Day 33: Saturday
February 4, 2023: Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam (24 miles, 747 miles total)
Le Ly Hayslip was born in South Vietnam in 1949. Her memoirs, When Heaven and Earth Changed Places, describe her experiences growing up during the First Indochina War between the French and Viet Minh. This included the horrors from the beginning of the Second Indochina War between North and South Vietnam, and through the Vietnam War. She was tortured by the ARVN, raped by the Viet Cong, and suffered injustices of war her entire life until she was evacuated to the US. From the unique perspective of a Vietnamese peasant girl, she paints a portrait of her beloved Vietnam in turmoil, where good, innocent people are forced to betray their humanity and engage in cruel and barbarous acts to survive. Where the fabric of village life is ripped to shreds in a bloody struggle that no longer has a righteous cause, but only lost causes and survival of the most brutal.
Continue reading “Guest Blog: Cross-Country Bike-Packing at 63: South East Asia Tour”
is an international development and anti-corruption worker, specializing in the Muslim world, and author of multiple publications, including The Middle East for Dummies.
Contact him at csdavis23@gmail.com