A few days back I went to the Cu Chi tunnels, which are a series of underground labyrinthine tunnels dug by the Cu Chi area communist forces in the Vietnam war (called the American war here, for somewhat obvious reasons). This is one of the reasons that the USA lost the Vietnam war, which was a bit surprising considering our own history. The VC used pretty much the same tactics to kick us out of Vietnam that we did to kick the British out of the colonies.

The hardest thing to swallow when visiting these sites is the propaganda. Sure, I know that the USA did horrible things in Vietnam, but I still can't get over the idea of people being heroes for killing other people. The Vietnamese propaganda says things like "[so and so] was a hero for killing seventy five American enemy." I always thought people were heroes for saving people, not for killing them.

I also saw the central Cao Dai temple. This is a somewhat strange modern religion that is a mix of Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, and a bit of Saint Worship. The religion seems to be about 80% people over the age of 80 however, so I suspect that it will either have to make a lot of changes in the next few decades to survive, or it will die out. Still, the temple was attractive (if a bit suffering from multiple personality disorder), and the music played in the service was interesting to me.

Yesterday I saw an animated movie about an Iranian woman growing up during the revolution and subsequent Iran-Iraq war. I think it was called Persepolis or something like this. It was a French film (subtitled in English thankfully). It was a nice film with an interesting perspective. I still don't really understand what is going on in Iran, as the messages coming out of there are so mixed, from ones of total barbarism (mostly against women) to what appears to be a totally modern and somewhat free society (from some of the people I have talked to, including Iranians). The news would have me believe that it is a horrible place, but most Iranians I have known have all intended to return in the near future.

Tonight...dancing I hope.