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Ayutthaya lies about a two hour's drive north of Bangkok.  It was Thailand's capital for approximately four hundred years, founded in 1351.  It was burned by Burmese invaders in 1767, which resulted in its abandonment and the establishment of Bangkok which remains Thailand's current capital.  

Below is one of the oldest Stupas, built in the 14th century, in the same era as the construction of Cambodia's Angkor Wat, the world's largest UNESCO world heritage site.  Stupas are Buddhist cylindrical structures containing the ashes, bones, or remains of religious figures, and are intended to function as pilgrimage sites for worship and meditation.

Our third (and final) Vietnamese port of call was Saigon, the former capital of South Vietnam, which was renamed Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) after the victory of North Vietnam at the end of the Vietnam War.  HCMC is a large prosperous city.  We were lucky to be met on two consecutive days by our old friend Bob, who is married to a Vietnamese lady and has retired to live in Vietnam following his long career in Reno as a counselor and professional musician.  I played many gigs with Bob in Reno over the years.

The Vietnam War, as it is known to Americans, is known in Vietnam as the American War.  Vietnam has suffered through wars with the French and the Chinese.  But Vietnam's victory over the US military in 1973 demonstrated the limits of US military hardware against a people defending their home territory.  The US faced this lesson again in Afghanistan.  The United States of America's military budget is larger than the combined military budgets of the next nine countries.  We cannot trust that we will remain safe in the world solely because of our tremendous military expenditures.

After a long transit from Reno via Los Angeles to Tokyo, we boarded the Viking Orion and enjoyed our first excursion in Japan.

Mount Fuji was an impressive site as our ship approached the Shimizu harbor.  Mount Fuji is Japan's highest mountain, an active volcano in a perfect conical form.

Shinto is Japan's "native" religion, dating back at least two thousand years.  The Shinto temples in Kyoto date from the eighth century, when Kyoto was the most powerful city in Japan.

Zen Buddhism came to Japan from India in the 13th century.  There was no direct conflict with Shintoism, so many temples honor both religions.  The Kyoto Zen Buddhist complex was financed by the Shogun, the richest and most powerful man in Kyoto at that time.

The extensive Zen Buddhist temples in Kyoto were financed by the Shogun, the warrior leader who represented the real power behind the emperor.  The Shogun also created the first extensive Zen garden, placing the trees, rocks, flowers, and water pools into a special meditative design which became the art of Zen gardens.

Hiroshima is a beautiful city.  Its present beauty hides the hideous past, in which Hiroshima was the first target of a nuclear weapon.  Its Nuclear Memorial and Museum preserve the disturbing images which every current leader of a nuclear power should be obliged to visit.