Vietnam..... Everyone asks..."So, how was Vietnam?". How do you sum up a trip like that? Phil spent a couple months there and then sent for Dawn, who spent three weeks with him. From crazy 50 cent cab rides all over a lawless city, to sunsets along the Saigon river, to the haunting towers of poverty that sprawled as far as the imagination would travel, there really isn't a good way to describe Vietnam. It would be the equivalent of trying to recall a spinning dream or nightmare, trying to grasp the ribbons of its expanse before the wild ride disappeared back into your mind. We fed leaping crocodiles, bought a bazillion bargains; silks, pearls, treasures, backpacks, treats, and a ton of batteries. Ho Chi Minh City as often referred to the "Wild West" of Asia, and it proved true. Phil got to enjoy the "good life" as in International Rock Star as the drummer in the band American Hitmen. They were hired to play 6 nights a week at the newly opened Hard Rock Cafe in the city center. They entertained world travelers, businessmen and their geishas, played with Run DMC, and charmed everyone who watched their high-powered nightly performance. The city was alive all night, filled with millions of beeping scooters. The urban interfaced a thick jungle that also led to curiosity.... It made one imagine what it must of been like 40 years ago for our fathers, soldiers battling and dying in this crazy place. Phil's father served here, and had he been alive, he would of found great humor in Phil playing in an American Marines rock-n-roll band in the city that he lived in while fighting a war many years ago. We would of enjoyed his company and commentary of this wicked, wild place.
