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Since arriving home I've enjoyed eating fresh vegetables, taking baths, and wearing pants that fit and socks that haven't been washed with hand soap in the sink.

Good news on the photo front: our technical issues appear to have been resolved so I should have some more pics up soon. (Despite the significant security force I was able to get in a cartwheel in front of the bird's nest stadium and a Beijing 2008 Olympics sign.)

In a follow up to an earlier Vietnam post, Sen. John McCain just visited the prison that he lived in for several years during the war. He'd visited in 2000 as well and there was a picture of him during that visit. I'd really been struck at how pro-Vietnam the museum was as it described the positively cushy treatment received by the U.S. prisoners. One of the videos said something to the effect of: "U.S. prisoners were taught basic skills that any Vietnamese child could do, like sweeping."

The article gets at some of the discrepancies between McCain's reported experience and some of the information presented by the museum:

"The biography on McCain's website says he broke both his arms and a leg ejecting from his damaged plane, but was denied necessary medical treatment and was often beaten by the North Vietnamese. It says he spent much of his time in solitary confinement.

Vietnam has always denied abusing any of its prisoners, and the museum shows pictures of smiling US airmen celebrating Christmas."

Still, it would be interesting to have been there for McCain's visit and seen his reaction to their depiction of the treatment of prisoners. He's all about improving relations between the countries so he probably would have tempered his remarks with his Vietnam hosts, but I would have liked to have been a bug on the wall when he was back in private with the other senators and staffers on the CODEL.