We were up early Wednesday am to catch the 9am boat to Phuket from Phi Phi... we had to move to a different bungalow for the last day and our "resort" was so spread out it was half way back to Phi Phi town and one heck of a hike through the hills to the main desk so we got the porters to carry our packs so we could enjoy a nice final breakfast at Viking Natures Resort before catching an 8:30am long tail to go back to the main pier at Phi Phi town to catch the 9am ferry. Slight problem as the tide was so far out we had to wait for 20 minutes for the tide to come in far enough to get the long tails out and even then we bumped and grinded our way out over the coral reefs. There were a bunch of nervous people on those 2 long tails but the resort wouldn't schedule an earlier boat saying there was plenty of time... I guess they were right.... we made with about 30 seconds to spare!
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| Low tide |
After that, they jammed 10 of us into a small minivan and we got to try out Thai driving skills again. This guy also thought the accelerator pedal was binary but he was outwitted by the governor installed on the engine so he'd race up to full out (about 120km/hr) and then the governor would cut the engine and we'd coast back down to 110 and then he'd be full blast back at 120... all the way to Phuket... EVERY, FIVE, SECONDS... like a clock. I think everyone on that van was ready to strangle him by the time we got there.
No issues at Phuket airport and the flight was thankfully uneventful. We landed at Ubon on time and unlike Phuket were not immediately accosted by hundreds of pushy transexual thai's pushing taxi's, hotels, and the like on us. We were almost ignored for a change which was kind of refreshing! We managed to find a stall that sold tickets for the minvan shuttle to Nong Khai and handed over our money and hoped for the best. This guy was actually a half decent driver. He kept it under Mach 1 and was smooth on the controls... hmmmm... maybe all Thai's aren't crazy drivers after all.
A word about Ubon... there are actually two of them. Both former airbases used in the Vietnam War. Ubon Thani (aka Uborn) was used by the Strategic Air Command to launch B-52 bombing raids over Laos, Cambodia and Northern Vietnam while Ubon Rachathani (aka Ubon) was used by the airforce to launch fighters and ground attack as well as wild weasels (planes that take out Surface to Air Missile and gun emplacements in advance of bombing raids). Dad will be interested to know this is also where the F-104s were based before they got sent out of the theatre for lack of electronic count measures since they lost a few to Surface to Air Missiles (SAMs).
This was also the home of Blackman and Robin, two famous US Air Force aces of the Vietnam war. Blackman aka Daniel "Chappie" James Jr (who was a black Tuskegee pilot) who later became the first Black 4 Star General in the US Military. He was deputy wing commander under Col. Robin Olds who was the only triple ace (12 confirmed kills) of the Vietnam War (8 in WW2 and 4 in Vietnam). Robin was a true fighter pilot, very aggressive and very dangerous. He was a hard drinker and got himself in dutch with the authorities many times and eventually retired only as a Brigadier (1 star) General as they wouldn't demote him and let him fly combat in Vietnam in the early 70's to "fix the air force's kill ratio problem" (discussed later).
Robin dreamed up (with help from Blackman and others) Operation Bolo which decimated the North Vietnam fleet of Mig 21's that had been reeking havoc on USAF F-105 fighter bombers just prior to Robin's assignment. The lighter Migs could out-turn and outgun the heavy "Thuds" and had been responsible for a few kills as well as the Thuds jetisoning about 20% of their bomb loads before hitting target to run away. The Thuds had recently got Electronic Counter Measure (ECM) gear that made them pretty much invincible from SAM attacks but the Migs were really starting to be a problem. The F-4 Phantoms that Robin was commanding on the other hand didn't have the ECM gear so weren't allowed to go deep into North Vietnam as they were very susceptible to the SAMs so the Thuds had to make the hard part of their bombing runs unaccompanied. Robin convinced the brass to put some ECM gear into the F-4's and launch some missions from Thud bases, flying Thud profiles and call signs to fool the NVA into launching the Migs against them (thinking they were unprotected Thuds). The operation was a raging success and they shot down 7 of the NVA's 16 Mig-21's causing the NVA to suspend flight operations of them for over 10 months. Robin got another kill during the mission to boot.
Unfortunately for Robin, he wasn't the best politician and his hard hitting ways caught up with him - especially when he told the brass that the Air Force was going about it all wrong (he was proven right after the Navy/Marines setup Top Gun school and improved their kill ratios from 3.7:1 to 13:1 while the Air Force remained at a dismal 1:1 insisting that the problem was the superior technology of the NVA needing better technology on the US part - the Navy flew the same F-4s). The USAF eventually figured it out and created Red Flag (which Canada participates in) which has re-institutionalized dogfighting (Air Combat Maneuvering) into the training program for its fighter pilots and got their kill ratios up such that their F-15 jet is the worlds only fighter with a better than 100:.ZERO kill ratio (although more than half of those kills were done by the Israelis). I've read all kinds of books (fiction and non-fiction) about this part of the world so its fascinating to me to finally see it. Anyway, back to the present world.
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| Col. Robin Olds at Udon...he died of Prostrate Cancer in 2007 at age of 84. RIP |
We arrived at the Mut Mee Guesthouse and found this charming little place on the banks of the Mekong River. Mut Mee is the type of silk they grow in those parts. Its fairly rough but quite pretty with its various patterns. As I mentioned, our expat Canadian host (7 years in Ireland, 7 in Canada and 30 travelling around the world) loved the place so much he stayed here for the past 2.5 years. He was such a good evangelist for it, we just had to stay and find out how much of it was true for ourselves!
The next am, we hired a minivan driver (another quite good driver... perhaps it really is just around Phuket that they are nuts) to take us to Ban Chiang, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the location of the earliest known settlements in South East Asia dating back from at least 5000 to almost 7,000 years ago. They unearthed it accidentally when a US student (the son of the ambassador) tripped over a branch and discovered some pottery shards he recognized as being quite old. They dated them and it turned out that man was in this area much earlier than ever believed and that they had bronze tools making them think that perhaps civilization started here (later disproved with carbon dating). They did turn up some neat skeletons (140 of them) and thousands of pots - unfortunately many of them destroyed or stolen by the villagers selling to collectors before the King intervened and setup a formal museum. We went through that museum which was as much about how brilliant the king is as about the artifacts. The whole thing was setup on the King's visit in the late 60's and the questions he asked and the answers given. You see pictures of the king everywhere here. He's determined not to follow the mistakes of his predecessors and seems determined to be deified.
We also stopped off at a neat Wat on the way in sort of a magical forest in the middle of some rice paddies. It set the mood for this stage of our trip.
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| Almost spooky... especially with the "Tuk Toy" Lizards making their very loud tuk toy sounds! |
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| Kind of hard to miss! |
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| Some of their sculptures cofound me... is this Ronald Reagan with a pink elephant? |
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| Shawn looking over a recreation of the excavation |
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| One of the jars... over 3000 years old! |
That night we walked into town to see the local festival they were running. It was a series of arcades and shops and I discovered that I'd been severely ripped off with my $8 Oakley sunglasses in Phi Phi as I could buy new Ray Bans for $1! Shawn picked up two new pairs of Nike/Puma shorts for $5 and the kids both picked up some lighted helicopter things that get launched on elastics and shoot to about 50' and whirl back down for 20 cents each. They had some gorgeous picnic table style benches made out of 5" thick teak logs that I would have loved to take home if I could ever have figured out a way to get them home reasonably. The wood was just stunning. Then the kids got to play all the silly arcade games they wanted (darts at ballons, shooting guns at targets, etc) for about 20 cents a pop. They won about 5 prizes and were delighted as we always convince them they are not worth the money at home and have been dying to try them. The locals seemed genuinely delighted to see western kids at their fair. They also had a few live bands playing some very catchy asian country/rock music songs. We were quite taken with a few of the tunes even though we couldn't understand a word of the lyrics. Someone is going to bring those songs to North America and make a fortune.
The next day we hired some bikes and road to a local sculpture park (Sala Keoku) which was created in the late 70's by a Laotion national who escaped the Pathet Laos and started a different park to one he'd created across the river in Laos (now one of their most famous attractions in Vietienne). The guy was obviously certifiably nuts but he somehow managed to create hundreds of concrete Budda and Hindu statues, some towering over 25 metres high! The most easy to understand is a complex structure called the wheel of life where you enter the statue through the inside of a penis inserted into a vagina and and follow the stages of life through birth, adolescence, marriage, adultery, death and finally jump the wall into Nirvana. He'd tied it all up with the 5 senses. The most impressive statue was of the 7 headed Naga over the head of a smiling Budda. It had to have been over 7 stories tall. Rachel was quite pleased as she managed to snag another cowboy hat for about $3 and some sunglasses for $1 at the market outside. We had two ice-cream cones each for about 20 cents a person which made for some relief on a hot day. Jen and Rachel later went shopping in town and came back with some local silks and other bargains. They were quite impressed.
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| The Naga |
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| Up close and personal... |
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| Our little Buddha |
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| Yup, he was nuts |
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| Biking along the Mekong River |
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| Buddha's watching over them |
I had a "Thai" massage while they were gone as my back had been been bugging me since the sand boarding fall and Jen figured it would calm me down a bit. I don't know about calm... at times it was more like a torture session as she bent me into positions I didn't know I could do and stepped on parts of me that I didn't think you stepped on but I must admit I did feel quite a bit better afterwards. Jen had said they do mostly pressing but she used her knees, elbows, feet and arms to beat the crap out of me so everything felt like jello. An hour for about $6. Shawn was fascinated by her walking on me. She had some big stick she leaned on (to take some weight off me I guess) but I think he thought she was going to beat me with it too!
Laos next....
Very interesting. I knew a couple of F-4 Drivers in Europe who worked for Olds. They called him a wild man but respected his fighter pilot skills. One of the chaps, Ross Truesdale told me out of an 8 plane F-4 mission, you might have two guys (the Leads) hit the target. The rest were along for the experience. Soooo natch, I asked why didn't they set up a school back state side to give these guys f/p experience to which the Col (forget his handle)who we were talking to looked at me as if to say "what the f...do you know" so there you go. I finally walked away but not before I said "you guys are going to get your butts kicked out of Nam and then we will talk". That was at the FAC School in Ramstein. I thought I had blown my chance to drive an American Tank (M-63 ??) for sure but the Major (colored chap) next day set it up and I got to do it anyway.
ReplyDeleteLove to do the Mekong so will follow you closely. Keep em coming and watch your six, Dad
More on F-104 in Nam...A USAF Captain, long in the tooth, at 4 ATAF Hdqtrs in Ramstein used to come down to 422 and fly about 10 hrs a month with our aircraft. He had a tour in Nam with 435 Sqn, they flew the C Models versus or Gs. Prior to Nam, the USAF guys were trained as interceptor pilots and had no real training on Air to Air. i.e. T/O, climb, mach 2, intercept the bomber head on about 75 miles out, fire and retire. No yank and bank etc against other fighters, no SAM evasion etc. etc. They lost about a dozen or so. Snake Reeves (Lockheed Test Pilot, Koreen Vet)came over and showed us (transparent overlays) where the 104 was superior to the Migs and vice versa...i.e. don't try and turn with them but go vertical, disengage and come back down at the Migs. This was a prelude to the Conventional role but applicable to the Germans especially their Navy Pilots. Our Conventional roll i.e. the Attack side of Strike/Attack (Nuclear/Conv.) was air-ground only. Dog fighting was unauthorized, but given the chance, everybody did it. THe doctrine was called "energy manouverability". The down side of the J-79 was that it was a dirty engine and left a trail of smoke, X 2 for the F-4 ! I had a few set toos with this USAF Captain but never had a CAVOK day to really go at it vertically. Did practice a little against the French Mirage 111s but they would always call for help so it would be 5-6 against one and no element of surprise. I waxed a M 111 with a CF-104D (D=dual= a dog) one day over the Alsace Mtns which blacked out my back seater a few times, had to bribe him to keep his mouth shut!!. We were not equiped for air-air role but that changed in the early 70s. They sent some Cdns to Red Flag with CF-104Gs and wiped the USAF guys butts royally i.e. F-16s F-4s F-15s, before the F-15Es. These were Instructors a Cold Lake, ex F-86 guys like Terry Hallett 3000+ hrs on CF-104Gs. Dad
ReplyDeleteRemembered the USAF Captain's name Jamie Jammisen. The Sim guys flew 1/2 time = 10 hrs/mo. Jamie got 3 hrs/mo, enough to collect Flight Pay about $200/mo extra. I also had a long chat one afternoon with German Gen......??? (top notch f.p. WW11, got badly burned in ME 262 accident) while standing outside a German Sqn in Memmingen and waiting for them to launch their GF-104Gs during a Tac Eval Exercise. I was the Cdn Observer on an Annual Tac Eval Inspection. A plot of stupidity going on because of the bean counters but the up side was that they were able to get more flying and pilots trained. Like lining up all the A/C side by side so they could improve their times to load them with Nukes, easier to guard...against what ? Some guy driving by in a pickup could knock them all out with a mortar shell. We did the same! All just a game on the big board at 4 ATAF Hdqtrs in Ramstein.
ReplyDeleteGeneral Johannes Steinhoff, thanks to Google, was his name. He was Chief of Staff of the Luftwaffe. We had about an hour together just chatting...one f.p. to another...standing outside in front of the Sqn. He told me about the problems the Germans had with the F-104Gs and I asked his opinion where the USAF was headed with the Vietnam thing as they were getting beat up over there by the Migs and Sams. USAF trained the GAF at Luke, Texas using German F-104Gs under American registeration. We went to dinner one evening with the German Officers, only 3-4 per Sqn as their pilots were non-coms, and the Tac Eval Team. Col Eric Hartmann, head of the German Section of 4 ATAF Hdqtrs, Ramstein, came with us and was quite outspoken as he had published his memmoirs in German. He told me that he would be published in English as soon as the translation was done. He was of an earlier formed opinion that the F-104 was to much to soon for the Luftwaffe, not the pilots but the ground crew and support necessary for such a soffisticated a/c. The Minister of Defense had grounded the fleet and later lost his son in a F-104G. Quite a dinner...old mill...head cheeses & sausages & beer somewheres south of Memmingen in the Bavarian Alps. Hartmann introduced me to wheat beer which tasted like bananas...of course I commented that "it probably was developed for German fighter pilots" to which all had a good natured chuckle. As you know Brent, the German Officr's Mess purposly had handles on their sinks in the mem's washrooms ! The General was not there but Eric thought it was hillarious...he was a T-totaler at that juncture, medical problems I later heard. He also commented on my long chat with Steinhoff and said that was a first so was kind of stroking me for info on it. I respected the General too much to disclose our private conversation. Fortunately, I didn't have my hat on so no need to salute...not sure if I could have anyway.
ReplyDeleteLining up the aircraft... You'd have thought they learned not to do that from Pearl Harbor! We're in Laos now and the misinformation in the man on the street about the "American War" is astonishing. They are taught that more than 100,000 Americans were killed in Laos alone and that Vietnam had 1M soldiers in Laos (which had a population of only 3M at the time). The winner gets to write the history I guess!
ReplyDeleteThere are still lots of uniforms around. They look like the VC uniforms and drive old Willy's jeeps. It's sort of spooky. The people are very friendly even when they think we are Americans though.
I must admit that being here has given me a different perspective on the war here and in Afghanistan. The US lost this one but at the end of the day, it's hardly any different here than in Thailand. You can't help but wonder about the 50K US troops who died over here... For what?
McArthur used to say nobody hates war like a soldier and I see what he means. The differences that start wars often don't seem as important 50 years later - look at the US civil war- those two sides couldn't have been any closer.
I certainly don't think we should fight in a war we aren't prepared to win at all costs. Now that Obozo has signaled to the Taliban that the US is leaving Afghanistan is lost too.. What a waste.
I've been following the escapades of the F-35. What a CF. I suspect the US Airforce has built another F-111. They tried to be all things at once and it doesn't do any of them well. I do think this will be the last manned fighter they will build. They are just too expensive to procure now. I think we should just pick up a hundred or so used F-15E's or some Super Hornets and wait for the next big thing. We will never be able to buy enough F-35's to be effective now with the program slowing down.
Lining up the aircraft... You'd have thought they learned not to do that from Pearl Harbor! We're in Laos now and the misinformation in the man on the street about the "American War" is astonishing. They are taught that more than 100,000 Americans were killed in Laos alone and that Vietnam had 1M soldiers in Laos (which had a population of only 3M at the time). The winner gets to write the history I guess!
ReplyDeleteThere are still lots of uniforms around. They look like the VC uniforms and drive old Willy's jeeps. It's sort of spooky. The people are very friendly even when they think we are Americans though.
I must admit that being here has given me a different perspective on the war here and in Afghanistan. The US lost this one but at the end of the day, it's hardly any different here than in Thailand. You can't help but wonder about the 50K US troops who died over here... For what?
McArthur used to say nobody hates war like a soldier and I see what he means. The differences that start wars often don't seem as important 50 years later - look at the US civil war- those two sides couldn't have been any closer.
I certainly don't think we should fight in a war we aren't prepared to win at all costs. Now that Obozo has signaled to the Taliban that the US is leaving Afghanistan is lost too.. What a waste.
I've been following the escapades of the F-35. What a CF. I suspect the US Airforce has built another F-111. They tried to be all things at once and it doesn't do any of them well. I do think this will be the last manned fighter they will build. They are just too expensive to procure now. I think we should just pick up a hundred or so used F-15E's or some Super Hornets and wait for the next big thing. We will never be able to buy enough F-35's to be effective now with the program slowing down.
Wars are about ideas. Vietnam was to stop the domino effect. That is why the Aussies were fully engaged but the Americans blew it. You can't fight a war with one hand tied behind your back. McNamara thought he could run it like GM of Ford. Johnston was full of bull. They lost the war at home as much as they did in Nam. Only made 2 movies about it in what...7 years. In WW11 they made about 145....and the list goes on.
ReplyDelete