Owen's Travel Adventures

a BIG snake

2010-08-23T20:53:00.004-10:00

I am in Vietnam right now. I have seen snakes in bottle/jars before during my travels in SE Asia, but never one this large. Even with accounting for magnification due to the glass, the body is about 4 inches in diamter.

For scale: the piece of paper is a little larger than 8.5 x 11 inches.

CREEPY...!

My Inner Tarzan

2010-07-06T21:33:00.003-10:00

Bangkok at Night

2010-06-14T22:09:00.003-10:00

On a work trip earlier this year I had the good fortune to have a night in Bangkok on my way home. I went to the Sky Bar at the top of the State Tower. The views are AMAZING!!! I snapped a few pictures to share.

Heading Home

2010-05-22T14:46:00.007-10:00

After more than a month on the mountain we were all more than ready to get back to civilization. We changed clothes about once every 8-10 days and none of us had bathed. Due to lack of proper sanitary conditions or facilities we had also gone without shaving. This was quite a treat for some of the younger members of the team who had been in the military since they were 17 or 18. They had never seen what their beards looked like.

What was a two full day hike in turned out to be a very quick descent. The faster members of the team managed to make it down to the village we had started from in about 4 hours. It is nice when gravity helps you out.

After four days of sitting around in a small mountain town - still without having bathed - we headed down to the local helicopter pad to be picked up by the Indian military.

In the process of waiting a poker game broke out that used one of our medical supply boxes for a table. Without poker chips, crackers, beedee cigarettes, and small pebbles had to suffice.

Other entertainment included the slack-line, which we set up between two soccer goal posts. The local kids thought is was the greatest thing ever.

The helicopter didn't come that day due to foggy weather in the Assam Valley. We were dejected to say the least. Fortunately, the helicopters were able to come get us the next day!

From The Abor Hills we returned to Dibrugarh. Over the next 48 hours we traveled from Dibrugarh to Kolkata to Pattaya to Hawaii.

It was a long haul, but totally worth it. I am very glad that I went.

A HUGE thank you goes out of all of the people in my organization and other entities that busted their butts to get us home on time.

View from the top

2010-04-27T18:32:00.005-10:00

After it rained for a week straight we got a glorious day of sunshine. We couldn't go back to work that day because the soil needed to dry out so that we would be able to screen it. Left with a day of great weather and no work to do, a bunch of us hiked to top of the mountain that our site was on the side of. The elevation was about 10,000 feet.

This is a panorama taken from a rest spot about halfway between our base camp and the top.

This is a video from the top of the mountain.

Base Camp Life

2010-04-23T17:36:00.003-10:00

We were living on the shoulder of a mountain at about 8800' above sea level. It was the only "flat" spot for several miles. Amongst the giant rhododendron trees we dug out places of our tents.

Needless to say, it was cold and rainy most of the time. We managed to get in about a day and half of work before the weather moved in. For the next week we lived inside of a rain cloud. Literally. It rained for a week straight. Needless to say, we were unable to hike up the mountain and go to work. We spent a lot of time sitting around the two fire pits that we built, Eating freeze-dried Mountain House meals, and staring at each other.

Base camp television, same channel every night.

Kitchen photo by Brad Church.

The kitchen. We would filter water with small backpacking hand pumps and then use small backpacking stoves to boil it. The water was added to the Mountain House and in about 15 minutes you had a tasty meal. While they were quite good, there was one serious drawback to them. Even the two person meals usually only had between 600-900 total calories. When you are at altitude, in cold weather, and working hard you need 3000-4000 calories per day. This resulted in needing to eat 4-5 two-person meals per day. Let's just say that I came home creepy skinny.

Thanksgiving dinner.

Absence

2010-04-23T17:35:00.004-10:00

I was busy putting up posts in early January when I was sent out of town for work on very short notice. Since then I have been gone pretty much continuously. Now that I am back in Hawaii I am going to be putting up more pictures of India as well as my two more recent trips since then.

Enjoy!

Spot the exotic animal...

2010-04-10T23:46:00.000-10:00

The Hike

2010-01-10T21:56:00.004-10:00

Perhaps the toughest difference between India and Southeast Asia is that in south Asia we can not fly out to our sites in helicopters. This resulted in us having to hike for two days to get to the base camp.

Getting ready to set out.

We hiked through fields of grain.

This is where I slept at the intermediate over night camp. We were lucky and it did not rain that night.

I am not going to lie. It kicked our butts. I am proud of the accomplishment. While I was certainly not the fastest hiker, I was always somewhere near the front, which is not bad for a civilian science geek.

Flight to the Abor Hills

2010-01-09T18:50:00.004-10:00

After a delay in Dibrugarh due to getting all of our final permits, we finally flew on to a small town in the Abor Hills to the north of the Brahmanputra River. The image below from google earth shows the large braided channel. It is about 5-6 miles wide at Dibrugarh.

This is what the river looks like when you are flying over it in a helicopter.

This is a panorama of the Abor Hills as we circled in for our landing.

The helo's shadow on the trees.

Hindu Deities

2010-01-03T15:37:00.004-10:00

Hinduism is a very large and diverse religion. For an outsider not raised in the tradition it can be difficult to understand and down-right complicated and confusing at times. The deities in particular. While there is one god, Bhagavan/Ishvara, there are numerous manifestations of this god in terms of Avatars and Devas and Devis. There are 10 main avatars, 23 primary devas (male deities) and three principle devis (female deities). There are also often multiple forms of each of the Devas and Devis, all of which have unique names and are depicted differently. The devas and devis also have numerous avatars, each with their own name. Oh, and the different sects and branches of Hinduism places varying levels of importance on all of the things that I just mentioned. See what I mean by complicated.

The numerous deities are represented in countless iconographies which are displayed in almost all aspects of daily life. Fortunately, these common artistic manifestations be appreciated without having to understand all of the subtle intricacies.

A Vishnu tile outside a temple. Vishnu is the all pervading essence of all beings in the past, present, and future.

A Durga outside of a temple. Durga is the one who can redeem an individual in times of extreme distress. She is also the embodiment of creative feminine force.

An intricate ceramic depiction of the elephant-headed god of luck, Ganesha.

Hanuman, the monkey king, who famously helped Rama defeat the evil king Ravana.

Kali, and incredibly powerful warrior is often considered to be the goddess of death. At the same time she is also thought of as the goddess of fertility because she is considered to be the controller of eternal energy. The statue above was inside of a small shrine along the river. The statue below was in a public park.

Small pictures and paintings of the various deities were

Shops and Stalls

2009-12-29T23:06:00.007-10:00

One of the best things about exploring a city is seeing what is available for purchase. A traveler is surrounded by a brilliant rainbow of color, varieties of aromas both enticing and repulsive, and a cacophony of sounds including ringing bicycle bells, hawkers selling their wares, and people haggling in seemingly incomprehensible tongues.

As usual, I did some serious damage at the fabric store

Hand embroidered Kashmiri shawls.

A fruit stall next to a religious paraphernalia merchant.

The spice guy.

Much to my dismay, I forgot to take a picture of the chai shop where I purchased tea with the goal of making the same delicious beverage at home that I had been drinking while in India.

Details of my chai recreation adventures will appear in a future post.

Cows

2009-12-27T11:00:00.000-10:00

It is time to discuss cows. Yes, the sacred cows according to Hinduism. For the most part, Hindus do not eat cows. They do milk them, but on the whole they seemed to be treated with a mild neglect and were allowed to wander around wherever they liked; and I do mean wherever.

Hangin' with the guys.

Checking out the fabric store.

This cow was just standing in the middle of a major street.

Regardless of wherever they may roam, they are NEVER harassed. They will be gently pushed out of a shop if they have wandered into too far, but they can lie down in the middle of the busiest road and will not get touched. Drivers would hit a human before they hit a cow.

One of the most interesting things about the sacred cows is that they are left to forage on the piles of trash that accumulate around the city. The piles are left on the street for a couple days as they accumulate so that the cows have somethings to eat. When the pile gets too big, it is burned. The one shown below was about 50 meters from our hotel and it was not uncommon to see up to 6 cows, 4 dogs, and numerous chickens dining at the same time.

Dibrugarh

2009-12-24T19:37:00.011-10:00

After two nights in Bangkok we flew on to New Delhi where we remained for approximately 10 hours before pushing on to Dibrugarh, Assam Pradesh, India. This is where the waiting game began. While the final approvals for all of our permits were getting taken care of we had a few days to explore the small city.

Map of India with Dibrugarh highlighted by a red oval.

Our hotel sat on the south bank of the Brahmanputra River, which cuts a massive six mile wide braided channel through the Assam Valley. The hotel had a very large rooftop patio that we spent a lot of time on. It afforded wonderful views of both the river and the town.

View to the north over the Brahmanputra River from our hotel roof.

View to the south over the city of Dibrugarh from our hotel roof.

In our attempt to fill the time, we started a rock climbing training regiment using a set of rock rings. The training involved a ten minute workout combining pull-ups and hanging from the various sized pockets. It kicked our butts at first, but as time went along we got much stronger.

Feeling the burn during a 10-second offset bent-arm hang.

We also got out and explored the town on foot. In some respects Dibrugarh was very much what I anticipated India to be and in other facets it was not what I expected at all. As I figured, it was noisy, crowded, dirty, and very dynamic. The traffic on the main streets was very intense and the general rule was mass makes right. The larger the object the more right of way it had. Pedestrians were expected to get out of the way.

A typical street in the city center.

For long distance shipping. These trucks, affectionately called lorries due to the British, had to have been made in the 30s and 40s.

I expected the city to be dirty, but not to the extent that it was. There are no public trash cans. When you finish with a wrapper, water bottle, piece of paper, or a plastic bag you simply drop it wherever you are. Street, gutter, sidewalk. It didn't matter. Eventually someone would come along, collect the recyclables, and sweep the rest into a big pile. Eventually, after the pile of trash has accumulated over a few days, it is burned at night.

Playing cricket on a giant pile of trash between two buildings.

A stream that runs through the middle of town.

One of the most unexpected things I immediately noticed about Dibrugarh is that the population does not look very "Indian" like you see in Baliwood movies. Because the city is so far east and tucked between China, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Burma a large portion of the population looks very "Sino-tibetan/SE Asian". I would say that the split is somewhere around 50:50. I also did see a few people who looked as if they had varying mixtures of the two gene pools.

India Basics

2009-12-23T19:00:00.003-10:00

Time for a geography lesson:

India is the 7th largest country in the world (1,269,210 square miles).
It is 1,200 miles from west to east.
It has one time zone, set to UTC+05:30. Yes, the half hour.
It has 28 states (pradesh) and 7 union territories.
7 of these states comprise the "northeast". They are that small chunk of India wedged between Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, and China.
Of those seven, the two states I spent time in were Assam and Arunachal.
India has 1,198,003,000 people (2nd behind China).
There are two official languages, 22 constitutional languages, and countless languages spoken by much smaller groups of people.
It is governed by a parliamentary democracy.
India is the birthplace of the Dharmic religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism.
80% of the population is Hindu.
13.5% of the population is Muslim. The only country with more Muslims than India is Indonesia.
Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, and the Bahá'í Faith are also present as well.

The main point that India is VERY big, VERY diverse, and VERY VERY dynamic.

Movin' On Up

2009-12-21T14:31:00.003-10:00

The last time I came through Bangkok, I was a poor grubby backpacker staying hostels a guesthouses along Khao San Road. Times have changed. Somewhat. I know that I am still grubby, but at least I am now staying in much nicer accommodation on Wireless Road near Siam Square.

In the States we have yellow rubber duckys. In Thailand, they have elephants!

Too cute!

Jim Thompson's House

2009-12-18T15:23:00.003-10:00

Due to last minute changes to my recent trip I spent a couple of night in Bangkok on my way to India. I managed to get out and see a few of the sights that I had not seen on my previous trips to Bangkok.

Jim Thompson was an American designer who traveled to Thailand just after the end of WWII as a member of the OSS (precursor to the CIA). While in Bangkok, he discovered the nearly lost art of hand woven Thai silk. After exiting military service he returned to Southeast Asia to bring the industry back to life. He is generally credited with bringing Thai silk to the attention to European and American fashion.

He build a beautiful house which now sits close to the middle of the city along one of the many canals. It is a traditional house on raised stilts as protection against seasonal floods. He also collected a lot of very nice Buddhist art including stone sculpture and tapestries. It is a quite peaceful oasis amidst the chaos that is Bangkok.

He went for a walk in the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia on Easter Sunday, March 26, 1967, and disappeared. He was never seen again.

Home from India

2009-12-14T20:36:00.003-10:00

I have been in India for work over the last 50 days or so. I got home today. Now that I am back I am going to be posting a whole bunch of pictures of the adventure.

To start off, here is the giant pile of gear. As long time readers may remember, I have a habit of posting pictures of the gear that I pack for each trip.

Here is all of the gear that I took for a month long stay in a base camp in the foothills of the Himalayas at 9,000 feet above sea level.

Mauna Loa and Hualalai

2009-10-16T18:09:00.002-10:00

High Altitude Training

2009-10-01T20:33:00.014-10:00

So this is a first for my blog despite the fact that I have been writing it on and off for more than four years now. A post about Hawaii!

Sunrise from the Onizuka Visitor Center.

My next mission for work is to the eastern foothills of the Himalayas in India (more about that in a future post). As a result some of us who are going on the mission were sent out to the Big Island of Hawaii for training in basic climbing/mountaineering techniques and high altitude conditioning.

Lodging at PTA

The inside of the lodging.

We flew out to the Big Island last Thursday and drove up to the Pohakuloa Training Area, an army installation in the saddle between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa at about 6000'. We spent Thursday afternoon and all day Friday going over basic climbing techniques including knots, ascending a fixed line, rappelling, belaying, etc... In the evenings were had classes on altitude induced illnesses. We also went out for two short hikes.

Tying knots on the rope corral.

Saturday morning we drove up to the Onizuka Visitor Center located at about 9300'. Over the course of Saturday and Sunday we practiced steep earth patient movement, or how to move an injured person on tough terrain. We also completed two more hikes that were slightly harder than the first couple.

Most tourists to the big island simply drive from their resorts at sea level up to the visitors' center, wait an hour, and then drive to the top of Mauna Kea. The point of us spending four days acclimatizing was that we were planning on hiking from 9300' at Onizuka to 13796' at the top. The extra waiting time and short hikes allowed us to stack red blood cells, which carry oxygen. Experienced mountaineers are probably thinking "four days is way too many in that situation". Please remember that I work for the U.S. military, for which safety is always the number one concern.

So at 7:00 on Monday, 28 September 2009 eleven guys set out to hike the Humu`ula trail to the top of Mauna Kea.

Long shadows of early morning

Looking south to Mauna Loa.

Lots of lava field that had to be crossed.

Big O, still going strong.

Almost there...

U.S.G.S survey marker.

Hikers at the top.

Northeast view from the top.

The hike was tough, but there were no technical sections. It was a long slow hike across about 7 miles of shadeless lava fields. Aside from the practical skills I learned three very important things. First, I am going to be able to handle the altitude in India. Second, I will have to take my foot off of the accelerator when it comes to the pace of excavation. I usually like to run my sites at 100 mph, but I am going to have to dial it back. Third, mental abilities are hampered due to altitude. Simple word games and basic multiplication that would normally be very easy at sea level are very hard when their is not much oxygen. This translates to me needing to take more time with my notes and evidence collection in the field.

Commuting to work

2009-08-01T03:04:00.003-10:00

Getting picked up in the afternoon.

A Few Pictures

2009-06-29T18:42:00.003-10:00

If the line hadn't been so long I would have tried out...

A pond full of koi at the bird park in Kuala Lumpur.

The panel outside of a set of elevator in a mall in Kuala Lumpur.

Uh...

2009-06-26T18:34:00.003-10:00

...yeah.

I encountered this in a freeway rest stop parking lot north of Kuala Lumpur on my way to the elephant sanctuary. The driver stopped to fix his licence plate. The vehicle clearly did not look new, but it purred like a charm when he started it up and drove off though. The driver sat in the chair, which did not appear to be physically attached to the vehicle in any way; without a seatbelt of course.

Ko Phi Phi

2009-06-24T18:02:00.002-10:00

I dropped off of the radar for a little while because I spent a week on Ko Phi Phi Don, a gorgeous tropical island off the western coast of the Thailand half-way between Phuket and Krabi. The small town on the island has been rebuilt since it was completely destroyed by the tsunami several years ago.

Ko Phi Phi (pronounced pee pee) Don is most well known for its towering limestone karst topography and scuba diving, of which I did a lot. And no, I don't have any underwater pictures. Instead you are just going to have to suffer through several tropical island photos.

Looking north into Tonsai Bay

The island is made up of two north-south oriented ridges with a narrow isthmus connecting them. The compact, crowded and very busy town sits on the isthmus. There are no cars on the island and only the police have scooters. The lack of city noise is blissful.

Most days I would get up at 7, stumble my way to the dive shop and head out on their boat to Ko Phi Phi Ley, a smaller island just to the south. This is the island that has May Bay where The Beach was filmed. The diving was amazing. I saw a couple different types of sharks, a sea snake, thousands of fish, and even a hawksbill turtle with a giant snail riding on its back.

The southern most tip of Phi Phi Don with Phi Phi Ley in the distance.

There is a short hike up to a viewpoint where you can view wonderful sunsets.

Kata Beach, Phuket

2009-06-23T17:59:00.001-10:00

It is a rough life, but someone has to do it.

Elephants

2009-06-13T16:42:00.004-10:00

Based upon the recommendation of other travelers at the hotel I was staying at I booked myself onto a tour to the National Elephant Santuary about 80 km outside Kuala Lumpur. Ok, and to alleviate your concerns, this was a real elephant sanctuary that cares for injured elephants, rebailitates ones that have been treated cruelly by bad owners, and relocates ones that have been raiding crops. Because Malaysia is a poor contry they have had to develop a tourist program at the sanctuary to subsidize their budget.

I did get to ride one of the elephants and since I was one of the last to go, I got to go for a bit of a longer ride. Part of which involved going through a small river. Now, for the entire time I had been there, the elephants had behaved wonderfully. Yeah, I am sure you can see where this is going... As we crossed the stream, much to the displeasure of the mahout, the elephant decided to lie down. We both got tossed straight into the water. Completely soaked. I did mange to save camera though.

Bird Park

2009-06-13T03:25:00.001-10:00

Having been in an urban jungle for four solid days I decided to take a respite from the concrete and so I headed to the Kuala Lumpur Bird Park. It is the largest free flight aviary in the world. It is built in a valley so the giant nets spread across the valley and down the open end. There were dozens and dozens of species that were free to move as they please. There were even several species that were breeding regularly. I have included a few of the better photos.

It was nice to wander around the relatively empty park and enjoy a stroll.

The ostrich was very curious and would come right up the fence and stare at you.

So was the hornbill. As soon as I walked up it hopped right off of its perch and came straight towards me. I was glad that it was in its own cage.

Kuala Lumpur

2009-06-12T02:42:00.006-10:00

After four days in Singapore I flew to Kuala Lumpur (KL). Last time when I was in SE Asia I took the bus a lot because I had quit my job and did not have a lot of money. This time around I do have a job and can now afford the pleasure of flying what would otherwise be a 6-8 hour bus ride.

I stayed at the Classic Inn in the Golden Triangle. It is a great budget hotel and I highly recommend it. Adrian and Michelle were extremely helpful and hospitable. The even invited myself and two Canadian guys out to massages and dinner with them.

Anyway... On to the sights.

The Petronas Towers. Ok, so here is a very interesting tidbit. Everyone in KL refers to them as the twin towers. This is perfectly normal and they say it constantly without a second thought. As an American it was very interesting to here the term "twin towers" used in a very similar yet different context. While the term refers to buildings in each case, when I first heard a Malaysian say twin towers the first that popped into my head was obviously 9/11. It took me a second or two to realize that the phrase twin towers does not automatically recall a tragedy in the mind of Malaysians.

Bigger point: Once again I have found another example of the faulty logic of the "America at the enter of the universe" mentality.

Alright, enough personal introspection.

The buildings are the home of the national energy company and are built with strict geometry in mind in order to be harmonious in both Islam and Buddhist religions. I did go up to the sky bridge (they don't let you go all the way to the top of either tower).

Moped

2009-06-11T17:15:00.003-10:00

I wandered upon this great old vespa on Busorah Street right in from of the Sultan Mosque in Singapore.

Eating your way across a city

2009-06-06T12:30:00.000-10:00

While most people know Singapore and the place where you can't chew gum or spit on the street without getting fined, it is has been a cross roads of an entire hemisphere for centuries. As a result, there is a wonderful blend of cultures. One of the foremost of these conflations is food.

Back in the 70s the government removed all of the food vendors from the streets and put them into food courts and hawker stalls. This decluttered the streets and also allowed for health and safety inspections. The result: incredible street style culinary delights where you do not have to worry about the nasty little buggies that typically come with street food in other countries in this part of the world. Needless to say I have been eating. A lot.

Laksa: A spicy curry soup with noodles, bean sprouts, fried tofu and in my case, fish. It is served in a metal bowl on the metal stand that has a fire lit underneath it. Wonderful dish. Rich, creamy, and full of flavor. I topped my meal off with mango juice.

Chicken Rice: I used makansutra to find what is supposedly the very place in all of Singapore for this dish. It is steamed chicken with an Asian style gravy that is served with a special kind of long grain rice, a bowl of chicken broth and a spicy chili paste. The chicken is steamed so perfectly that it is very soft, but not so soft that it completely falls off the bone. I have no idea what is in the gravy, but it is good. The chili paste is chili, garlic, ginger and a little water to make it not so thick. It also had a bit of a sweet edge to it that mitigated the heat. You ate the dish by taking some of the chicken and mixing it into the rice with a bit of the chili paste. You then took a bite with all of the components mixed together.

Other highly recommended dishes by the website above are chili crab, pepper crab, and fish head soup...

Same Same, but Different

2009-06-05T23:36:00.003-10:00

This phrase is a very commonly heard idiom in SE Asia. It is said by numerous stall hawkers all over this part of the world when they want to convince you that they are selling something different from the stall right next to them.

The city/country of Singapore embodies this phrase for almost everyone who visits here. Everyone will find something that is similar to home, yet the place will be very different from home and other large cities in the region.

Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum

Like a well maintained European or American city, the streets are very clean. Maybe even cleaner than the previously mentioned places. There is a fast efficient subway, which will remind many people of home. There are also giant shopping malls. They are full of stores from major American cities like Guess, Express, Gap, and Banana Republic. They also have European heavyweights like Louis Vitton and Chanel in addition to more common ones like Boots, the British pharmacy. But unlike an American or European city the population is mostly Asian and so looks very different. There is a fairly large ex-pat community here, but they are substantially overwhelmed.

Sultan Mosque

Like everywhere these days there is traffic and lots of it. Like most places in Asia, cars have the right of way and drivers assume that pedestrians will not get in their way. The food is also distinctly Asian although you can see how certain dishes from India have been reworked by the Chinese and vice-a-versa. While almost everyone speaks English, it is the first language for very few and so as you walk down the street you hear a dozen different languages that span geographical homelands from India to Japan to Indonesia.

Sri Veerama-kallamman Hindu Temple

Singapore is a clean, sanitized Asia and an exotic different America/Europe at the same time.

On vacation!

2009-06-04T20:35:00.002-10:00

After another long mission in Laos the teams headed home, but I went on vacation starting in Thailand. I hopped a flight out of Bangkok this morning and I am now in Singapore. Look for more updates and pictures very soon.

Lao Landscape

2009-04-29T13:10:00.001-10:00

Here are a couple landscape panoramas of rural Laos.

Waterfall

2009-04-28T20:02:00.003-10:00

On the same day trip that took a few of us out to Plain of Jars Site 2 we drove even farther out across the horrible dirt roads that are rural Laos and visited a waterfall. No, I don't know the name and even if I did I would probably spell it wrong anyway.

The waterfall is a series of cascading chutes, drop-offs, and pools. At least during the dry season. Through our linguist we were assured by some local farmers that during the rainy season the waterfall is a raging torrent. But we were fortunate. We got to climb amongst the multiple channels and find nice precipices upon which to enjoy the view.

Plain of Jars, Site 2

2009-04-26T09:49:00.005-10:00

Two years ago on my first trip to northern Laos I visited the Plain of Jars, Site 1. Site one has the most jars as well as the largest one ever made. As you would expect it is the most heavily touristed. This last trip to Laos I was in the same part of the country, but had the good fortune to get to go to Site 2.

Located much farther (down very bad dirt roads) from Phonsavan, Site 2 receives far fewer visitors. There are only about two dozen jars split between two hilltops. The first is a small cluster of jars beneath a giant tree. It is a very picturesque spot. The second hill is much more open and has numerous smaller jars.

The jars being on the hilltops is a marked difference from Site 1 where the vast majority of the jars are on a large flat area. At site 2 the very large and heavy stone jars had to have been dragged, pushed, pulled to the top of the hill.

The shape of the jars is very consistent at Site 2. They all tend to be tall a narrow with small opening. Like Site 1 it is thought that these jars were used in some form of burial practice. Recent work by Australian archaeologists has concluded that remains were not actually put into the jars, but rather buried around the jar and that the jar would have held offerings.

A 41 Hour Birthday

2009-04-10T18:01:00.002-10:00

A 41 hour birthday is a neat concept...

The reality of it was not as nice as you might think...

Let me start at the beginning. I woke up on April 7th at about 7 in the morning in Phonsavan, Laos. I took a shower, got dressed, and had breakfast at the hotel dining room just like every other morning for the previous month. We were scheduled to fly from Phonsavan to Vietntaine at 9. Unfortuunately the weather was bad, so we waited around until about noon when we boarded the helicopters and made the 1 hour flight. Shortly after we arrived in Vientiane the C-130 cargo plane left for Utapao, Thailand with all of our gear. It was supposed to make a quick turn around and return to pick up all of us (The plane is not beg enough for the gear and 50 people at the same time. The plane should have been back by 4:30 or 5:00 at the latest. This of course did not occur. The plane broke down in Utapao.

The detachment staff in Laos immediately got to work. Eventually they arranged for us to board buses and drive to Utapao. We ended up boarding a 45 seat bus (there were 50 total personnel on our trip) in Vientiane at about 7 pm for the one hour drive to the border with Thailand. Crossing the border took about an hour. On the Thailand side we acquired another bus, split the people between the two buses and headed out into the night at 9:00 pm. My birthday started at midnight. I had already been up for 17 hours. After a 10 hour ride we arrived in Utapao at about 7 in the morning. While I can sleep on a bus, it is not good sleep. I think I got about 4 hours total. Please note that at this point we have been traveling for 24 hours.

When we arrived in Utapao, the terminal was open but none of the shops were, which meant that we were unable to get any water. We waited in the airport in Utapao for about 3 hours until we could board the C-17 cargo aircraft. This plane is big enough to accommodate the gear and the people at the same time. Unfortunately, the C-17 was extremely loaded down with gear so there was very little room to lay down on the floor like usual. It was a six hour flight to Guam where we got off of the plain and waited in the Anderson AFB terminal for two hours while the plane was refueled. More gear was put on the plane so there was even less room on the next leg of the journey which was an 8 hour flight to Honolulu. Due to all of the time/day change of going from west to east across the international date line our plane landed at about 9 am Hawaii time. Yes, after fourteen hours of flying a a two hour layover between legs we had gone backwards in time.

Upon return to Hickam AFB, my first stop was work. I had to turn in my evidence. Then I was finally free! I drove home and discovered that my kitchen and downstairs bathroom are half way through a massive remodeling project that is expected to take another three weeks. This is of course exactly how long I have until I go out on my next mission...

If you have been paying close attention you will notice that no where in the narrative is there anything about sleeping in a bed or taking a shower until getting back to Hawaii. It ended up being about two days (48 continuous hours) of straight travel without decent sleep or a chance to clean ourselves... Eeeww...

Ok, so I am sure that you are saying: "But it must have been about noon, you still had 12 hours of your birthday left". If you are saying that you have clearly never pulled a two day non-stop travel haul. I was barely able to put coherent sentences together, much less go out and party it up. Fortunately there were presents waiting from my family and a special someone here in Hawaii who took that day off of work so that she could spend my birthday with me.

Ten out of Thirteen...

2009-03-01T08:41:00.002-10:00

...is how many weeks I am going to be gone starting this week. I am headed out on two back to back missions to Laos. The first one is to the northern part of the country where I will be returning to the very first site I excavated for work. Another team went to the site since I was there in 2007, and I am hoping that my team this time is going to be able to be able to finish it up. The second trip is going to be back to southern Laos, where I have been twice now, but to a province that I have never been to before. More info on that trip later.

Take care. Be good. And look for pictures some time in the second week of April.

Youngest Cousins

2009-01-03T23:44:00.006-10:00

One of the best parts about going back to California is getting to visit my extended family, Olivia and Ella in particular. They are my aunt Rowan's (not pictured) daughters and I was lucky enough to get to go to the San Francisco Zoo with them.

I gave six year old Olivia a ride on my shoulders first.

This of course led to Ella insisting that she also get to ride on my shoulders. For some reason she would not let a photo be taken of her sitting up straight. But hey, you can't really fault a kid who is this cute.

One More Bug!

2008-12-31T09:29:00.000-10:00

Sorry I didn't get this picture in with the original post. I knew I had it somewhere. It just took me a while to find it.

Walking stick.

Too Cute

2008-12-30T06:24:00.000-10:00

With all of the baby blogs out there these days I decided to put up something in the cute category. I think it is a pretty solid entry.

The locals brought him out when we were doing recon work. They wanted us to buy him. We politely declined.

Helo Photos

2008-12-28T08:21:00.000-10:00

Sometimes when you go out on reconnaissance trips you have to land the helo in some strange places...

Just a cool photo from the ground.

Rural Housing

2008-12-26T21:12:00.007-10:00

I sifted through the several thousand photos taken by a bunch of us this last mission and found a few that do a good job of showing what rural houses look like in Laos. The are above ground wood houses constructed atop stilts. Nicer ones will have single panel wooden walls, but many will simply have woven walls. The houses are raised because is allows for out of the rain storage without having to build an additional structure. Animals are also frequently stored under the house. Many have thatch roofs, but wealthier families with have corrugated metal.

Kids on a log!

It torrentially rained on us one day while we were waiting for the helo to come get us so we hid under a house near the LZ. The pigs, chickens, and goats were in their with us trying to stay dry, but the rain did not deter the kids in the area from coming out hoping we had candy. I am glad that we did that day.

Random odds and ends...

2008-12-22T19:45:00.004-10:00

Building the supply shack.

The doctor treating local patients.

A village elder.

Just some of the gear...

Shaggy or Shaved

2008-12-20T11:00:00.001-10:00

It is time to vote folks. Which do you like better, shaggy or shaved? Leave your answer in the comments.

The Team

2008-12-18T21:00:00.004-10:00

The team with the Mi-17 in the background. The locals refer to it as the flying elephant. The smaller helicopter we use is the flying water buffalo.

Tough digging under the sun.

Excavation in progress.

Wet screening.

Recording the stratigraphy.

Hangin' in the break area.

Bugs!

2008-12-17T19:27:00.002-10:00

These are just a couple of the creepy crawlies that I encountered on my last trip out.

I had seen a few of these before in Laos, but this was the first time I had my camera handy.

Ridge Top HLZ

2008-12-14T15:49:00.006-10:00

We used a variety of helicopter landing zones this last go around, but this one was definitely the most scenic.

Sorry about the marks on the pictures. The lens got dirty. It was a rough day.

Sabai dee

2008-10-07T22:37:00.002-10:00

After a relaxing 10 weeks here in Hawaii it is time to for me to get back out there on another mission. I am headed to Laos for the third time and due my not having been there for a year, the only word I can remember serves as the title for this post. It means hello.

Due to a late heavy rainy season in the part of Laos I am going to there is still water, and rice, in the rice paddies. As such I am headed down early to take a look at a couple of sites to decide which one my team is going to be excavating. I have thrown together a specialized, and streamlined set of equipment to allow me to get the job done. There is a metal detector in the plastic bag. I hope I can get it through customs without too much hassle...

And for the peanut gallery...

2008-09-18T21:30:00.005-10:00

...some photos of people.

Getting started in the impact crater.

Close to the bottom...

Completion of the crash crater.

Because my Mom asked...

2008-09-16T22:56:00.003-10:00

...I am posting a couple new pictures. These two pictures are of my second site from this last trip to Vietnam. They show the excavation area at the conclusion of the excavation.

Second Site

2008-07-22T00:00:00.002-10:00

This is the view from my second site.

First Site

2008-07-09T03:53:00.002-10:00

Here is a panoramic photo showing our base camp (left) and the excavation (right). The photo is taken from the HLZ.

Didn't I just get back...?

2008-06-09T16:58:00.002-10:00

Three frantic weeks after getting back from Papua New Guinea I am headed out the door again for a mission to Vietnam. It is a another six-weeker, and I am looking forward to it. Look out for more posts and pictures around the end of July.

Vancouver (out of order)

2008-06-09T16:42:00.003-10:00

Immediately before my departure to Papua New Guinea, I went to Vancouver B.C. for the Society for American Archaeology conference to give a presentation about some of the work I did for my masters. I had a big plans to get outside and see some parts of the city, but the weather did not cooperate. I guess I expended all of my good weather karma in Europe...

Looking north over Burrard Inlet from the convention center.

Looking south down Burrard St. while it snowed.

Panoramics

2008-06-07T21:56:00.003-10:00

The area around the volcano covered in ash.

View to the east of Blanche Bay from above Rabaul.

View to the west of Blanche Bay from the Rapopo Resort.

Sunset.

My site upon its completion.

Lap Laps

2008-06-06T18:38:00.002-10:00

Volcano at Night

2008-06-04T22:08:00.002-10:00

Photos by Kaily Brown

Baining Fire Dance

2008-06-01T10:46:00.008-10:00

As tourism continues to increase at the north tip of New Britain Island in the Kokopo/Rabaul region side industries have sprouted up. One of the most prominent of these is a clan that has established a troop of fire dancers that will come around to the different hotels when there is a large group or a VIP staying there.

The dancers, all men, and their support crew arrive in the later afternoon or early evening and begin setting up. They unload all of the necessary firewood, which is considerable. They prepare their masks and don their costumes which consist of giant masks (vungvung), large wooden chest plates, lots of black and white body paint, a large mass of tropical plants on their back and, most importantly, the thick layers of plants that protect their lower legs. It should be noted that the plants they wear on their lower legs does not protect the bottoms of the dancers' feet. Oh, and they don't wear shoes either.

Usually between 8 and 12 musicians accompany the dancers. Their instruments are hollowed out pieces of bamboo of varying lengths and diameters. Each man pounds his piece of bamboo on a large wooden pallet in a complicated fast-paced rhythm. The different sized pieces of bamboo create different tones. Chanting also occurs throughout the performance.

Once the fire has been lit, the music begins and after a minute or so the first dancer comes out of darkness and approaches the musicians. After dancing for about 30 second he moves over to a position behind the fire. Each of the remaining dancers is brought out one by one until they are all lined up. The pace of the music then begins to increase and the dancers begin to jump, hop, shuffle, shimmy and twirl around the fire. Eventually, the pace becomes so fast that it drives the dancers to jump up into the fire causing a massive column of sparks to erupt. The dancer then jumps out of the fire and continues to dance. Each of the dancers takes turns jumping in and out of the fire.

According to our hotel staff the dancers represent spirits who surround us at all times and play a critical role in our lives. Through the music and dancing spirits are enticed to join in and dance. The better the performance the more pleased the spirits will be and thus increase the likely hood of good fortune in the future.

Photos by Kaily Brown.

Sundays

2008-05-30T23:31:00.007-10:00

Missionaries did a serious number on Papua New Guinea. As a result more than 95% of the population follows some form of Christianity. Usually a rather fundamentalist version. Unsurprisingly, the local villagers, which we employed as workers on the site, would not work on Sundays. They had to go to church.

Since excavation was not possible without the help locals, we had Sundays off and were left to our own devices... After we had visited the volcano and the mask store in Rabaul we had to find something to do for the next five Sundays. Fortunately, one of my team members was savvy enough to ask around and soon discovered that the small island we could see from our hotel was deserted, had a perfect white sand beach, and excellent snorkeling.

Needless to say, the next Sunday we arranged to have the hotel's boat take us out there for the day. Loaded up with bar-b-que equipment, sunscreen, snorkeling gear, and a large cooler of refreshments we headed out for the day.

Super Green

2008-05-27T21:22:00.005-10:00

After the completion of my primary goal on my last mission my team and I headed out on a few surveys to find new sites for excavation. Typically, this process started by getting touch with an individual who had previously contacted us about a site they knew about. Cell phone was the most common method of contact. The catch to this step was that it was quite often the case that the informant did not actually have a cell phone, but had given us the phone number of one of his cousins. This usually resulted in a one to two hour run around to track down the actual person we wanted to talk to. Once we found the correct individual they would lead us out into the jungle. Sometimes we got to drive on nice paved roads and enjoy views out over the valleys.

More frequently, however, we would quickly find ourselves off of the main roads, out in the boonies, doing some serious four-wheel driving.

At times it was a very frustrating process. We would be taken way off into the middle of no where and would be shown what turned out to be a Japanese plane. Worse, sometimes we would be lead to a place that a previous team had already excavated. The long hours in car on bad roads did pay off in the end. We were successful in locating a few new sites that may possibly be excavated in the future.

Turvurvur Eruption

2008-05-22T19:11:00.002-10:00

It erupts like this every minute or so.

Turvurvur Volcano

2008-04-20T19:57:00.001-10:00

Kokopo, New Britain, Papua New Guinea

2008-04-15T20:19:00.002-10:00

View from our hotel. Yes, that is a volcano.

Dunluce Castle, County Antrim

2008-04-02T14:46:00.008-10:00

Out along the northern shores or Northern Ireland a few miles to the west of Giant's Causeway is Dunluce Castle. The castle is situated on a small promontory overlooking the ocean. It has a long and interesting history that began in the 1200s and includes a murder and part of the castle collapsing into the ocean. It was only a couple quid to get in and was very interesting to explore.

Belfast

2008-03-29T10:52:00.003-10:00

Mark and I spent a day and a half in Belfast and were able to get out and explore the city. The city center has numerous nice old buildings. Unfortunately the city hall was closed for restoration. Belfast is where the Titanic was constructed.

The Crown Liquor Saloon is a landmark pub in central Belfast. It is most well known for the mosaic in front of the door that includes a depiction of the Queen of England's crown. What side of the Northern Ireland situation you are on dictates how you enter the pub. If you are a loyalist and believe that Northern Ireland should remain part of the United Kingdom, you never step on the crown. On the other hand, if you come down on the other side of the fence, you always make sure to step on the crown.

Giant's Causeway

2008-03-28T11:39:00.002-10:00

Mark and I left Dublin and took the train north to Belfast. One of the highlights of Northern Ireland that we both really wanted to see was the Giant's Causeway. I is a very unique geological feature that is only found in a few places in the world. It is a section of basalt that has cooled into the shape of giant hexagonal columns. They form through very complex processes, so I have included a photo of the sign that explains how they formed.

View from the cliffs above.

How they formed.

View from ground level.

Looking right down on them

The legend of how they formed (and my new drinking name).

Dublin

2008-03-24T22:22:00.005-10:00

OK, so there are lots of great stories that go along with my visit to Dublin, but I am seriously running out of time before my big Vancouver B.C. - Papua New Guinea back to back trip and so all you are getting is pictures. I am sorry. I will get more info up about both Dublin and Northern Ireland when I get back in May.

A view of Dublin from the top of the Guinness Brewery.

Trinity College, home to the Book of Kells.

Kilmainham Gaol

River Liffey

Together again. For the first time.

I will say this about Dublin. It was amazing. The sites highlighted above are all definitely worth visiting. Especially Kilmainham Gaol. I had a wonderful time and a HUGE thank you goes out to Sarah for taking Mark and I out for a great last night.

Imperial War Museum North

2008-03-23T09:05:00.004-10:00

One of the stops on my tour of England that I had to make was the Imperial War Museum North in Manchester, England. The building was designed by Daniel Libeskind. He is also the guy who won the design contest to build the new World Trade Center in New York City.

The museum takes a unique approach to presenting war and conflict to the visitor. It focuses on trying to show how war affects people and communities on a very basic level. This is accomplished by reducing the amount of "old things in glass cases" and focusing on a massive multi media surrounding experience. Every hour all of the lights in the massive exhibit hall go off and a slide show is projected on the walls. The slide show depicts different facets of war in super-size and there is a soundtrack that goes along with what you are watching. All of the walls of the museum are covered and so you are surrounded by images and sound. It is a very immersive experience. There are three different movies, each one dealing with a different theme about war.

Standing Stones

2008-03-21T18:06:00.004-10:00

Ok, seriously. Did you actually think that I was be touring around the English countryside and not go see Stonehenge? I hope not. You should know me better than that. Anyway, on with the pictures.

Most main stream archaeologists believe that the stones were placed around 2200 BC. It is also generally believed that the stones came from about 25 miles away to the north. Don't ask how the ancient people moved the stones. Archaeologists can not answer that question. It is possible for archaeologists and engineers to figure out a possible way of moving rocks that size, but there is no way to know for sure how people in the past did it.

A little ways north of Stonehenge is the town/site of Avebury. This site is even older than Stonehenge. It dates from about 5500 BC. One of the greatest things about Avebury is that there is a small town that is in the middle of the ancient construction. The archaeological site consists of a large circular raised berm with a "moat" immediately on the inside. Inside the moat there is a ring of large stones that have been stood upright. There are also addition stones placed ion various positions inside of the area.

While many people suspect that Stonehenge may have been some sort of astrological calendar, archaeologists really have very little clue about what the function/purpose of Avebury was.

Cathedrals: Old and Older

2008-03-19T21:31:00.004-10:00

Heading north from Portsmouth Mark and I stopped off in Salisbury, which is home to a giant cathedral. It also has the tallest tower of any cathedral in England. It was undergoing cleaning on the outside in honor of its 750th anniversary. They were also conducting an archaeological excavation inside the main portion of the cathedral so that they could install a new font. I got to talking to the head archaeologist and I was surprised to learn that they had not found anything. When I asked why, he calmly replied: "Oh, it is because this is the new church. The old ones are over on the other side of town." 750 years! The NEW one!?

Another amazing thing about the cathedral is that it houses one of the four copies of the original Magna Carta. Yes, the 1215 version. Needless to say, they wouldn't let me take a picture of it.

Portsmouth Spinnaker

2008-03-16T19:05:00.004-10:00

After London, Mark and I headed south, spent half a day in Brighton and then made our way to Portsmouth where we spent the night. The next morning we got up early and headed to the Spinnaker Tower.

Note the rectangular window in the floor at the top.

The tower had the feel of a structure that was intentionally built by a city that is trying to establish an iconic architectural image. A lot of cities have one. Paris has the Eiffel Tower, New York has the Empire State Building and Sydney has the Opera House. While these structures have become unintentional iconic images, I couldn't help but feel like the Spinnaker Tower has that feel of a city trying too hard. Maybe it just needs to be around longer.

View looking down through the window.

That being said, I am very glad that we went and visited it. The view from the top was excellent, despite the bad weather that day, and the glass floor that you walk across at the top was great. I will admit that I had to work up the courage to walk across it. My logical side knew it was safe, but my instinctual side was setting off alarm bells...

Tate Modern

2008-03-15T23:10:00.008-10:00

The Tate Modern Museum on the south shore of the Thames River in London is housed in an old power plant. The following photos are of what was once the turbine hall, and the unique architectural feature within it.

Looking west down the length of the turbine hall.

A view from the bridge in the middle of the hall.

Close-up of the crack.

London Buildings

2008-03-12T18:22:00.002-10:00

London Eye

The Gerkin

St. Paul's

Loyd's

Panorama from the south bank
of the Thames River.

National Zoo

2008-03-10T20:58:00.002-10:00

Somber Memorials

2008-03-05T22:57:00.001-10:00

WWII

Vietnam

Korea

Arlington

Washinton DC Highlights

2008-02-29T01:50:00.002-10:00

Heading East

2008-01-26T14:00:00.000-10:00

For a while now I have been going west for my travel adventures. Australia. Three trips to Southeast Asia. This time I am headed the other direction. The American Academy of Forensic Sciences meetings are Washington D.C. Despite all of my wandering, I have never been to Washington D.C. As you can expect I am very excited to go. In addition to attending the meetings I am looking forward to visiting the Vietnam and Korean War memorials as well as several of the Smithsonian Museums.

After a week in D.C. I am going to fly to Europe!!! I am going to start off by visiting my good friend Mark, who lives in London these days. Mark and I met in Bangkok in the summer of 2005 and he visited me here in Hawaii later that winter. We had several awesome adventures in SE Asia together and I am very much looking forward to seeing him. We are also going to head over to Dublin for a weekend to see another person we know from SE Asia, Sarah.

There are going to be a total of two weeks in Europe before I spend two entire days traveling halfway around the world to get back to Hawaii.

It should be a great provided I do not freeze to death.

I am back

2007-11-20T22:41:00.000-10:00

I am back from my second mission to Laos. It was a great trip and I will try to get some pictures up soon.

Back in a month

2007-10-16T15:23:00.000-10:00

I leave for Laos tonight. I have a great team and am very much looking forward to getting back in the dirt. If everything goes according to plan I will get home to Hawaii just before Thanksgiving.

Have a great Halloween for me!

Heading back to Laos

2007-09-30T22:32:00.000-10:00

It is just over two weeks until my third mission for work. I am headed back to Laos. This time I am going to be in Khammaoun Province. It is in the central (in a north-south sort of way) portion of the country. I will be gone a little over a month and will be returning to Hawaii right before Thanksgiving. It should be a great mission and I can't wait to get out into the field.

Unfortunately, I am going to be off in the boonies, so there will not be any updates while I am in the field... Sorry. But I promise lots of pictures when I get back.

Sunset from the base camp

2007-08-18T13:01:00.000-10:00

More from Vietnam

2007-08-16T18:06:00.000-10:00

Here are a few more pictures from my most recent trip to Vietnam.

Asia Cup

2007-08-09T23:15:00.000-10:00

The highlight of my trip to Vietnam was definitely when a few of us went to see a quarter final game in the Asia Cup. The Asia Cup is like the world cup for soccer (football), but only for Asian counties. We had the good fortune to get to see Australia versus Japan.

The match was held in My Dihn stadium in Hanoi. It was a late afternoon match-up and we we got to sit in the sunshine and drink cold beers. It was awesome. As in all football matches there were tons of fans out in force completely decked out in their team's gear and making a ton of noise.

The first half went scoreless. The Aussies struck first mid way through the second half and Japan answered right back three minutes later. Soon after that the referee made a terrible call and sent an Aussie player off with an undeserved red card. Theboys from down under managed to hang on for 45 more minutes (two over time periods) a man down without giving up another goal. However, in the end, the Aussies lost on the penalty shootout.

The real bummer about the Aussies losing is that the party back at the hotel that our two groups were staying at would have been a lot better.

Oh and it was also good to go to a football game and not have my camera stolen...

Bac Giang Province

2007-08-01T11:05:00.000-10:00

The second stop on my tour of the northern portion of Vietnam was out in Bac Giang Province. This is a province out to the east of Hanoi in the Red River flood plain. After a long hike we were rewarded with beautiful views. The photos provide you with a good idea of what the area is like.

Lao Cai Province

2007-07-31T21:30:00.000-10:00

One of the destinations outside of Hanoi was Lao Cai Province. It is in the central north portion of the country right up next to the Chinese border. The 200 km took 9 hours to drive because of the bad roads. Here are a few good pictures...

Return to Hanoi

2007-07-27T17:23:00.000-10:00

After worked wrapped up on my site a little early we moved north to Hanoi. I visited Hanoi back in 2005 on my Southeast Asian adventure. I had an awesome experience when I was there the first time, and the city did not disappoint upon my return.

One of my first stops was Hanoi Backpackers Hostel where I stayed in 2005. Max, the owner, was more than surprised to see me and a little worried about what sort of trouble I would cause this time. I assured him that since I was in town for work I would be on my best behavior.

I also explored more of the city's sensory stimulating streets.

While I greatly enjoyed Hanoi the first time I was there, this trip reminded me how much I love the city. It is definitely one of my favorites out of all of the cities I have visited. There is something new and interesting to see, hear, smell, and taste around every corner. There are fabulous restaurants of every variety and a seemingly endless number of things to do and explore.

I hope to get the opportunity to return to Hanoi several more times through work.

Local Workers

2007-07-20T02:18:00.000-10:00

Here are a few photos of some of the local workers on my site.

I handed out candy canes one day during a break.

Chris is 6' 3" and about 230.

Special thanks goes out to TSgt Linda Miller who was my photographer for this mission and took many of the photos you have seen in the recent posts.

View from the base camp

2007-07-18T02:06:00.000-10:00

Work on site

2007-07-15T14:45:00.000-10:00

After the vegetation has been cleared we survey the area to find the

proper location to begin excavation.

Next we lay out the grid.

On this site we completed the excavation of 1200 square meters
using trowels 99% of the time.

The sediment is passed down the bucket line.

The dirt is then screened and all non-natural materials are collected.

Every piece of collected material is closely examined for its importance. Items of evidentiary value are collected.

Creepy Crawly

2007-07-05T09:30:00.000-10:00

This guy jumped out from under a rock while I was excavating and managed to run from my hand to my shoulder before I got it off.

I won't lie to you. It scared the $*!# out of me.

Base Camp

2007-07-04T16:25:00.000-10:00

So that you have a better idea of how we have been living, here are a few photos of our base camp.

Looking up from the HLZ

Kitchen/dining room/living room/movie theater/meeting area

Team gear

Looking up through the base camp

The hooch that I share with my team leader. My tent is on the left.

Water is pumped out of a nearby creek to fill these tanks, which are used for...

Our showers

The flight to the site

2007-07-04T00:20:00.000-10:00

Here are a few pictures of the flight from Hue to the site. We flew south over the coast in a Mi-17 out to the site.

The little brown dot at the end of the top red arrow is the helicopter landing zone in the lower left corner of the next photo...

Getting there

2007-07-03T16:30:00.000-10:00

After several long flights, and an unusually long layover in Guam in the middle of the night we managed to all arrive in Da Nang in one piece. Rather slightly frayed, but one piece nonetheless. One of the perks of Da Nang in that we get to stay at the Furama Hotel. It is owned by a Japanese company and it is one of the nicest hotels in the country. It is a little ways south of town and is right on the beach. There are two pools and multiple restaurants and bars.

Unfortunately that only lasted one night… Because my recovery site was in a different province than the one that Da Nang is in, we had to drive two hours north to Hue the following day. The journey was made in a four car caravan.

We spent two nights in Hue commuting out to the site by helicopter each morning and returning to civilization each afternoon. This was because the base camp was not completely finished. In the evenings we got to explore Hue, which I had been to before in 2005, and take care of a few last minute necessities.

Le Loi street in the late afternoon.

Deployment #2

2007-06-01T21:23:00.000-10:00

I am set to head out on my second deployment on Saturday, the 9th of June. It is going to be a base camping mission to Vietnam. What does this mean, you ask? Well, it means that 12 military personnel, 5 Vietnamese officials, 60 local workers, and I will all be living on a steep hillside in the Vietnamese jungle. In tents. For 45 days.

We have to bring all of our own food for 45 days worth of meals. What, you ask. The military doesn't provide the food? I am reimbursed for the cost off all of the food that I bring with me. It is actually a really great gig because it means that I get to eat what I like, not just what I am provided.

The location for the mission is in central Vietnam, a little ways outside of Da Nang. Da Nang is actually a city that I have been through before. It was in 2005 when I was on my SE Asia adventure. I spent a paltry hour in Da Nang on my way from Hue to Hoa's Place. I am hoping to get the opportunity to do a bit more exploring of the city on my way into and out of the site.

Unfortunately, since I am going to be living out in the jungle I am most likely not going to be able to post any stories or pictures. This is not a for sure guarantee though. I am going to have to wait and see if there are any surprises.

More from the site

2007-05-09T18:04:00.000-10:00

Our break area.

Crashed out in the crash crater.

Fillin' the buckets.

J-E-L-L-NO

The Plain of Jars

2007-04-30T18:16:00.000-10:00

We received a special treat on one of our days off. Permission from the Lao officials to travel a short distance out of Phonsavan to The Plain of Jars. There are thousands of jars scattered around this portion of Laos, but there are four main concentrations. We visited the largest collection of jars (334) at Site 1.

This north-central region of Laos was the subject of heavy fighting during the Vietnam War and as a result there is still a large quantity of unexploded ordinance in the area. The main tourist centers have been swept for mines and such, but it is still very important that you stick to the marked pathways...

The plain of jars is a lesser known archaeological site dating to between 500 BC and 800 AD. While there are many different theories about the origin of the jars, most of them center around burial rituals.

Compared to other sites in SE Asia such as My Son and especially Angkor, the Plain of Jars receives relatively few tourists. Phonsavan is well off of the normal tourist loop and because no backpacker is going to be able to afford a helicopter ride, they are forced to take a gruelling 16 hour bus trip from Vientiane. As a result, the backpackrs tend to be the sort who are SE Asia for numerous months.

More from Laos

2007-04-25T21:22:00.000-10:00

Standard operating procedures at work prevent me from divulging a lot of the details about my mission to Laos, but I can share some of the other photos with you.

Enjoy...

Phonsavan, the main drag.

1000 lb bombs get turned into bbqs.

SSG Jimenez and Dr. Baker.

Screening going full tilt.

Team mascot.

My Site

2007-04-23T18:16:00.000-10:00

Here are a few photographs of my site. They were taken on the last day when we had completed excavation and had cleaned up all of the units. They are overlapping photos assembled into large panoramics.

In all, we excavated a total 744 square meters (8008 square feet) to an average depth of 25 cm (10 inches). That is a total of 186 cubic meters (6568 cubic feet). That is equivalent to having a foot and a half of dirt covering an area the size of a basketball court.

Photos by Chris Flahive. Panoramic were assembled using autostich.

Vansana Hotel

2007-04-11T15:21:00.000-10:00

Ok, so a nice hotel is probably not the best thing to get spoiled with on a first mission, but hey, I am not the one who determines all of this stuff. There are other people in JPAC who decide all of these things. I just take what is given to me.

All 50-some-odd of us stayed in the Vansana Hotel in Phonsavan. It is literally the hotel on the hill. It is also the only place in town large enough to accommodate all of us. There was a super friendly staff who completed a full maid service every day while we were out at work. There was also a pretty decent restaurant with a full complement of asian food and cooks who even went out of their way to learn how to make cheeseburgers for us.

We completely took over the entire hotel. One of the parking lots turned into out gear storage and staging area. Another, lower parking lot, turned into our landing pad for squirrel helicopters. The Mi-17 landed in a dirt area out on the other end of the hotel.

I also had a very nice view of all of town from my front balcony.

I have a bad feeling that I might be camping when I go to Vietnam in June...

Getting to Phonsavan, Laos

2007-04-10T09:20:00.001-10:00

How do you move 54 people and enough gear to run four massive archaeological excavations halfway around the world? Start with a C-17 and pile everyone and everything on board. Leave Hawaii and fly to Guam. Hang out in the Anderson Airforce Base terminal for about two hours while the plane refuels and then get back on and fly to Utapao Thailand (About 100 miles southeast of Bangkok).

In Utapao all of the people get off of the C-17 and get onto a C-130. We were on the ground for about 45 minutes total.

This is a much smaller plane that takes you to Vientiane Laos where you go through immigration. After taking you, the C-130 flies back to Thailand to get your gear. In Vientiane you climb on board helicopters. We used two different types. Mi-17s:

And smaller helicopters that we called Squirrels:

After about an hour of flying across Laos we arrived in Phonsavan. Unfortunately I do not have any photos of Laos because the Lao government does not allow us to take any photos from the air other than of our excavations.

Our gear was trucked from Vientiane to Phonsavan and arrived a day after we did.