The Perfume Pagoda

On one of the days I was in Hanoi, I took a day trip to the Perfume Pagoda, a sacred religious site for many Vietnamese people. Being that Tet, the Vietnamese New Year celebration was only a few weeks before, the route to the Pagoda and the Pagoda itself were crammed with people, as it's seen as auspicious to visit the pagoda in the first three months of the New Year. This made the trip particularly interesting. Enjoy the pics!

A Vietnamese grave in a rice paddie near the river. I find it rather interesting that most Vietnamese people are buried in their rice fields - with rice growing all around them. This is much different than most places in Asia, where prime agricultural land is almost never used for burial.

Garbage near the path to the perfume pagoda. Because of this, the walk to the pagoda was unfavorably aromatic in places.

The entrance to one of the other pagodas near the Perfume Pagoda.

Another view near one of the pagodas.

These women were taking pictures of people visiting the pagoda.

A view near the top of the trail to the Perfume Pagoda. I wish I had a polarizing lens, because this could have been a spectacular picture.

The way lazy people make the normally two-hour climb to the Perfume Pagoda.

Ornaments for sale along the trail to the Pagoda for pilgrims to leave and pay their respects to the pagoda.

The climb to the pagoda was an hour and a half to two hours. It was quite difficult, not because it was terribly steep, but because it was difficult to keep one's footing on this uneven rocky path. Interestingly, I saw some women making the climb in high heels!

Another view of the uneven, rocky path to the Pagoda.

Some of the pilgrims, making their way up to the Pagoda.

The Perfume Pagoda was actually inside of a cave. These are some pilgrims paying their respects.

More pilgrims paying their respect to the pagoda in the cave.

More pilgrims paying their respects. Note the Dong (Vietnamese money) in their hands, to use as offering.

This is the Perfume Pagoda itself - it's a natural formation in a cave, seen as sacred by the Vietnamese for this reason.

Yep, that's cat. I ate at this restaurant, but did not have any cat. Wasn't quite ready for that.

The back of my guide's head, on the boat back from the Pagoda.

One of the hundreds of boats on the river to the Pagoda. The trip to the Pagoda required an hour and a half on a boat up the river. It's a beautiful, karst landscape similar to that in Southern Thailand or Northern Lao, so it was a rather pleasant and scenic trip.

Another boat full of local pilgrims.

The woman rowing our boat. Interestingly, most of those rowing, as many as 80% I would estimate, were women.

Some of the hundreds of boats near the Pagoda, ready to make the trip.

The river to the Pagoda. Beautiful area.

A week in Hanoi

So a week ago, I left the land where most of the Vietnam War movies are filmed to the land where the stories they are based on actually took place, Vietnam itself. I had been to Saigon (now officially known as Ho Chi Minh City, but still referred to as Saigon by most of the Vietnamese people,) but that was six years ago and I only stayed there for two days. I had heard that Hanoi was much better, with a more relaxed vibe. I found this to be true, and enjoyed my time there more than I even could have expected. There are lakes everywhere, over 30 in the city (Ha Noi means something like lake city in Vietnamese), the coffee and bread were excellent, and I saw a lot of cool and interesting things.

In the seven days I was there, I took 400 pictures! So, there are lots of images to share, and I'll probably do three or four posts. Hope you enjoy. Hail progress!

Sipping coffee, overlooking Hoa Kian Lake in Hanoi's Old Quarter. Vietnam has good coffee, and is the world's number two coffee producer (after only Brazil.)

Ah, globalization! Vietnamese language is interesting. At first, they used Chinese characters as writing. But in the 1600's, a French missionary came to Vietnam and introduced the Latin Alphabet. It helps, because you can read the street signs, but the rest seem almost incomprehensible to those uninitiated in the language.

Hanoi traffic. I would estimate that 85-90% (if not more) of traffic in Vietnam is motorcycles. This creates a style of crossing the street that is peculiar to Vietnam (as far as I know.) Since the flow of motorcycles on the streets rarely abates, one must step out of the street, and walk slowly and steadily across as the motorcycles weave around you. It's more than a little unnerving at first, but you get used to it.
Interestingly enough, I saw ads for Ford, Mercedes, Honda, and lots of other car companies, and lots of factories. I spoke to some Vietnamese people who were working on very large projects, such as hydroelectric plants and other factories. One can't help but think that Vietnam is on the verge of becoming the next "Asian Tiger" economy. This could create an interesting situation with traffic, when a large percentage of these motorcycles will likely be replaced with cars purchases as a status symbol by people with new wealth. I don't want to be in Hanoi's traffic ten years from now!

The symbol of Hanoi, the pagoda in Hoa Kiem Lake, lit up at night.

I stayed in a hotel in this little alley.

A temple on an island in one of the lakes.

Two young girls in traditional Vietnamese dress. So beautiful!

This is Tyler, a guy from Canada I hung out with a fair bit in Hanoi, buying oranges from a woman on a bicycle.

The central shrine in a Confucian temple. Vietnam is a sinicized, or heavily influenced by China, culture, as opposed to Thailand, Lao, and Cambodia, which are Indicized. However, the culture of Vietnam is quite distinct from Chinese culture, much as Thailand's is quite distinct from India's.

The bridge to the lake temple above.

This is a water puppet show, a wonderful form of theater unique to Vietnam. It was developed on the rice paddies hundreds of years ago, and continues to be popular today. If you ever go to Hanoi, DO NOT miss the water puppet show.

Some of the wonderful French bread in Hanoi. Colonial influence at its finest. The bread here was even better than it was in Lao, although the coffee in Lao was better, in my opinion.

I bought Mangoes from this woman.

I am not sure what this woman was carrying. The Vietnamese pe0ple often say that their country is shaped like one of these yokes used to carry rice, fruit and lots of other things.

I bought gum from this girl.

This woman is playing a Dan Bau, which is a single-stringed musical instrument unique to Vietnam, with a lever on the end used to modify the pitch. It has a beautiful, soothing sound, and I bought a cd of Dan Bau music. They say that in times of yore, young women were not allowed to listen to any men playing the Dan Bau, because their parents were worried that they'd fall in love with the Dan Bau player.

The pagoda in Hoa Kiem lake seen above, but only in the day time. It rained almost every day in Hanoi, and the weather was much cooler than here in BKK. The morning I left, I believe it was even less than 20 Celsius! (68 Fahrenheit).

A cool looking building in Hanoi's old quarter.

Next stop is Vietnam!

Sorry I haven't rapped at ya for a while, but I've been busy closing down the semester. My students in the history class had a 20-30 page paper done in groups of 4 or 5 due about a week ago. When I gave the assignment a month before that, I warned them that if they copied it all from the internet, they would fail the class. Well, 7 of the 10 papers were copied directly from the internet - some didn't even bother to take out the links from wikipedia. I was quite angry, as you can imagine, but T.I.T. (This is Thailand.) The idea of writing your own paper here is foreign and strange, apparently. I asked my boss, who is Thai, what I should do, as earlier he had been complaining that teachers were failing too many people, and failing 70% of my class outright wouldn't help this trend. He told me to allow them to redo a shortened version of the paper, but to only allow them half of the score at best for it. So, that's what I did. Stay tuned!
Other than that, I'll be teaching "summer" school (as the Thai summer is March through May,) both English and History, and I've also secured an evening job teaching conversational English to BMW salespeople and an Interior Design Company for about 10 hours per week total. The great thing about this is the pay - 2000 Baht per hour (that's just under $60!) and transportation is free. That should help me get started quite nicely in the Bay Area. I'll be busy, but at that rate, I don't mind one bit!

This Tuesday, I follow in the footsteps of Jane Fonda and go to Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, and formerly of North Vietnam. Yes, I'll be visiting yet another place that the US Government has bombed "to the stone age." I'm looking forward to it - should be some good food, good communist propaganda, and interesting things to see. I've been to Vietnam before, but only the far south, and I was only there for a couple of days, so it will be good to give the country another view in another part. I'll post more for sure.

A few days ago, one of my former students, who is from China, took me on a trip to Chinatown during the Chinese New Year celebration. I have a few pictures, although most of them did not turn out very well due to the low level of lighting. Still, hope you enjoy them.

Yaowarat Road, the main street through Yaowarat, or Bangkok's Chinatown

People eating seafood on the street. We ate here.

Our meal. It was excellent!

A snack place, making a kind of ginger soup that also was very good.

A Chinese Buddhist temple in Chinatown

A red lantern or some kind of decoration for the Chinese New Year.

This guy was putting coins on this lion statue, for good luck in the Year of the Pig.

This woman is wishing for good luck under this gate. There was a long line of people waiting to do this, as you can see. It must work!

The gate they were waiting under.

A cardboard cutout of a cop at an intersection, to give drivers a good scare.

Three times at Three Pagodas

So I know I haven't posted in some time, so I thought I'd post a few pictures I took a couple of weekends ago when Blochistan and I went to the fabled Three Pagodas Pass on the Thai-Burmese border. I've been there twice before - see April 2006 postings for more on the Three Pagodas. I didn't have time to cross into Burma, but I did get some nice pictures. Here they are!

When one comes into the Three Pagodas area, this mountain is the first view of Burma that one has.

Some of the huts on the Thai side of the border.

The Border Peace Temple, with remnants of the WWII Death Railway in the foreground.

The Three Pagodas, with Burma in the background.

Two young Children at the Three Pagodas, hamming it up for the camera.

A peaceful, hazy morning on the River Kwai in Kanchanaburi.

The Red Badge of Courage

So the New Year did not get off to a terribly auspicious start for the Dude, with break-ups, bombings, cancelled trips, and what have you. On January 3, Bee came to get all of the things for her shop from our house. She told me she would come at 4 pm, and I had everything outside and waiting for her. She said that a guy with a pickup going to her home village would come by between 4 and 5, but that he had a worse record for puncuality than even United Airlines does, which is hard to believe. We waited and waited and waited and waited. She called him, and he'd say "one more hour!" Finally, at midnight, he came. I got to spend eight quality hours with the ex. Oh boy! But in the end, we seemed to make peace, and there was a nice feeling of closure to what had been a great relationship until that point. However, she since hasn't seemed to feel that closure, but I digress.

Anyhow, the day after this fiasco, as I still had over a week of midterm break left, one of my friends and co-workers, Colin Harrington, and I decided to get out of the city, which was something I desperately needed to do. We went north, to Chiang Mai, and then checked around a little to decide what to do. We decided on Pai, a little town nestled in the mountains of Mae Hong Son province, the northwesternmost in Thailand. And a great choice it was.

Pai has experienced a tourism explosion in recent years, due to its idyllic setting and pleasant climate (although it did get into the 50's at night - pretty chilly when you're used to 90's all the time!) Lots of people are beginning to retire there, and there are several artists who base themselves there. It's really a lovely place.

The thing to do when you go to Pai is to rent a motorcycle. So, that's what Colin and I did. It's not too expensive, and there are lots of things to see around the town - waterfalls, hot springs, and scenic overlooks. This was a great idea, and was great fun, until we had about an hour left on our rentals, and were headed back into the town on the main highway, Route 1095. I was in the lead, with Colin following behind me. All of these cars, trucks, and vans were whizzing by our little 125 cc motorcycles, so I was doing my best to keep to the left (as traffic here moves on the left.) Well, the road was not in such good shape, and there was a bit of a chunk out of the side of the road that my front tire caught. I started driving on the gravel, going at about 40 - 45 kph, and I tried to get back onto the highway. Well, the gravel had other ideas, and gave way underneath me. I was thrown from the bike, with some pretty nasty scrapes on my right forearm, shoulder, back, and both hands. The motorcycle lost a bit of plastic, but was okay. Colin went and got help, I put some hand sanitizer on my wounds (man, did that hurt!), and then the people from the company we rented the cycles from came and picked me up and took me to the hospital.

At the hospital, I was shuddering in pain as they cleaned up my wounds. The doctor, who I think was younger than me (they say that you don't feel old until you have a doctor who is younger than you, so now I feel old,) perscribed me some antibiotics, gave me some ibuprofin, and sent me on my way. A week later, the wounds are starting to heal nicely. This all could have been much, much worse. I picked a relatively flat place to fall - could've been on the edge of a road with a 1000 foot drop, after all! So I'm pretty grateful, actually, for my red badge of courage.

To the pictures!

A picture showing the HM The King of Thailand (second from the right) with the King, Elvis. What a great picture! This is on display in Chiang Mai.

Colin enjoying sheesha, or Egyptian tobacco, in Pai.

A street scene from Pai town. This is a popular area to retire, and lots of artists live here, from Japan and Western Countries at well.

A lovely sunset, just out of Pai.

Another lovely sunset near Pai.

A view from a scenic overlook we motorcycled to, only twenty minutes before the big wipeout.

Funny spelling, and my shadow.

Hot springs in a national park near Pai.

A mountain stream on a hike we took one of the afternoons while we were there. The sign said that there was a waterfall. By looking at the map, we guessed it wasn't too far, and we could even ride our motorcycles there. But it turned out to be a four hour hike. It was already 3:30 by this point, and we had hiked for about one hour, and since it gets dark at about six, we decided not to go on. In addition to that, on the one day I didn't wear flipflops, we go on this hike that required us to repeatedly cross this stream. Taking the shoes off, putting them on, then taking them off again, it got pretty old. But it was a nice hike, and a nice area.

A really cool looking lizzard at a national park we rode our motorcycles to.

Here is my red badge of courage, on my right forearm, taken only minutes after the fall. I also have scrapes on my right upper arm, shoulder, back, and the heels of both hands. Other than a couple of scratches, my legs were not affected. The wound you see here was the worst of them all.

Me at the Pai hospital after having my wounds cleaned up and wrapped. Man, did that hurt! But it could have been much worse.

The bungalow where we stayed was about a fifteen minute walk from the town. This was our view on the way to the town.

On the rickety little bus from Chiang Mai to Pai


Hail progress!

Bombs over Bangkok

Times here in Bangkok have been very interesting in the past few months. Coups, that Karr guy, and now the bombings. One of the bombings happened at my favorite seafood restaurant in the city. Another bomb that did not explode was found on Khao San Road, where we had originally intended to go to see in the New Year. Another bomb that did not explode was found at one of my favorite night-life spots, Lumphini Night Bazaar. One of the bombs was near my ex-girlfriend's apartment. So this is pretty scary. Usually when you hear about bombings, it feels remote, in some place you've never been and likely never will go. Not for these ones! Oh, how real it is. I even heard the ambulances and fire trucks going to the sites of the bombings.

As for who did it, most seem to believe it's people loyal to the pre-coup government, and not the Islamist groups who have been responsible for the bombings in the far south of the country. However, no one has claimed responsibility as of yet.

For the latest, The Nation and The Bangkok Post are the two English-language newspapers here. They seem to keep pretty up-to-date information.

So that, in conjuction with the recent break up, had the makings for a pretty sad New Year's Eve, since if everything would have gone as planned, I would have been with her down in Trang on the beach celebrating, and then off to Malaysia for a few days. But I hung out with some friends at an apartment with a great view of the city. We took in the fireworks and an excellent view.

The streets are pretty quiet today, and everyone is being urged to stay in. Hopefully this does not continue, and keep too many tourists away.

Hail progress!