This Woman Was Here

Day 11, Chiang Mai, Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, Jade factory, Wat Suan Dok

Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, (called Doi Suthep, which is the name of the mountain) is located 3,500 feet above sea level. It was built in 1382 and is an excellent example of the Lanna (northern Thai) culture. It was built to house a holy relic of Lord Buddha. According to the Legend of the White Elephant, a monk found the shoulder bone of Buddha and took it to the Lanna Kingdom where it broke into two pieces. One was placed in a temple called Wat Suan Dok, and the other piece attached to a white elephant – Thailand’s national animal. The elephant was allowed to roam as it pleased and died on the mountain of Doi Suthep, where the temple was built.

We climbed the 290 step dragon-headed serpent staircase leading up to the temple grounds, but you can take a modern cablecar for 50baht.

It is the longest naga (water serpent) staircase in Thailand. Nagas are sacred water serpents which bring good luck as well as bridging the earth and sky. Naga was also the first disciple of Buddha.

Inside the temple, there is a 79 foot golden Chedi. Ceremonial parasols were added at the four corners of the Chedi in the 16th century and pilgrims add bits of gold leaf to the parasol shafts. We joined other pilgrims in walking clockwise around the chedi three times.

Ron narrated the life of Buddha using the gorgeous murals that surround the Chedi.

There are many golden Buddhas and several jade Buddhas surrounding the Chedi.

One is a copy of the emerald Buddha but 1 inch smaller that was made by the jade factory we visited later to present to the king, but the king said it should be housed in the temple in Chiang Mai.

Ron also demonstrated how to tell your fortune by shaking sticks.

Many temples and statues surround the main temple. The set of rakhang (temple bells) are touched by devout Buddhists to bring good luck.

On our way down from the temple, we visited a jade factory where we were treated to brief lecture on jade and shown the factory where artisans work on jade sculptures.

This man carved the reproduction of the Emerald Buddha that is in the temple and the three colored jade sculpture he just finished is on its way to NYC.

The next temple we visited was Wat Suan Dok where the remains of the Chiang Mai royal family are buried.

On the other side of the sitting Buddha is a standing Buddha and the relics of many Buddhas (monks who attained enlightenment).

Behind the temple are many white Chedis where the royal family are buried. Next we visited the Monk Chat and Meditation Retreat, where monks and lay practitioners answer any questions you might have. They also offer one, two day, and longer meditation and study courses.

Back at the hotel, we said goodbye to our fellow travelers who are heading back to Bangkok in the morning. We leave for Vietnam at 4:45 am. This was a great group to travel with. Everyone was friendly, no one complained, and no one was late for the bus. We all loved our experience in Thailand and are sorry to have to leave.

That afternoon we had time for a swim in the pool, a dip in the hot tub, and one more Thai massage (almost an hour and a half for around $10). We left floating on air.

Day 12, 13, Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Cu Chi Tunnels

After two weeks in Thailand, we flew from Chiang Mai to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) for the second leg of our tour.

The first shock was the traffic. Thousands of scooters crowd the streets, many carrying three and four people or a household full of goods.

We stayed at the Paragon Saigon, a welcome relief after the chaotic streets.

We ventured out for dinner, but we felt as if we took out lives into our hands if we crossed anywhere but at a light, which were few and far between. Even at lights, the scooters kept going through the red light until a car honked and threatened to hit them. Luckily, we found a recommended French restaurant not far from the hotel and had two delicious past dishes.

The next morning, we did a half day tour of the Cu Chi Tunnels, which were part of the underground tunnel network built by the Viet Cong to control a large rural area near Saigon. Cu Chi was selected as the perfect location because it was only 25 miles outside of Saigon, was at the end of the Ho Chi Minh Trail from the north, had extremely hard clay soil (nicknamed the Iron Triangle), and the villagers in the area had supported the communist since the French war, when the tunnel system was begun. The tunnel network was greatly expanded in the 60’s and 70’s to include 150 miles of tunnels with many branches connecting to underground hideouts, weapon factories, hospitals, shelters, and more tunnels at different levels.

The tunnels had many exits that could be used in case one entrance was discovered. The South Vietnamese Army tried many ways to discover entrances to tunnels and would use soldiers called Tunnel Rats to pursue the enemy underground. There were so many branches, however, and the tunnels zig-zagged so that guns could not be used effectively. The tunnel system allowed the Viet Cong to emerge in darkness to attack enemy forces and to remain hidden during the day.

Cu Chi in red, Saigon at lower right

The entrances to the tunnels were well disguised.

Soldiers could slip into the entrance and pull the hatch back in over their heads.

Our tour guide, Tho, also showed us how the communist soldiers would come up out of the tunnels at night to dig trenches from which to attack the South Vietnamese soldiers. If they won, they gained ground. If they lost, they retreated back into the tunnels, collapsing the tunnel behind them to give themselves time to escape.

We also saw a crater left by a B-52 bomb that destroyed part of a tunnel.

Unbelievably, as many as 10 thousand people could live in the tunnels.

At first, smoke from cooking fires in the tunnels could be spotted from helicopters and that location could be bombed until the Viet Cong developed a system of funneling smoke through bamboo pipes to many rooms filled with leaves that would filter the smoke and only a small bit of smoke emerged and appeared to be morning fog. The three small holes are kitchen vents.

We were also shown many of the booby traps created by the Viet Cong. They were horrific.

The communists reused any captured hardware to fashion weapons of their own as the recreation of a weapons factory illustrates.

They also fashioned sandals that could last for seven years.out of captured tires.

Many techniques were used to keep the tunnels from being discovered. Air vents were cleverly disguised as termite mounds and chili pepper was sprinkled around the holes to discourage dogs from finding them. Sometimes shredded South Vietnamese uniforms were used to fool the dogs into thinking they smelled friendly forces.

Tunnels were dug with garden tools and the dirt was carried into the rice paddies to disguise it.

One of the eerie things about walking through the jungle was that there is a shooting range where visitors can buy bullets and fire the kinds of weapons they used at the time, including machine guns, so we could hear sporadic gunfire in the background for most of our visit. Just past the shooting range, we saw a demonstration of how the villagers could mill their own rice and how they made rice spring roll wrappers by spreading rice water on a screen and drying the wrappers on bamboo mats.

When we finally had a chance to go down one of the tunnels, it was quite a daunting experience. We carried flashlights, but had to crouch in the mostly dark, narrow tunnels. Most of us did only thirty feet of the tunnel and emerged, glad we had not attempted more (the other option was 90 feet and one area where you had to crawl on hands and knees.

After our tour, we sampled cassava or manioc and tea.

We also learned that after the communists won the war in 1975, 1 million people who served in the South Vietnamese army were sent to re-education camps, where they had to work from 10-12 hour days and afterwards listen to or read propaganda. Each month they were tested and if they did not pass, they could be beaten. Although the government kept quiet about all of this, 165,000 people died between 1975 and 1987 when they were released. After their release, they could not find jobs and many tried to escape Vietnam on fishing boats or walked through the jungle to Thailand, Laos, or Cambodia. Three million refugees left Vietnam.

In the afternoon we did a tour of the city. We passed the oldest hotel in Saigon, the Hotel Continental, where Graham Greene wrote the Quiet American. Just across the street is Notre Dame Cathedral built between 1877 and 1883 by the French. It can hold 1,200 people. About 1/3 of Saigon’s 8 million residents (unofficially more like 12 million) are Catholic. About 10% of the country as a whole are Catholic. 80% of the country are Buddhist. The cathedral, currently closed for renovation, is 60 meters high with a-red brick façade (imported from Marseille), stained glass windows, and two bell towers containing six bronze bells that still ring to this day.

Across the street is the Central Post Office built in 1886 by the same firm that built the Eiffel Tower. Inside, the structure looks just as it did when it was built.

Beside the post office, we could see the old CIA building, where helicopters airlifted people out as the Viet Cong were taking the city.

CIA building in foreground

Then we went to a lacquer factory where we saw three different kinds of lacquerware produced, mother of pearl inlay, eggshell inlay, and painted lacquerware.

The lacquer comes from a lacquer tree and as many as 18-20 layers must be applied.

Ben Thanh Market, begun in 1919 on the muddy fields near the river, is the largest market in Saigon. It closes at 6 pm but opens again on the streets outside the building at 7 pm.

The market was crowded and very hot inside, all a bit overwhelming.

scene outside market

the old and the new

That night there was a huge rain storm accompanied by lots of lighting, so we were glad to eat in the hotel restaurant.

Day 14, Da Nang and Hoi An

In the morning we flew to Da Nang, a port city on the South China Sea. It is the third largest city in Vietnam and is growing rapidly. On our drive from Da Nang to Hoi An, our guide explained that in Vietnam a pagoda is a religious site but a temple is a place to pay respect to spirits and/or heroes.

Our hotel, the Hoi An Trails is a lovely resort only a mile from the beach. It provides a shuttle into town or to the beach, and we can also check out bikes to ride to the beach.

Hoi An is a UNESCO World Heritage site where some women still wear ao dais, Vietnam’s traditional dress. Hoi An was the most important trading port in Southeast Asia in the 15^th century. European merchants came for silk and spices and many took refuge from typhoons in the port. Hoi An was influenced by the Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese. The Japanese were here from 1500 to 1651 when the emperor required that they all return to Japan.

The Old Quarter has temples, pagoda, shop houses and private homes. The streets are full of brilliant bougainvillea and hanging lanterns. The streets were crowded with people, even on a Sunday at the beginning of low season, but the town is still charming. It reminds me a bit of St. Augustine.

The first site we visited was Quan Trieu Assembly Hall, built in 1885 by Cantonese living in Hoi An as a meeting place and as a place to worship gods, goddesses and heroes. It has elaborate dragon in font and back.

Huge incense coils hang from the ceiling and burn for one month.

We also the 400-year-old red Japanese Covered Bridge and an Ancient House that has been lived in by the same family for 8 generations. In rainy season, the bottom floor frequently floods and the furniture has to be lifted to the second floor with a winch.

The river separates the new and old town.

market

We had a lovely dinner at the Green Chili Restaurant. By the time we were done, the lanterns were lit on the street and a music performance was underway.

Day 16, Da Nang, Marble workshop, China Beach, Hue, Imperial Citadel, cyclo ride

On our 4 hour bus ride from Hoi An to Hue, we made several stops, and Tho gave us lots of information about Vietnam’s history, geography, language, religion, and politics.

For 1000 years, Vietnam was ruled by China. In 938, Vietnam became independent but continued to use the Chinese language and feudal system. A Portuguese priest who came from France 300 years ago decided to create an independent language for Vietnam. He combined Chinese and Khmer (Cambodian) sounds with a Latin alphabet of 29 characters to create what is today Vietnamese. There are 6 different tones, so the same word can have 6 different meanings depending on the rising or falling tone (indicated by marks above and below the letters). Vietnamese also has 60 different ways of saying I and you depending on the person’s age and status relation to you.

We stopped at a marble workshop that uses stone from the Marble Mountains. They will ship large objects to the port nearest you, but we limited ourselves to items we could carry.

I bought a hand carved female Buddha in peach tones and Steve bought a playful Buddha made from softer stone taken from a stalactite.

Next, we made a quick picture stop at the original China Beach in Danang, named by GI’s who came for R&R. Every other beach in the south was also named China Beach after this one.

Needless to say, the skyscrapers are a new addition. Apparently, Danang is more open to western development that some other cities.

Next, we stopped to photograph the round bamboo boats that are used to get out past the waves to the fishing boats.

Tho gave us a map of Vietnam with our overnight stays marked in green. The DMZ, established when Ho Chi Minh defeated the French in 1945, is the narrowest part of the country, only 35 mi across. Vietnam is roughly the size of New Mexico but has 2 thousand miles of coastline. Its border with China is 200 miles, with Laos 1300 miles and with Cambodia 800 miles. Three-quarters of the country is mountainous. Luckily, instead of having to wind through the mountains, we were able to use a four-mile long tunnel built with the help of the Japanese and opened in 2005.

We drove past a number of fishing villages with every sort of fish net, fishing huts, and fish farms.

Our next stop (bathroom break) was in a fishing village where we saw fish farms. They were recycling of bike tires to use to hold traps together and to have clams grow on.

Tao explained that Vietnamese Buddhism is descended from Mahayana Buddhism from China. There are over 30,000 pagodas (Buddhist places of worship) in Vietnam, but they are smaller than Thai temples. The second religion is Confucianism, and the third is Taoism.

Vietnam comes from Viet (the larges population of people, 65%) and nam, meaning south of China.

He gave us a thumbnail of the history from WWII when Japan occupied the country for several years, and ruled with the Feudal government and French colony. After the war in 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared independence and instituted communism, but the French returned a year later and pushed his forces north into the jungle. They fought for 9 years until 54 when after a truce established the DMZ and elections were supposed to take place in the South, Ho Chi Minh attacked the South and fighting continued until 1975 when the US evacuated.

Vietnam is still communist, with its capital in Hanoi. Every five years, an election is held for representatives who then supposedly elect the General Secretary, President, and Prime Minister. However, these positions are apparently determined well in advance of the election. Corruption is a problem, as it is in Malaysia and Cambodia, with government contracts being awarded based on kick-backs (as much as 30-50% of the cost of a project). Advancement is also based on who one knows.

We checked into our hotel and had an hour for lunch before we left for a tour of the Imperial City, the former Imperial capital built between 1805-1833 by 20,000 workers. The square structure was modeled on the Forbidden City in Beijing. It could hold 100,000 people and each wall is 1.5 miles long.

There are four main gates and we entered through, you guessed it, Gate 1.

The Nguyen dynasty lasted from 1802 to 1945 when the 13th emperor abdicated. Two days later on September 2, 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared independence.

Koi filled the second moat we crossed.

This gate opens onto the inner courtyard. It is decorated in yellow (royalalty), red (happiness and good luck), and purple (immortality).

The Palace of Supreme Happiness is the throne room used by all the emperors. The throne was based on a Ming Dynasty throne. Outside, a unicorn, 1 of 4 holy animals, stands guard.

The nine brass urns (royal number) that face the Palace symbolize wealth and prosperity.

The Halls of the Mandarins displays photographs of the emperors.

All that is left of the Forbidden Purple City, once the home of the royal family is the red hallways with its ornamental roof.

The interior of the palace was destroyed during the Tet Offensive.

We exited through this lovely gate.

After an hour to freshen up, we left for a one hour Trishaw (Cyclo) tour of the city. It was one of the most intense experiences imaginable. First, we drove through crazy heavy traffic, then over a motor bike and cyclo bridge and through the market with its bombardment of sights and sounds.

After that, we entered the old city

and drove through residential neighborhoods. It seemed like most ground floors were open to the street and were a combination of business and living space. It wasn’t unusual to see scooters pulled inside what seemed to be a living room/dining room where kids were playing and people eating. It was impossible to take pictures of all the sights and sounds–girls having their hair done, a modern fitness center, families cooking, eating, and shopping, men sitting out on the street–a thousand sights of everyday life. I noticed that many shop/houses had a light up shrine in the main room.

Then we arrived at the home of a family that was related to a cook for the emperor (and therefore had the recipes and many of the artifacts) from the past. The altar to pay respects to the ancestors faces the door, we, and glass cases were filled with china pieces that had been created for the emperor. The garden was also lovely.

We enjoyed a replica of a few of the over 100 dishes that might have been presented to royal families in the past.

The first dish was spring rolls served on a pineapple with a candle inside decorated to look like a peacock.

Every subsequent dish was presented artfully. The dessert was fresh mango followed by mung bean cake made to look like marzipan fruits.

We felt like emperors.

Day 17, Hue, boat trip on Perfume River, Thien Mu Pagoda, Tomb of the Emperor Tu Duc, lunch at Dong Thien Pagoda, Khai Dinh Tomb

We chose to do a boat tour up the Perfume River on a dragon boat. The lotus flowers that decorate the river and town are lovely.

Along the way we passed the Imperial Citadel (with flag in background) with a replica of the imperial barge on the river.

On the opposite side of the river is the screen that is supposed to keep evil spirits from crossing the river.

Our first stop was the Thien Mu (Heavenly Lady) Pagoda, built in 1601 on the spot villagers saw a lady in red descending fro the heaven. It is built in seven tiers. The brass bell cast in 1701 is supposed to have the purest sound of any bell.

The abbot of this pagoda, Thai Quang Doc, drove 1000 miles to Saigon and immolated himself in 1963 to protest the Vietnamese government’s discrimination against Buddhists. Many other monks did the same in the following years.

Several guardian figures protect the entrance. Behind a pavilion with a happy Buddha are the monks’ quarters and a peaceful garden.

A smaller stupa sits at the end of the garden.

I learned that Thick Nhat Hanh was born in Hue.

We stopped in a village that makes incense and saw how it was made.

We also saw rice being dried on the street and the rice chaff being dried as well.

Then we drove to the Tomb of the Emperor Tu Duc, built from 1864-1867. He was a scholar and poet, leaving over 700 poems, but he was not a strong emperor, surrendering to the French without a fight. The grounds are surrounded by a moat and water features.

He used the grounds as a second palace and is not buried here. He was buried in a secret tomb and his body has never been discovered.

The tiles symbolize yin yang (some turned up and some down). The Chinese inscription on the end mean longevity. He lived a (comparatively) simple life. Many relics such as glass paintings are on display.

He had 103 wives and 300 concubines but never had a child. He had to adopt his nephew in order to have a successor. Unfortunately, the nephew who succeeded him was poisoned by powerful mandarins within three days, the next emperor was poisoned in 3 months, and the next within 8 months.

Behind his living quarters is a theater where the emperor watched performances.

The entrance to tomb of his first wife is also guarded by a screen to keep out evil.

The grounds are shaded and very pretty.

Many Buddhist have an altar to worship Buddha and their ancestors inside the house, but they also have spirit houses for lost spirits and or special relatives outside the house.

Next, we visited the Dong Thien Pagoda where we were served a vegetarian lunch by the Buddhist nuns. The gardens were lovely.

After lunch one nun explained their routine. They wake at 3:30, and work, meditate, or study until they go to bed at 10pm. They visit their families once a year, usually at the Tet New Year.

After lunch we drove to the tomb of the 12th emperor, Khai Dinh. He became emperor at 31 and ruled for 9 years. His tomb is relatively small, only 2 acres, but it took 11 years to complete and he died before it was done. It is monumental on the outside and colorful on the inside.

Mandarins guard the courtyard.

Ornamental dragon staircases.

Inside, the tomb is elaborately decorated with mosaics made from broken china and green and brown glass from beer bottles.

He is buried beneath the throne.

Day 18 and 19, Hanoi and Halong Bay

In the morning we flew to Hanoi. From the plane we could see the Red River Delta, which was huge but much smaller than the Mekong Delta. Hanoi was founded in 1010 (after the Vietnamese were independent from China). We then took a bus to Halong Bay (3 hrs). Along the way, we learned more about Vietnam. In the north they harvest 2 rice crops a year, as opposed to 3 crops in the south. Today, 50% of the population are farmers, whereas in the 90’s, 80% were. The farmers are given 3,000 sq ft of land to farm. From that they can harvest 600 lbs of rice, but they have to pay the government a tax of 200 lb of rice. They can grow whatever they want (vegetable, fruits) but they still have to pay their tax in rice, which means they have to buy it from other farmers. If they lose a crop, they still owe the tax. before 1986, they had a collective farm system, but the production was very low. When they switched to the current system, productivity jumped. Today, they produce more rice than Thailand, and export o Europe and Africa. They are also the #1 producer of peppers, cashews, and coffee.

Hanoi is the most expensive city in Vietnam. Saigon is 90% less expensive. People lease the land from the government, but it is very expensive, so they build tall, skinny houses right to the property line. They generally don’t put window on the sides of the houses because another house will be built adjacent to theirs. Generally, the bottom floor is used as a living room and/or place of business with a bathroom and kitchen and bedroom for the older generation in the back. Other bedrooms are on upper floors.We saw some very fancy houses that had been built by party officers.

We saw a number of clustered graves in the midst of rice paddies, and learned that 95% of Vietnamese bury their dead. In the past, people could bury their dead anywhere so that it would be easy to visit their dead, but now the government is requiring that they use central graveyards. The custom is to bury the dead in a wooden box deep enough to find water, which helps the corpse decompose. After three years the coffin is dug up at night (sunlight is not supposed to touch the bones), and the bones are cleaned with rice wine, wrapped in white cotton and placed in a smaller box, which is buried in a square enclosure with a headstone.

Halong means descending dragon because the humped mountains look like a dragon in the water. The islands (3,000 of them) were formed 500 million years ago by sediments from the delta that collapsed in some parts and not in others. Halong Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage site and was recently named one of the “New Seven Natural Wonders of the World.” Seventeen million people visit each year, and the government is capitalizing on that fact by developing a huge Disney World-like resort with thousands of hotel units, rollercoasters, water parks, ferris wheels, etc. The scope of the development was beyond belief and was the biggest surprise of the trip.

It seems a shame that this natural wonder is being so over-developed. There goes the neighborhood.

The next morning we took a traditional wooden boat out into the harbor, which was quite crowded. In fact, we were hit by other boats twice as we were backing out of the slip. Once we cleared the harbor, the islands were spectacular.

Approaching the islands was spectacular.

After an hour of sailing through spectacular rock formations, we docked at the Surprise Caves, so named because each cavern is larger and more surprising than the last. The view from the cave entrance (200 steps up). The caves were the largest I’ve ever seen.

Before we boarded the boat again, we saw women selling fresh seafood from boats below the pier.

We were served a delicious seafood lunch onboard. On our sail back to the harbor, we saw lots of small fishing boats.

That afternoon we drove to Hanoi, where we checked in to our hotel in the French Quarter. There are 4 million people and two million scooters in Hanoi, and as Tao pointed out, there are no traffic laws, only suggestions.

Day 20, Hanoi, Hoan Kiem Lake, Museum of Ethnology, Water Puppet Show,Four Palaces Show,

The French influence is evident in Hanoi, especially in the architecture and food. The street scene is lively, but luckily, the traffic in the French Quarter is not as crazy as it was in Saigon.

To a large extent, life is lived outdoors on the street.

The area around Central Lake or Hoan Kiem Lake is closed to all but pedestrian traffic on weekends, which made it a lovely area to stroll. The red bridge leads out to an island pagoda (under renovation).
Several large stages were set up for music in the evening (techno rock).

A display of ancient carriages.

Bird cages above a shop.

The Museum of Ethnology is a huge modern building that exhibits the cultural heritage of over 45 ethnic groups in Vietnam, each with their own language, dress, and customs. Most are patriarchal societies, but some are still matriarchal, which means the bride’s family pays a dowery to them groom’s family and after marriage, he belongs to the woman’s family.

This bicycle is loaded down with hundreds of wooden and bamboo fish traps.

The displays of native costumes (each woven by hand) was truly mind-blowing.

Outside, the garden is filled with examples of traditional houses and burial structures from ethnic minority groups.

The Girai burial structure is the most elaborate, with statues around the periphery, a painted roof and a tin cut-out frieze along the ridge.

The Cotu tomb is elaborately carved wit water buffalo and other animal figures.

The sound of the cicadas was deafening (as it has been in many natural areas).

Next, we visited Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum, closed on the weekend. On weekday mornings, thousands of people line up for hours to see his body. We were lucky enough to see the changing of the guard.

Across from the mausoleum is the modern party headquarters. We learned that Ho Chi Minh used hundreds of names when he was evading capture by the French and other anti-communist governments. He took the name Ho Chi Minh in honor of a Chinese prisoner who volunteered to be executed in his place when he was sentenced to death by Chiang Kai Shek in China.

Not far from the mausoleum is the one-pillar pagoda, originally built in 1049 but rebuilt in 1955 after it was destroyed in the French war.

The interior of the pagoda is dedicated to a female Buddha.

Just behind the one-pillar pagoda is another lovely pagoda.

We had a lovely lunch at Maison Vie, a French restaurant not far from our hotel, The Ann. We had a five course dinner there last night, the most elegant meal we have had so far.

In the evening we saw the water puppet show at the Lotus theater, which is mid-way down of the lake.

Water puppets are a traditional Vietnamese show with music.

We left the water puppet show a few minutes early to walk down to the Four Palaces Show, recommended by a Vietnamese colleague of Steve’s. The show was first presented in 2016 in Cong Nhan Theatre, which is three-minute walk to Hoan Kiem Lake.

The show lasts for 45 minutes and depicts a journey into spiritual world of Đạo Mẫu (Mother Goddess). There are three parts to the show. Each features elaborate costumes, traditional music, and dance. The first is the reincarnation of the forest mother goddess. We watch as the elaborately dressed actress is transformed into the the forest goddess robbed in green with lots of bling. The second features the reincarnation of a young prince, depicting him first in battle, then writing poetry. The last depicts the reincarnation of the Little Girl of the Highlands, a playful and elaborately dressed figure who distributes candy to the audience as flower petals fall from the ceiling. If you are in Hanoi, you should try to see this show. We had a chance to have our photos taken with the actors after the show. We walked back to the hotel past the Opera house. The streets are bustling. Even after dark it was warm, but nothing like the high of 97 today. The sidewalks are for parking scooters.

Most shop windows have some sort of altar. Another wonderful, full day.

Day 15, Hoi An, Cua Dai Beach, Minhuong Communal House

We rode bicycles about a mile to Cua Dai beach, where the owner of the hotel also owns a restaurant and we could use the beach chairs and shower. The bike ride was an adventure. The narrow road runs along a canal and rice paddies with lots of scooters and traffic. The beach was a bit of a disappointment because there was an enormous snake sandbag between the chairs and the water (to protect the beach from further erosion. The water was refreshing and clear, but no sign of fish life.

Around 11:30, we rode back to the hotel and took the shuttle back into town for more exploring.

We visited the MinHuong Communal House with its lovely courtyard and shrine.

We saw the outside of the Quan Am Pagoda, saw lantern frames delivered, and had a lovely lunch beside the river.

Women in Vietnam cover themselves completely when they ride their scooters to protect their skin from the sun.

We returned to the hotel for a break and returned for dinner and the night light show.

Paper lotus lanterns are floated on the water for good luck.

Day 21, Thay Pagoda (Pagoda of the Master) and So Village

Today we did a tour of Thay Pagoda, also known as the Pagoda of the Master. On the way, Tho regaled us with stories of Vietnam’s economy pre and post 1986 when the country opened to the west and allowed a free market system. Before 1986, individuals were not allowed to sell anything. There was not enough food, and people had to stand in long lines to redeem food coupons. Often rice portions were weighted down with rocks, vegetables were spoiled, and there was no meat. There was 500% inflation. Now, it is closer to 9% (still high, which accounts for their willingness to take US dollars). Everyone dressed the same because the government gave everyone two sets of clothes for the year. If individuals tried to raise their own chickens in secret, they might be reported and go to prison. A rich person might have a bicycle.

The contrast with today, when everyone has some form of business in the front room of their house, is dramatic. Today, as people make more money, they are starting to aspire to buy cars rather than scooters, but the 250% tax the government adds to a car makes them very expensive.

Tomorrow is the celebration of Buddha’s birthday, so many of the pagodas have been decorated with extra flags and extra offerings. This sign over the pagoda has the dates of Buddha’s birth 2562 B.C. and 2018 (birthday).Many Vietnamese were visiting the temple as well.

Thay Pagoda was originally built on this site between the small mountain and the lake in the 11th century, but the current pagoda was rebuilt out of ironwood 400 years ago. It is really a compound of pagodas with a peaceful garden in the middle.

roof detail

Each building has many altars in a row, including ones with photographs of the recently dead (who are honored for 49 days until they reach nirvana).

People also burn spirit money (copies of money) to send to their ancestors. Notice the bundles of bills waiting to be burned.

The central pagoda is protected by many fierce guardians.

Another room displays a large wooden carving illustrating the punishment awaiting bad people after death.

Detail of punishments

Thuy Dinh Stage on Long Tri-Pond.

The monk who founded the pagoda also founded the water puppet show in 1072, the first in Vietnam.

Afterwards, we walked through the narrow alleys of So village, an ancient village of about 700 families. We visited with an 86 year-old woman who showed off the new house her kids had built for her

altar and TV share honors

She demonstrated how to prepare beetle nut for chewing. Beetle nut produces bright red juice, which reddens the lips. It blackens the teeth, which is thought to be beautiful, and it supposedly protects the teeth from decay.

Tho demonstrated the use of the water pipe for smoking tobacco (practiced by the men).

Most houses were modest, but we passed one new mansion.

machine for cutting glass noodles

We stopped at one house/small factory where they making glass noodles from cassava. Tho showed us the entire process from making a slurry of paste, spreading it on a conveyor where it is steamed, then put on bamboo racks to dry in the sun, then cut into vermicelli-sized pieces, dried again and packaged for sale in the market.