This is my last day in Vietnam before leaving for Seoul, Korea at 11:30 PM tonight. This morning about 6:30 AM I went out in the cool early morning for a little victory lap around the scenic Hoan Kiem Lake (Lake of the Returning Sword) in Hanoi’s old quarter. There on the west side was a line of a couple thousand obviously Buddhists walking slowly. I asked one westerner who was in robes, but taking pictures so I figured I could interrupt his silence, what was going on. The Buddha’s birthday was a couple days ago, so I didn’t think that was it. He said the revered Zen monk, author and world peace activist, Thich Nhat Hanh, was leading walking meditation. He told me “Thi” was allowed to return from exile in 2005, which I didn’t know. I walked up to the front of the snaking crowd, took a couple pictures and joined them for a while.
That’s him, second Zen master from the left, still not looking his 80-something years of age.
I have only spent about 2 1/2 weeks in Vietnam. Myung went from Pakse, Laos to Bangkok and on to Seoul. I went from Pakse by minibus to Pleiku, Vietnam and on to Nha Trang. There I was able to scuba dive for a couple of days. I was fairly pleased with the dives. The coral is beginning to turn white, like coral around the world, but it’ll be okay for a few more years. The places were fished out, with only the small clowns and like that remaining. There were many eels and scorpion fish. Visiblity was about 15 meters. All in all, I’d say they were typical South China Sea dives.
We had a little motorbike mishap back in Vientianne which I though was nothing. Myung got exactly one scrape. I got a few and big hematoma on the inside of my left knee. All the moving parts were totally fine so I just figured the hematoma would resolve. After about three weeks it was still puffing up after the slightest exercise, so I had it drained of 150 cc of fluid in Nha Trang, and chilled out there doing nothing for a few days in order to rest it. I have no pictures from Nha Trang. It’s not that photogenic.
When I determined I was good to go, I went to the next big tourist town up the coast, Hoi An. There is still much remailing of the old city of a hundred or more years ago, and the old quarter is a World Heritage site.
I’ve been staying in nicer, usually air conditioned digs ever since hooking up with Myung. This is my hotel in Hoi An. It’s typical of what I’d call upscale backpacker class.
Near Hoi An are the Champa ruins of My Son. The Cham were contemporaries of the the builders of Angkor Wat and obviously much influenced by them. You’ve seen so many ruins pictures, I’ll just post one.
Next I went to Hue, the capital for a thousand years before the French shifted administation to Hanoi and left the impotent king to preside over a useless court there. Then of course came the Americans, and that was that for the monarchy when we taught them truth, justice and The American Way. When I came to Hue in 1999, a couple of days after a big typhoon, the place was a disaster area. Thousands had perished and there was terrible destruction. Buildings were flattened and trees uprooted, like you’ve been seeing on the news about Myanmar. I plodded throught he mud wondering how they were ever going to put Hue back together, how they were going to repair the damaged historical architecture. They, of course, were looking for their loved ones and crowding around army trucks getting rice and water. Well, it rose from the dead quite nicely. There are thousands of nine year old trees. The river and other channel embankments are better by far. There are paved roads all over the place. Bamboo buildings have been replaced with wood and brick. And the sites are restored. It looks so different, as you can imagine. Doesn’t the Perfume River look nice when it isn’t devastated?
This last one is a reminder of the Tet offensive.
Water puppetry is a uniquely Vietnamese art for. With poles and wires they run puppets around in a body of water, usually telling traditional stories to music. They have such a program in Hue. It was amazingly hard to get good pictures. Sorry.
There is a bigger puppet show in Hanoi, with live music. At least nine years ago it was live. I was going to go the night before last, but it was a Saturday evening and the shows were all sold out. So I’m glad I went in Hue.
My last stop was here in Hanoi. I really didn’t feel like doing much, so I didn’t. It was only three days and two nights anyway. My all night bus ride from Hue left me without much energy the first day. Yesterday I went on a day tour of Halong Bay. Many if not most of you have seen pictures of this area. Here are a few.
On one of the islands is this big cave. They have it all lit up and purty.
So then came this morning. My ticket is confirmed. I’ve figured out the cheap ride to the airport, had what may be my last western breakfast for a while, and watched CNN for about an hour and a half before coming here to blog. I am so ready to see Myung again. I should be interesting, meeting her family and friends. We are tentatively going to visit in Seoul for a little bit, do some temple stays as we go south, visit in Ulsan, then chill on Jeju Island, off the south coast.
As always, be well, all of you. And Happy Mother’s Day to you mommies.
