Andrew Schroeder

Its hard to believe but just a year ago I was sweating my ass off in the dead center of Saigon. In retrospect, it seems that during this trip I began to nurture the “what the hell” streak of my personality that has led me here to Green Bay. Green Bay and Vietnam… that is probably the first and last time those two locations will ever be compared.

Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to travel to Nauvoo, Illinois. In case you’re not familiar with your US History, this is the first site of the Mormon temple and the city where Joseph Smith is buried. It was from Navoo that the Mormons set out on the trek to Salt Lake City, UT to build a mecca for followers of the LDS. In a way, it is a very strange and creepy utopia. It represents the self-reliant ideals of the Mormon community and also is a newly emergent hotbed of real estate development.

As part of the city’s summer festivities, the church organizes a pageant celebrating the history of the area and the triumph of the Mormon’s over mosquitos.

Q: What could possibly be better than a cast of 100 or so dancing, leaping, singing Mormons?
A: A bourbon on the rocks, some coffee, a mountain dew, being gay, and most importantly not being converted.

Well shit. I made it to Vietnam. Now, as an atheist, I believe there is no such thing as heaven or hell. I was wrong. There is definitely a he’ll. And, that hell is a booked united airlines 747 flying for 16 hours from chicago to hong kong. Loud. Old. Cramped and stinky all good words to describe the experience.

But, I made it.

And so far Vietnam is really beautiful. Well, I might be wrong as it is night and I can’t really see anything. The delicate ballet of motor scooters, cars, and bicycles is something truly horrifying. Imagine for just a moment, a city with virtually no street lamps, but crowded to capacity. Now combine that with a general disregard for any sort of painted lines on the road and you have late evening here. Pretty.

Why do we travel?

I’ve been after an answer to that question since I went to Eastern Europe in 2005. Could it be that we travel because of a deep-seated yearning of our ancestors? Perhaps there is still a bit of the hunter-gatherer in our genetic make-up that requires us to search. For the people we have descended from, nomadic lifestyles were a way of survival.

Several millennia later, I’m traveling to Vietnam and Cambodia for reasons I can’t quite put my finger on. Initially, I was going to begin working on a new photography project: photographing the re-uses of French colonial architecture. However, as I’m writing this, gearing up, and getting all my paperwork in order… I’m going for a reason much more deeply ingrained: curiosity.

I’m planning on traveling to Vietnam (and possibly Cambodia) November 10 – 28th. Although I’ve always been fascinated by Southeast Asia (particularly the former French colony of Indochina), I’ve never had the guts to actually pony up and buy the ticket until now.

So, with my bags already packed several months in advance, I’m ready to take off on another (much needed) break from the daily grind to focus on art and research.

I’m devoting my time on this trip to photographing the use and reuse of former French colonial architecture. In particular, I’m very interested to see how the buildings are being assimilated into the new, globalized architectural forms of late capitalism. I find it both ironic and fascinating that the colonial structures, which symbolized the the first developments of global economic culture are now disappearing.

Disasters of Humanity Tourism

Yesterday I purchased my ticket to travel to Vietnam in November. While in the region, I am hoping to travel to Cambodia. Mainly, I want to see the obvious ruins of Angkor Wat, but I am now also debating a trip to Phnom Penh to visit the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.

My reasons for traveling to Southeast Asia are completely personal. I’m not going there for business or research. I’m headed in that direction mostly because I need a break to regain my focus on architecture and photography. It is impossible for me to do this without immersing myself in the people in this area actually live and make use of space.

Is it ethical to travel to a place where crimes against humanity have been committed? (Especially if I am coming from a beach resort in Nha Trang?)