First Light

Getting to Asia is an old dream of mine. At the beginning all I knew about Asia only that it was a huge, light yellow continent, opposed to small green Europe and bigger and red Africa. At least this was how I read maps in my childhood. Since the age of 5-6 I travelled a lot - in my mind - as this was strictly forbidden in the political regime I grew up. When we went ot my grandmother's village I was excited as that was at a magic distance of 100 km, the first 3 digit distance trips I made. The travel took half a day.

 

Now, I am more or less regularly flying thousands of km-s and except the Antarctic on all continents. Still, Asia is unexploited, I have been to some places as "regular" tourist, to enjoy a few days of doing nothing by the seaside. Vietnam will be the first real adventure on this continent, spending 2 weeks there and going to both North and South.

 

Vietnam, like Korea, was a country divided in 2 parts, one part fighting with the other. In Korea it was silence, but we had daily news from Vietnam. This happened in the seventies and eighties in the Ceausescu dictatorship so all news were censored and presented to best serve that regime. It is not surprising that we, children did not understand anything. How the USA, supported by other imperialist countries could not win the poor north Vietnamese people, not helped at all by any country, definitely not by the USSR? Why people from the same nation hated each other and how was possible that all people from North were nice, fair and heroic, while those from South were bastards? We have had a few Vietnamse students but it was highly advisable not to have serious contacts with foreign students, so I never thought to ask them what is the truth. Anyhow, we had our internal problems, fighting to have our daily basic foods, have a job and the "less you ask, the better it is" survival philosophy.

 

In a short time, at the age of 58 I am going to see this country - fortunately seeing it in peace, unified and eager to receive tourists. I will travel with a camera, so one should expect to see this country through my lenses.