OK. Sick but feeling better after a lay in and several hours of Discovery channel/Cartoon Network, which is such a rip 'cause it's all HB cartoons which are the worst cartoons ever. Like Tom & Jerry Kids? You know some execs in TV hell got promoted for that one. And then they have these previews for cool cartoons but they never seem to come on. Discovery is better. All those shows about spies especially. Narrated by Rodger Moore! Did you know that, just as we had the codes to the Enigma device during the Second World War, which allowed us to know basically all of the Axis' naval movements, the Russians had the codes to OUR encoding devices during the cold war, thanks to a spy by the name of J. Walker, and thus could decode all of our instructions to our naval military. If it had ever come to war, experts say, we would have lost. I also learned a bunch of cool stuff about the East German secret police, and how they kept the scents of over six million E. German citizens in vacuum sealed jars so that dogs could follow them. Imagine what our government could do with the technology we have today.

Yes. Discovery Channel. Very interesting. Glad you're spending this valuable time in lands far from home wisely, Justin. World is an open book, etc.

Well, I've also been reading cheap fiction and buying DVDs! And I had a wonderfully zabaglione yesterday.

But here, just so you kow I'm really traveling, is my entry from my DMZ trip:

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Today I took a tour of the DMZ by motorcycle, along with two Dutch people, who I think came alontg just for the scenery, which was beautiful. I saw a lot of Macnamara's wall, and the river that divided North from South, some broken bunkers and sights of ambushes, and burned-out tanks, the bulk of which had been sold for scrap. Also tunnels. The entire country of Vietnam is perforated by tunnels. I think every village had it's own network, the shoots of which sometimes traveled underneath American army bases. The ones I visited were incredible, dug 20 to 30 meters and deeper into the red clay and home to over 250 people for over six years. Tiny brachiating capillaries, endlessly weaving, and utterly dark. There were toilets, hospitals, homes and meeting halls, but no Kitchens. People living there ate dried foods and vitamins. Twenty babies were born in the tunnels, who knows how many died. Families lived in small alcoves, and at night they would gather and sing songs or watch movies. When American warships moved out of range, they would come to the surface, and uncover their cannons and fire on nearby American bases. In their efforts to destroy these tunnels, the Americans in turn dropped over seven tons of armament per person in the area.

As the small tour moved on, I hung back for awhile and let the dark surround me. It was solid and absolute. Smothering. The thought of so much clay above me was unnerving, claustrophobic. I imagined bombs falling constantly in a six-year nightmare.

Later, we met an old lady who lived in the tunnels, and she told us how she had learned to shoot a gun when she was young. Then she asked us for spare change.

Afterwards we visited some American bunkers. Along the narrow trail leading to them were dozens of shallow holes, like tiny graves. These were where anti-mine crews had dug up live unexploded ordinance. Some shells lay here and there. The crews were absent as it was Sunday. Thirty years later and they are still at work. Two years ago three kids were killed in the fields near where we walked, and often livestock are killed wandering. It's amazing to me that this problem seems nearly forgotten, here and in Laos and Cambodia, and that the countries responsible have done so little to remove the deadly waste of their wars. I mean Vietnam too, who mined Cambodia heavily in the eighties, as well as their own country. It's through inaction that governments' hypocrisies are made clear.

It was strange to see these sights of ambush and siege and death. The violence has left few traces, save the small holes and occasional wrecks and hidden concrete ruins. Mostly all that's left now are graves and holes. It really makes you wonder when you see the state that war leaves countries in, the indelible mark it leaves on people for generations, what could be worth it. Cambodia,Vietnam. All that's left of these wars are holes in the ground and cripples and unexploded bombs.

I guess this sounds naive, and when you look at histroy and read books it's complicated and political and human. But from where I was standing near Khe San, where thousands of lives were lost for a meaningless base that was later abandoned by both sides, it seemed very simple.