It is a glass tower containing hundreds of skulls, bones and pieces of clothing found in the area.

.......

 The reasons for the Khmer Rouge? As usual they are shrouded in political dogma and various bits of bullshit. No-one in Cambodia knows why this happened or what put this into motion. Communism gets the blame as usual. I don't believe communism has ever existed in any country but it's made for superb scapegoat.

I firmly believe it was part of western strategy to take control of Indochina and its resources for the economic development of western states. Too much doesn’t make sense and too many motives and relationships were in place to make me believe otherwise at this point in time.

Margaret Thatcher is an old topic already, but her support of the Khmer Rouge is documented in history. Now whenever I hear her name or see her picture, the first thing that comes into my mind, is a tree in Cambodia.

WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

(NK) We’d only just checked in at Sydney airport and already the drama/adventure was back on the menu. As I’d organised the flights home, Fi was in charge of the Visas and had organized one for Cambodia, however, we both were under the illusion that in Vietnam we could simply buy one at the airport. You can see where this one is going. One does not simply go to Vietnam and buy a visa on arrival.

At the Sydney check in desk we found out to our dismay that any attempt to buy a visa on arrival needed to be supported by a stamped letter from the Vietnamese embassy – which we had failed to procure - and therefore they were not going to let us on the flight. If we wanted, we could go and pay the Flight Centre around the corner $280 each and they would sort the whole thing out… good for them!

The guy at the flight centre put the pressure on to do this, however I’d asked Fi to go online and she’d found a cheaper express option for less than half the flight centre price. They sent a letter of confirmation that the work would be done within four hours. This was still not good enough for Air Asia’s staff who said they needed the printed letter. Oh… clucking bell!

We said we’d get on the flight to Kuala Lumpur but they couldn’t forward our bags or give us the onward boarding pass until this letter had been sent. We’d need to get that at Kuala Lumpur, go through immigration, get our bags and re-check in – all in less than two hours, or one considering that the desk closes an hour before take-off.

We sat on the plane to Kuala Lumpur wondering what the hell was going to happen when we arrived, but this is Keep Calm and Kirwan On. Not carry on like a headless chicken as I pointed out to Fi. Getting stuck in Malaysia would be no hardship and I’d always wanted to see those Petronas towers. Sometimes when things are going wrong they’re actually going right – it’s all in your own head really.

Much running around the airport like Macauley Culkin ensued when we arrived at Kuala Lumpur, which was actually lots of fun. The letter had arrived on Fi’s i-pad but as we checked in we were told that we’d need physical print outs and colour passport photographs. Whilst I gently reminded Fi on what a great job she’d done with these Visas we scrambled around like loons trying to bring the whole thing together. At 7.40 pm by the skin of our teeth we sat exhausted on a flight bound for Saigon. We even saw the Petronas Towers all lit up from the plane window.

Landing in Saigon was an assault on the senses. The plane comes down right in the centre of the urban sprawl so as you land there are still houses and bright neon signs flashing past. Everywhere you look there are scooters, four million at an estimate and with 10 million people the roads are packed. I’m calling it Saigon as everyone here does but if you look on a map it’ll be marked Ho Chi Minh City. Most Asian cities pulsate but Saigon seems to do it almost harmoniously. No-one obeys traffic lights, roundabouts or crossings yet pedestrians and traffic just seem to flow and merge. When people beep it’s not out of anger, instead a friendly hello to say watch out, I’m here, co-operative chaos at its best.

Who needs two hands?

Our crazy cyclo driver would swerve across lanes of traffic to get to his preferred destination cutting up lorries and buses in the process.

"Close your eyes guys." he'd say before every manoeuvre.

"OK, open them, we still alive!"

We wandered around that first night dizzy with culture shock and amazement. This was the epicenter of the Vietnam war, one of many illegal wars of aggression carried out by the US government and supported by a UN and first world that do their bidding. I was desperate to find out more and see how these little people with no military might had defeated the world’s biggest superpower.

The reasons behind the war are complex but what did they have to do with America? Many history books trace it to the Cold war and an attempt to stop the spread of communism. Well, bottom line from internal US government documents that have been declassified under freedom of information is that they were afraid of a peaceful nationalist takeover in the south, that would lead to successful social and economic development. This would separate Vietnam from the American orbit of a service nation. It would become another Philippines rather than an American semi-colony. This would be bad for trade and commerce.

As the US looked to keep their position of power and dominance economically, it was important to ensure their policies thrived. Any sign of people that wanted to produce for themselves was taken as a threat. In fact any sign that you might mess with the plan led to CIA backed coups, genocide, mass murder, death squads etc, things that we in a first world nation can only imagine. Things that we imagine have nothing to do with our Governments and us.

The war was based on liberation of the south from the communist north but in fact the opposite was true. It was about keeping the south politically in American hands so to speak. All about trade and commerce. Think Iraq, where another illegal war was fought to control oil trade routes.

It’s a similar story or pattern that has played out around the world since the end of World War II.

Result

“By 1948 the state department recognised quite clearly that the Viet Minh, the anti-French resistance led by Ho Chi Minh was the national movement of Vietnam. But the Viet Minh did not cede control to the local oligarchy. It favoured independent development and ignored the interests of foreign investors.

“There was fear the Viet Minh might succeed in which case the ‘Rot would spread’ and ‘virus’ would ‘infect’ the region to adopt language US planners used. What do you do when you have a virus? First you inoculate potential victims, so that the disease does not spread. That’s basically the US strategy in the third world.

“If possible it’s advisable to have the local military destroy the virus for you. If they can’t/won’t you have to move your own forces in. That’s more costly and it’s ugly, but sometimes you have to do it. Vietnam was one of those places. Right into the late 1960’s, the US blocked all attempts at political settlement of the conflict, even those advanced by the Saigon generals. If there were a political settlement there might be progress toward successful development outside of US influence – an unacceptable outcome.

“Instead the US installed a typical Latin American style of terror state in South Vietnam, subverted the only free elections in the history of Laos because the wrong side won, and blocked elections in Vietnam because it was obvious the wrong side was going to win there too.

“The Kennedy administration escalated the attack against South Vietnam from massive state terror to outright aggression. Johnson sent a huge expeditionary force to attack the South (not the North) and expanded the war to all of Indochina. That destroyed the virus all right – Indochina will be lucky if it recovers in 100 years.

“After the war was ended in in 1975, the major policy goal of the US has been to maximize repression and suffering in the countries that were devastated by its violence. The degree of cruelty is quite astonishing.

“When India tried to send 100 water buffalo to replace the herds that were destroyed by American bombing – and remember, in this primitive country, water buffalo mean fertilizers, tractors, survival – the United States threatened to cancel Food for Peace Aid (That’s one George Orwell would’ve appreciated.) No degree of cruelty is too great for Washington sadists. The educated classes know enough to look the other way.”

Chomsky, What Uncle Sam really wants, 1993 fifth edition.

So there we were that first morning at the museum of American War Crimes, which has now diplomatically been renamed the War Remnants museum. The Vietnamese people proudly display the agony and horror of the war for all to see and show examples of people around the world that fought to end the war. We’re talking civilians, a horrible amount with first hand accounts from people that had their family executed and press who witnessed first hand the terror these people faced.

Truth

Reality

Not just shocked, upset or appalled, it made me ashamed. I’m not American and nor was I born during this time but the motives were clear. The same motives that led Tony Blair and George Bush into Iraq and later Afghanistan. The same motives that have and continue to support wars in Indonesia, Africa and around the world. Wars that we let happen while we go to work, read a magazine, watch the football.

Story of  Japanese monk who self-burned in protest

We were with two Americans and it was interesting to watch their reactions. Seeing but not wanting to believe with a lifetime of indoctrination and brainwashing being challenged. The dissonance in their eyes as they wandered around and saw facts, figures and images of disgust was hard to watch. My soul felt like screaming as tears rolled down both our cheeks and our friends must have been in a total state of confusion. It is a hard place to go to with an open mind and heart. It’s hard to see the reality of things that we often view as miles away. Not our problem, nothing we can do about it.

Human remains

The most interesting part for me was the Agent Orange use. A company called Monsanto produced a chemical to drop on the Vietnamese people to destroy, water supply, air quality and their ability to grow food. It had a devastating effect causing mutations and disastrous consequences for generations after. Still today, mutations and defects occur from Agent Orange poisoning. Not just in Vietnam but in the families of the pilots that flew the planes and other US soldiers.

Shocking effects of phosphorous

When did we decide as humanity that this was OK?

Interestingly enough, Monsanto is thriving today and owns many of the USA’s biggest corporations. They own many GMO crops that have been mutated to increase profit. Farmer’s are forced into buying Monsanto seeds as their patented crops germinate into neighbouring lands – not for this blog really but it’s a mess. Please read the heartfelt letter to Barrack Obama below – a man that has just signed a protection act for Monsanto.

Please enlarge and read

With a heavy heart we set off for the Cu Chi tunnels. 30km north of Saigon, this was a Viet Cong stronghold that the US just couldn’t crack. A vast network of tiny underground tunnels dug by hand that housed the Viet Cong. As much as 125 miles worth of tunnels were dug by hand. When I say Viet Cong I don’t mean soldiers. Many were farmers, daughters, school children, around 18,000 peasants in total. People with nothing left other than their freedom to say no. Not today, or the next day. This land is ours.

Booby traps beat bombs

Once a beautiful fruit producing region, the US bombed the shit out of the area, throwing everything from napalm to chemicals to just more bombs and still the tunnels and the people remained.

“The most bombed, shelled, gassed, defoliated, and generally devastated area in the history of warfare.”

Mangold and Penycate, The tunnels of Cu Chi, 1985.

 One method of the US was to find air holes using sniffer dogs and then block or poison them. In return the Viet Cong stuffed the holes with chilli and pepper to put the dogs off. Just one example of their ingenuity, you do something, we’ll do better and we’re not giving in.

Will my fat arse fit?

Unbelievable, take note Santa Claus

We absolutely loved our time in the tunnels. It was one of the most inspiring experiences of my life to see how these people lived. How far they were prepared to go to fight for their freedom. Crawling around just 100m of tunnel in 38 C was scary and claustrophobic, I’m in awe of how they lived like that.

Tight!

The history books and Hollywood often paint the Vietnamese as heartless ‘Gooks’ or ‘Commy’s’ just like African people are all warlords that eat human livers for breakfast. What beautiful, funny and intelligent people we have met so far. How many of them were telling the story of their grandfathers. I must add here that my sympathy goes out to all the US conscripts that were caught up in this mess too. How many of them were killed, damaged, injured beyond recovery?

How many of them were forced to do monstrous things to innocent civilians that will haunt them for the rest of their lives?

In one day what is usually a very distant experience was brought slap bang into my life. I congratulate the Vietnamese Government for doing this so well and sending out its ‘never again’ message.

But it has and continues to happen again and again around the world. We let it happen. As someone born into the first world I take full responsibility for letting this happen. Not only do we get lost in our own purposeless cultures we get lost in democrat, labour, republican, conservative. Does it matter? No.

It’s just a smokescreen, a game that’s played to keep us amused and confused.  The bewildered herd of sheep, distracted so easily and so trusting of authority. It doesn’t really matter who’s in power. Cash rules everything and has done for a long time. It doesn’t care about babies without a home, mothers without a son. It doesn’t care about mass rape and genocide. It cares only about profit and fabricating more.

It rules our lives. Everyday we chase it blind to the world around us. Everyday we see ourselves divided by race, religion, political ideology, class. It’s bullshit, it’s brainwashing and the sooner we can wake ourselves up from it the sooner we can see some change.

Whether you agree with this take on the Vietnam war or not, the reasons for it almost become irrelevant against the body count and deformed broken families that are still left today, standing as a testament to the current state of humanity. Over 100 people are still killed here every year from unexploded ordinance. When we stop seeing each other as distant objects and understand we are the same, perhaps then we’ll care enough to take action against ongoing atrocities such as these.

We all laugh the same, we all love the same, we all cry the same and we all die the same.

The final figures

Next up Cambodia -  we helped kill a lot of people there too.

WELCOME TO THE GOODLIFE

(NK) Being picked up from the airport in Sydney was just one of the many luxuries our travels had given us a deep appreciation for. It was so good to see Paddy and Debbie Kirwan’s faces waiting for us in arrivals. No buses or transfers, just an air-conditioned ride across the ANZAC bridge in PK’s swish new Toyota.

The Paella was on the table and my brother Adam and his girlfriend Louise were in the new apartment to greet us, ah family reunion. Deb Deb’s friend from England Jane was also staying so we had a good dinner and chat. Looking out over the harbor from the balcony we were blissfully happy to be with family again.

The view from the Kirwan penthouse

The next day Adam and Louise took us on a tour of Sydney’s beautiful beaches and treated us to some lunch. It was a good job, for the price of a sandwich in Sydney you can order a hit on someone in Central America. The money is flowing and everything comes at a premium price for penniless travellers like us. A good job we had a roof over our heads and food on the table!

Our first night out in Manly was a shock to the system. A few drinks with an English crowd were followed by some Aussie nightspots where Fi wanted to punch everyone. I felt her pain. Why? We’d forgotten what going out in the first world was like, the preening, the posing, the arrogance, the rudeness that overlays the insecurities, neurotic desperation and sociopathic tendencies. Whatever happened to going out to have fun people? We did, however, all have fun watching Paddy Kirwan getting all jiggy on the dancefloor – strutting his stuff with his bad dad dancing!

(FK) That said I did enjoying getting a bit dolled up and feeling all girly and glam again. I even painted my toes after six months of going bare. The heels were a bit hard work though, Lou had bought me a beautiful pair of sky-high sandals, but much to my dismay I walked like a duck in them!  

(NK) We even missed the pie shop for the ferry on the way home but luckily Adam had predicted such an error and bought about six pies to ensure that he at least got one to himself.

As we got into family life we spent some quality time with Mama Kirwan who was learning to swim. Having never really been a water baby this was proving to be a real challenge so everyday we’d spend a little time in the pool or the sea with her. The dragon of a teacher in her swimming classes was probably no help but Debs worked hard and got pretty good pretty fast.

Like everything, if you want to get better do it again and again and again.

We made it up to the Blue Mountains for a day trip of hiking which involved some more spectacular scenery. The huge waterfalls and giant overhangs are well worth the two-hour journey from Sydney.

Viewpoint

Sweaty Bettie's

Pass the Bi nocularrrs 

We were treated to some great weekends with family, the first being a trip to Summer Bay where Home and Away is filmed. The sea was in a violent mood so swimming was off the cards. The waves were fierce and I was wiped out on more than one occasion. I even managed to coax Debs out but we were smashed and washed up on shore coughing and spluttering, she didn’t look impressed with me. It’s good to remind yourself where the power lies.

Home & Away

Aussie Kirwan's

Maybe not

With Paddy away back in England for a few days, the other captain Kirwan took over and we hired a boat to take us around Sydney harbor with Adam at the helm. First stop was a big rock for jumping off in Manly, the signs and fencing didn’t stop us but the thought of getting in shark infested water almost did.

Captain Kirwan

You go first!

 

My turn

It also involved a bit of tubing, we even managed to convince Debs it was a good idea again.

(FK) It was mental, what was I thinking? I’d promised myself only to go in the sea up to my ankles and here I was cavorting in the middle harbor on an inflatable. Had Jaws taught me nothing?! It hit home when Lou sent us an article about this particular stretch of water being a favourite hangout of large bull sharks – yikes!

Me and Fi

Promise it'll be... OK

(NK) Debs was also the star of the show when we went out paddle boarding in the harbor. She was ungraciously trying to stand up when her bikini top popped off with more force than Barbara Windsor would ever be able to muster. The whole beach was blinded for 30 seconds.

Our final weekend in Oz was a complete piss up in the Hunter Valley for three days, visiting various wine experts and pretending to have a sophisticated palate. This basically involves the pourer telling you about the flavours and depth of the wine, you tasting it and then repeating back to them what they said to you and them agreeing.

(FK) This being Australia it was very unpretentious and we learnt a lot about how wine is made, the soil, the grapes, the weather and the various factors that contribute to the final product. Lou had organized a wonderful itinerary for us which included an amazing day cycling around some boutique vineyards, yes cycling and wine drinking are a match made in heaven, we ended up having to call the guy to come and pick us up from our last stop!

(NK) The extra curricular activities at night also involved a pizza-making contest where we scored each other’s efforts. There were some interesting entries, particularly Adam’s which was more of a Saturday night kebab than a pizza. Lou Flan came out on top with an avocado special that surprised everyone. Paddy obviously came last but only after some ridiculous voting from Adam Kirwan who scored him a 1/10, perhaps to save his own mountain of chilli dog meat from being last.

Kirwan Home Ec class

Gourmet Girls

 

Adam after eating his abomination

Luckily no-one fell out and no-one got food poisoning which was a minor miracle. Fi also got to demonstrate how good her fire starting skills have become by lighting the pizza oven up.

The last night we had a big Aussie BBQ with a host of family and friends which was a really great way to sign off on our mini Oz adventure.

Fi's the fire starter

Winner and loser

 We loved the outdoor lifestyle, the amount of parks, beaches and green space that were available for enjoying exercise and the outdoors. Bronte Beach in particular was a favourite. It was amazing to see our family so happy and settled into a sunnier way of life. We were so well looked after and will miss them all but we’re only 24 hours away!