We sailed along genocide Khmer Rouge-occupied Cambodia (if caught, we could be among the 3,000,000 executed). US Navy 7th fleet was gone. 

We kept sailing into the gulf of Thailand... no life vest, no warm or rain clothes, US$10 in my pocket for both my ex wife and me, T-shirts, shorts and sandals and no future... of course, no cell phones.... 

Where the arrow head is on this map, we found a Thai fishing boat that took us... the story is much longer and full of suspense, but I'll make it short here... we eventually landed at Pattani. Here, we found another Vietnamese refugee boat: it took us supposedly to go to Singapore where the Thai government told us (it was a lie to get rid of us) the US Navy was waiting... 

Where the new arrowhead is pointing at on the map, we were caught by the Malaysian Coast Guard in South China Sea and taken to an island where we were incarcerated in a refugee camp. We were well guarded by three branches of the Malaysian army: Air Force jets, special weapon infantry and Navy Coast Guard...  

For the next 6 months, we'll be eating rotten slimy rice with two little dry minnows sautéed in coconut oil. The same daily menu for both lunch and dinner. Nevertheless, we were thankful we were given refuge and a hope of survival.  

Among over a million escaped as we did, probably 400,000 died at sea... to be continued in my book "Peace or Freedom."

This submission is part of Stories of Gratitude.
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