Shots, pills, currency

Picked up the malaria pills (one a day for the next 2 months), diarrhea antibiotics (yikes......enough for 3 bouts) and then received 3 shots.  Shots were free, but pills were $244.00.  Tetanus, hepatitis A&B, typhoid and doubtlessly a few more bacteria, microbes, or whatever the hell you call them now will be immunity supporting travel partners.   

Received a half hour lecture on street food, (yes),  wild places (yes, on the agenda), the importance of drinking bottled water and considerable cautions about mosquitoes....the daytime ones and the nighttime ones, the big ones and the little ones, the urban ones and the hinterland ones.  

Really?

Picked up crisp, clean travel cash after reading that even the smallest cut, tear or stain would render US currency useless or reduce its value.   After the Oaxaca trip in October where $1.00 = approx 12 pesos, I still think about conversion premiums.  There is always a premium for currency conversion.  In Laos $1.00 = 8,000 kip.  $100.00 = over 80,000 kip.  Will need to have a wad of money - tens of thousands of kips.......for even a tuktuk ride.....

Per the phone carrier:  Free texting and $0.20 a minute for cell calls from Thailand, Cambodia and Viet Nam.  $4.19 a min from Laos.  T

I told my best friend Jerry that I would gladly call him from any where.....and often do.......and will........from anywhere but Laos. 

The same message is affectionately presented to all followers of this blog.  

Do not call me.  

Send an email to:    fishbike53@yahoo.com.  

 But do please keep in touch.  

The internet is ubiquitos. 

Fishbike53walkabout

B

Please provide a comment about the blog if you look at this page....

I am attempting to see how comments are received and how to manage..  Thx.

The Plaine Des Jarres and "That Map"

Prepared in Late Dec 2103.  Posted 1/13/14

Below are several photos of a map I found squirreled away in some of my father's things.

The closeup of the map at the bottom of the page shows an area about 60 to 80 miles NNE of Vientiane, Laos.   L98 is Long Tieng - often described as “The Most Secret Place on Earth”.

I had the map framed and look at it daily.  Considerable research resulted in an understanding of places and numbers on the map. My father never told me much about it or about what he was doing.........but with much of the war in SE Asia now declassified and the power of the internet, I think I figured some of it out.......

My father drew the lines, the numbers for the radio beacons, the distances from the beacons, the landing strips (Lima Sites).  All the edges were cut off the map.  It had been folded, refolded, creased, crinkled, crunched and folded again.  It was obvious that it had been used very heavily.  

On the top right corner over the crease in the map you can see "Plaine Des Jarres" or The Plain of Jars.  Much of his flying was over this region in 1966 as a USAF pilot. The war in Laos was a "Secret War".  U.S. Activity in Laos was classified until the Clinton Administration.  

The CIA was running the entire show in Laos, so it was covert - everything about activity in Laos was covert. Secret.  Dangerous.   Officially, the U.S. was not involved in Laos.  But we were, big time.

Long Tieng, or Lima 98.

The map is full of lines, radians from radio beacons, distances, landing strips, etc.  The Plain of Jars was a major link to the Ho Chi Minh trail and a primary route of transit for equipment, food and soldiers into South Viet Nam.  Depending on the time of the year, (monsoon season) control of much of the region often shifted between the "good guys" and the "bad guys."

This area that he flew over is a primary destination of my travels. To walk on the Plain of Jars.   My father was not dropping bombs from his plane...but he did in WWII.  That is another story and just might be the next walkabout.

In Laos, he was flying a WWII era C47 outfitted with a payload of first generation radio receiving and relay equipment, communications specialists and a Lao national or two.   They communicated with Hmong ground forces, spotter aircraft (The Ravens), the inbound fighter/bombers, and the CIA in Vientiane, the Lao capital.  The plane was basically an early version of AWACS.   

In less than year after his missions were over, all the work stations were upgraded to a module that fit inside a C130.   

Targets were ID'd by a "Raven" or a "Butterfly" flying a single engine spotter aircraft.  The location was transmitted to the C47 and bombing of the coordinates was approved by Lao nationals in the C47.  Fighter/bombers were called and radioed to the target coordinates.  The target was marked with smoke by the Raven/Butterfly and then bombs were dropped by the fighter/bombers.  Then Ravens flew back over the area and reported damage assessments.

Laos had more tons of bombs dropped on it during the war in SE Asia than all of the bombs dropped by all the planes - German, English, Japanese, American.......during WWII. The countryside is riddled with unexploded ordinance, or UXO's.  The quantity of UXO's is unimaginable.  There are still millions of UXO in Laos and hundreds of people are maimed or killed each year.

More about the jars on the Plain of Jars in a future blog.

Here is a little info on UXO's:

Quick Facts and Figures:

• Lao PDR is the most heavily bombed country, per capita, in history 
• Approximately 25% of villages in Laos are contaminated with Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) 
• More than 580,000 bombing missions were conducted over Laos 
• Over 2 million tons of ordnance were dropped on Laos between 1964 and 1973 
• Cluster munitions or ‘Bombies’ (as they are known locally) are the most common form of UXO remaining 
• More than 270 million bombies were dropped onto Laos 
• Up to 30% failed to detonate 
• Approximately 80 million unexploded bombies remained in Laos after the war 
• All 17 provinces of Laos suffer from UXO contamination 
• Over 20,000 people have been killed or injured as a result of UXO 
• Over 50,000 people have been killed or injured as a result of UXO accidents in the period 1964 to 2008
• 41 out of the 46 poorest districts in Laos have UXO contamination





- 

Check out the following link for information about Ravens doing the real dirty work and some great information about Long Tieng:

http://www.airspacemag.com/military-aviation/ravens.html

Per Wiki - regarding L98 (Lima 98)  on the map above:

 L98 (AKA Lima 98.  Later L98 was renamed L20 Alternate) or Long Tieng - was often described as “The Most Secret Place on Earth”. It was located in a valley at 3,100 feet elevation, high enough to have chilly nights and cold fogs. It was surrounded by mountains and on the northwest side of the runway were karst outcrops several hundred feet high. In the shadow of the Karst outcrops was “Sky” the CIA headquarters in Long Tieng. Jerry Daniels, a CIA officer codenamed “Hog,” is said to have named Sky after his home state of Montana, known as “Big Sky Country.”[7] Long Tieng was protected on three sides by limestone mountains.[8]




“What a place is Long Tieng,” said USAID officer Jim Schill. “Tribal soldiers dressed in military garb standing next to traditionally dressed Hmong, with Thai mercenaries milling about. And the Americans here are mostly CIA operatives with goofy code names like Hog, Mr. Clean, and Junkyard. The town itself is not much. There’s one paved road running through it and tin shacks on either side with eating shops, food stalls, and living quarters.”[9]

During the Secret War, Long Tieng became the largest Hmong settlement in the world.[8] In the words of one author, Long Tieng "became a desultory metropolis, an unpaved, sewerless city of 30,000 where Hmong ran noodle stands, cobbled shoes, tailored clothes, repaired radios, ran military-jeep taxi services, and interpreted for American pilots and relief workers."[10]

Ft. Stevens, Ft. Clatsop and Ft. Astoria - testing photo uploading,text cut and paste, etc. from an iPad.....

December 1, 2013

Sunday after Turkey Day.  Arrived at Ft. Stevens State Park at dusk. Park is on the south (OR) side at the mouth of the Columbia River.  Lots of traffic today - almost all one way - east  - leaving the coast - everyone returning to Portland after the T day holiday at the coast.

For me, a perfect time to hit the coast -  everyone but the locals have left. 

Ft. Stevens dates back to the Civil War, but most recently was a WWII defensive position guarding the mouth of the Columbia against possible Japanese invasion, similar to the batteries located around the Golden Gate (The Presidio and those in Golden Gate Park in Marin County) at the entrance to the San Francisco Bay.

Ft. Stevens has miles of beach access and is several miles west of Ft. Clatsop, the winter home of Lewis and Clark in 1805-1806.  The park is big  - with about 500 campsites.  In summer it is almost impossible to get a campsite.  There are less than 20 campers here today.  You can drive on the beach for miles and miles south.......

The Corps of Discovery arrived at the Columbia mouth - the journals state "Ocian in View!" in late November 1805 (they were "pour" spellers ).  After a vote by the entire Corps - including Sacajawea and York, (Lewis's black "servant"), the Corps made winter camp about 6 miles to the east of the current Ft. Stevens, or 6 miles inland. They completed the fort in time for a celebration on Christmas 1805.  There are are no actual remains of the fort and the recreated fort is at a location that is an estimation based on descriptions in their journals. The Corps consisted of about 30 men, one woman, one baby and Lewis's dog "Seaman."

Ft. Clapsop was named for "The Clatsops" the indigenous Chinook tribe. 

Ft. Clatsop recreated from drawings in the Journals

Copied and pasted from wiki:

Locating and Building Fort Clatsop

In late November of 1805, after spending a number of days in what is today the state of Washington, Lewis and Clark proposed that the Corps of Discovery move to a location along the Columbia River, based on a recommendation of the local Clatsop Indians.^[3] The group decided to vote on the matter, with everyone, including Sacagawea and York (explorer), participating. The group was given three choices: stay in Washington, and be subjected to boring diets of fish and rainy weather, move upriver, or take the advice of the Clatsop Indians and explore the area to the south of the Columbia River. The expedition decided to take the advice of the local Indians and overwhelmingly decided to explore the idea of spending the winter on the southern shore of the Columbia River.

Lewis decided to explore the area before moving the entire group. He and five men left to scout the area, leaving Clark and the rest of the group behind.^[4] Lewis became frustrated when he could not find the abundant elk that the Clatsop had talked about. In the meantime, Clark had not heard from his companion in a number of days and became increasingly worried. During Lewis' absence, the group performed a number of housekeeping tasks, including fixing their clothes from the wear they had suffered during the long and arduous journey.
Finally, Lewis returned with the news that he had found an adequate location in which to winter. On December 7, 1805, the Corps of Discovery began the short journey to the location chosen by Lewis. Upon arrival, the men split into different groups: Clark led a party to the Pacific Ocean in search of salt, while Lewis split the remaining men into two groups. One group was in charge of hunting, while the other was in charge of cutting down trees to be used in the construction of the fort.^[5]
Construction of the fort was slow, due to the incessant precipitation and unyielding wind that made working conditions less than ideal. On December 23, people started to move into the dwelling, even though it didn't yet have a roof. The next day, Christmas Eve, everyone moved in, and it was christened as Fort Clatsop on Christmas Day, appropriately named after the local Indian tribe.^[6][7]
The structures of Fort Clatsop were relatively simple, consisting of two buildings surrounded by large walls. All of the men lived in one structure, while Lewis, Clark, Sacagawea, her husband Toussaint Charbonneau, and their son, Jean Baptiste, stayed in the other.

Winter Activites

The winter of 1805-1806 was very long and rainy, leading to boredom and restlessness for the Corps of Discovery. They passed the time with various activities, including hunting the abundant deer and elk in the region.^[8] The deer and elk meat spoiled quickly, but the skins were used to make clothing and moccasins. Realizing the importance of their trip, Lewis spent most of his time at Fort Clatsop documenting the journey, taking notes on the wildlife, terrain, and other features. Lewis also made maps of the area, which would be especially helpful to future settlers of the Pacific Northwest. Finally, Lewis and Clark occasionally traded with the Clatsop Indians, a tribe they had come to dislike, viewing them as untrustworthy and prone to theft.
Ultimately, the group's time along the Columbia River merely served as a place to spend the winter and recoup. The men were suffering from a number of different illnesses and conditions, including venereal diseases and respiratory problems, and felt that departing would make them all feel better.

The Columbia River Bar is one of the most treacherous river bars in the world.  Tides, wind, waves, strong currents, sand bars - the perfect location for a US Coast Guard training station. Their helicopters are often heard and seen overhead.

Two jetties were built in the late 1800's to force water out the mouth of the river and keep the sand bars from clogging up the mouth, improving navigation.  They are impressive piles of big, big rocks several miles long out into the Pacific.

The South Jetty, built in the late 1800's

I have seen boats sink when fishing here.  Have crossed the bar twice in an 18 foot boat.   It was dangerous and thrilling - knowing that if anything broke - lespecially anything associated with the motor - or if you lost focus for even an instant, you would be in the water instead of on it.

Raining, windy today - typical OR weather at this time of year.  Although it is not raining hard, the raindrops fall from the trees in fat, sloppy, dollops that make it noisy as they splat on the roof of the camper.  

Warm, with the elect space heater and electrical hookup for  $23.00 and unlimited hot showers.  I love the Oregon State Park system.  In CA they charge $36.00 and do not have electrical hookups....and they charge for showers!!!!  No cell coverage here, but can get a TV signal, so watching football!!   Washington and NY Giants on the TV to the cacophony of raindrops on the roof.

Tomorrow - after a quick walk through of Ft. Clatsop, will visit Ft. Astoria in Astoria, founded in 1811 by a group of American men - Hunt, Stewart, and others that came overland to set up a fur trading post for John Jacob Astor.  Astor, at the time, was the richest man in the U.S.,  a self made millionaire fur trader from NY.   Hunt/Stewart are touted as the "discoverers" of the South Pass in WY during their traverse to/from the coast, but obviously native Americans found it first..........

The South Pass later became famous as the primary continental divide crossing on the Oregon Trail in the 1840's.

Fort Astoria failed to get the trade goods and supplies that had been shipped around Cape Horn in the trading supply ship The Tonkin.  It was captured and burned by Native Americans in Puget Sound, near Seattle.  With no trading supplies and with only the few supplies they had lugged across the country from St. Louis, Hunt and Stewart and the others abandoned Ft. Astoria in fear of British attack during the War of 1812.  The post was surrendered and was taken over by the Brits from the Ft. Vancouver Fur Post, 90 miles upstream.  Ft. Vancouver is two miles north of my current townhouse and an interesting visit.

8:30 PM - rain continues unabated.  Normal.

When the rain stopped, I walked the campground.  There are some larger trees here........maybe 70 or 100 years old.  Second or third growth.  Maybe 4 feet in diameter.  

Back in the camper, when the wind throws a fit, the cacophony on the roof returns......

Am warm, dry, with some good music that soothes the soul.



December 2, 2013
Monday

Drove by the location of Hunt and Stewart's Fort Astoria (AKA Ft. George) and found an empty corner on a city block lot at 14th and Exchange St.  There was a small recreation of a stockade wall and the balance of the site was a log stockade and fort - painted on the adjacent building's wall.  More of a pictorama than a historical site. From the site looking north there was a good view of the entire Columbia River estuary.

Drove up to the Astoria Column, but when I saw signage requiring $2.00 to park, thought I would park and not pay any of their stinkin' fees, make some phone calls and not get out of the truck but enjoy the vistas.  The site provides sweeping panorama views of the entire Columbia River estuary and mouth area - from the Meagler Bridge all the way out to Cape Disappointment on the WA side to the west and to the south and north for over 15 miles.

View of the mouth of the Columbia from the Astoria column parking lot

When Robert Grey's ship "The Columbia" crossed the river bar and  entered the river mouth in May, 1792, he came across the bar and upriver for about 20 miles.  Grey named the river after his ship and the name stuck.

Later in the fall of 1792, George Vancouver entered the river and sent a smaller boat upriver 90 miles to the current location of the Portland airport.  The leader of that excursion -  Broughton - has a beach named after him north of the current PDX airport.

Tomorrow will visit Ft. Clatsop and to "dismal niche" on the WA side where The Corps holed up for several days before deciding to winter camp at Clatsop.  While at The Niche, the weather was intense, wet, windy, cold and the Corps had their historic "democratic" vote (the black man York and the Native American woman Sacajawea included in the voters) about this time of the year, 208 years ago.


December 3, 2013
Tuesday

Toured Ft Clatsop, the NPS site that recreates the winter 1805 -1806 quarters of The Corps.  The exact location of the original fort was never determined.  In the mid 1800 settlers arrived, cleared much of the land, burned stumps and basically made determination of the exact site impossible.  The Corps probably left little behind and what was left was scavenged by the Native Americans.  I was told by Park Staff that there is a high degree of certainty that the recreated fort is "within a mile of the original, but no one knows for sure."

Found it interesting that when the fort was built for the approx 30 men and Charbono and his wife Sacajawea and their baby, that the couple had their own room - next to the room of Lewis/Clark.  Most of the men slept 8 to a room.

Next crossed the river and visited "Dismal Niche" where the Corps spent 6 long days in November 1805.  As they had been hell bent on reaching the coast, when they arrived their clothes, buffalo robe bedding, canvas and clothing was in tatters and wet from the weather.  At the Niche, it rained and blew relentless the entire time.  There was barely enough room on the shore for everyone to get away from the spray being blown from the bay.  They were wet, cold, miserable.