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The Story of the R&R
I am Jay, and I live across the street from the tavern.
A friend of mine and I lived in Chiang Rai Thailand for awhile.
We had a Suki-Yaki restaurant in the Den Ha District.
We were there having a good life,
lots of adventures,lots of friends, motorcycle trekking
and gadabouting at night.It was still pretty wild there in those days.
I had to make a trip out of Thailand to secure a new Thai visa.
It was the fall of 1992 and I chose to go to Vietnam, with some trepidition.

On my arrival, in Ho Chi Minh City,I knew something
was special here in Vietnam;
bustleing and real, and somehow very strong.
The U.S. embargo was still on and I wondered when
I would meet someone who was angry
(I finally did, but that was a few years later).
So I found a small hotel, owned by an Ausralian,and, delightfully,there was a bar on the roof frequented by expats
and old hands,oilrig workers,veterans,sailors and guests.
Not too many Americans like myself.

My luck would have it that six men from New York City,
who had all seen hard duty in our war here,
were revisiting Vietnam for the first time.
It was exciting and interesting to be with them. I will never forget them.
They were very nice to this non-veteran and 
they invited me to go with them on their battlefield tour.
I declined, but I was in that bar again
when they returned from the tour the next day.

That evening was very special.
These guys had an emotional outpour and a big release,
one cried and said that he couldn't beleive how much
he liked it here and how much he loved the people.

I went back to Chiang Rai, after having traveled through Hanoi
and marveled at this old beautiful city,
and after having many strong emotional contacts with all kinds of people.
The friendliness and the desire to know about what is outside of Vietnam,
and the innocence of the kids, the hospitality,
even the honestness of the people, attracted me,
and the embargo angered me,
and the veterans needed to know they could come here,
that it helps them, many of them.
I chose Hanoi because, to so many Americans,
Hanoi still had a terrible dark cloud over it, and it was wrong,
I chose Hanoi to return to and to try and open an establishment
that would be a middle ground for people who should meet each other.

After a lot of trials and tribulation and a very serious interview,
I found the partners that I needed and had permission to establish an
American style tavern with a "good luck to you" thrown in.
When the embargo was lifted, the R&R opened, October 1995.  

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