Live from KonTum,it's exlrrp and friscokid

[exlrrp]

well gfuys, its me again, this time we're in a little inteernrt cafe in Kontum--drove up here from pleiku.
You can't believe how much Vietnam has changed, a completely different place and people. Course I'm not the same person either. No whores, no sleazy bars. The people here are really friendly, can't walk down the block without 6 people saying Hi to you. They teach English here uibn the schools and all the kids want to say hello to you No beggars, no people shoving up to you with goods to sell. No shortchanging.The stores here are crammed with consumer goods--video stores, video ganes, cameras, tools--whatever you want. This means that people have money to spend and there's tons of dtuff to spend it on.
We stayed in ther exact same place in Ban Me Thuot (they spell it several ways) that I got chased out of on tet, found the same alleys I ran down. We found the old helicopter bse we stayed in before --its aWater slide park now, no kidding. We may have won after all.
I'm going to cut out now --see you in QuiNhon. sorry about all the mispellings, I don't have my glasses with me
Tom says Hi--he doesn't have his glasses either so he can't post
James

[sn-e3]

Thanks james have fun, It sounds like the goasts are leaving you.

[39mto39g]

I hope Kontum is a different place than I went to in a Chanook,
Sounds like you found a place to retire.
Ron

[frisco-kid]

I don't think I'll retire there, but it's sure alot nicer than the last time I was there in late '66-early '67. Nice paved streets, everybody has electricity and a TV, and a smile and a wave for ya. The place had a traffic light, for chris'sake.

Didn't get to spend alot of time there, but that's okay. I didn't come back here looking for anything in particular. It was pretty cool just to see if I had the balls to walk those streets unarmed. This was a very dangerous area back in the day, and I had alot of scarey times around there. I did it, and it Don't Mean Nuthin'. I would have liked to of made it up to Dak To, but time didn't allow. I really wanted to get some pics for ya. Like James has said though, it's hard to find where these bases were up here. They've built over them, or planted coffee, pepper, or some other crop on them. The mountains are just as steep and wooded, though. Still some rough country.

[39mto39g]

Is that one word, (JamesTom)
If you get to Hue, The first place you'll come to is the new city of hue, There is a canel bridge before the river bridge, The canel bridge is where we (some 101 guys and some 4th) met the 1/5 (I think he said) Marines. We went left and they went to the old city of hue, Across the river and through that 20 foot wall, what a sight.

Ron