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Every few weeks we had to make a trip to the market in the Vietnamese town several
hours away. We usually took both trucks and the Jeep. At least three of us went to drive
the vehicles along with a group of Montaingnards and several VNSF as interpreters and
guards. For the most part the trips were uneventful, the drive along a narrow dirt road
through the valley was bumpy but easy. Until we reached the outskirts of the town traffic
was practically nonexistent.
| Once in town it was off to the market, park
the trucks and set a guard |
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Then the VNSF interpreter and the cook for the troop's mess started arranging for the
supplies to be gathered near the trucks. They would buy rice, vegetables, 5gal tin cans of
fish sauce, chickens, ducks, pigs and cows (all live), and anything else that the needed.
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Our arrival always drew a group
of spectators, some just watching, and others angling for a ride |
Every thing is gathered and ready to load into the trucks. Sacks of Rice, tins of fish
sauce, baskets of chickens and ducks, pigs each in their own snug little basket, and one
or two cows.
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Fortunately the cows were small
so they could be hoisted up into the trucks by many willing hands. |
| After the supplies were in, the troops claimed
their spots |
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and the villagers looking for a ride tried to
find space for themselves and their baggage. |
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Everything finally sorted out, we head back down the road to Gia Vuc.
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