nha trang - scuba steve and flight from the valkaries on mopeds, day 8

another early morning dive. sharon left for delat after an arguing session about animal rights. it's me, the swedes, ludo and my new diving instructor from slovenia, dimitar.

going over some of these drills for my license is absolutely terrifying at times. when in a drill, throwing my 2nd regulator from my mouth scares the crap out of me. i manage though, very well to be noted. another beautiful day for diving.

we see something resembling a lobster and dimitar screws with it until it glides away with an unforeseen grace. then, there's still the test. i'm nervous like i always am with tests. i crammed some the night before in between drinks. finally, i buck up and take it. the swedes passed w/ flying colors, so i should be fine. i think i missed 3 in total with one being wrongly graded in the manual. 9m in 60 seconds, fools. and i don't find it necessary to know what magnification you see things underwater. 88%. a passing grade. ludo dubs me scuba steve. smiles all around and then it's back into town.

grabbing lunch with the swedes brought up an america they have strange perceptions about. despite being barely older than how long i've been playing guitar, they have interesting perceptions about the health care system and give me more insight into the swedish system. everyone seems to have different thoughts, but all concur change is needed. we break to the beach, where i go for a dip.

it's a whopping $1 for a beach chair the entire day and i take a stroll to the water. walking along nhatrang beach during the day, you'd never guess it wasn't california. hordes of ghosts are laying out, getting sunsoaked and befuddling natives who prize white skin. surprisingly, there are many topless girls, which is interesting because lonely planet warned about locals who snap shots of women getting out of the water in bikinis.

i am stopped in the water as i swim down the water and semi harassed by an old dutchman with eerie blue eyes. he bounces from subject to subject bobbing in the water with mucus dripping down his face. he pointedly tells me i'm attractive and wholesome, making sure to point out he isn't gay, ("not that there is anything wrong with that," right.) after briefly touching the subject of muslim, ( who he deems evil), i finally verbally disengage and swim back.

i stroll down the beach snapping shots of the sunset and something strikes me. a large family is sitting and playing music. one guitar, one harmonica, and a chorus of booze laden voices carry the godfather's theme song. i'm grinning from ear to ear and upon noting my interest, i'm invited to sit on a heineken box and passed a beer. 'yo! yo! yo!' we exclaim, bump a cheers and drink. apparently, the direct translation is now or go! then they pass the guitar to me. there are requests for clapton and the eagles. i oblige my acoustic rendition of 'hotel california' and then play some of my own music with the beach harmonica and drunken free styling choir work by the family. we raise new beers to the sound of yo! apparently then we are kicked off the beach by the police, still smiling all around as we embrace and take a couple photos. this is the experience i've been seeking in vietnam, to break free of my touristy inhibitions and simply hang out with the vietnamese.

back to ghost world, i head back to the sailing club. while paying for my bucket of rum and coke, i realize my debit card is gone. i'm positive it wasn't the beach family and i try to retrace my steps. it may have been paying for something, but i can't recall. i contact verity and put the card on hold. it's all i can do, no use in spoiling a night in nha trang. back at the sailing club; i rendezvous with the swedes and do a bit of damage on the dance floor. there is another fight, one taken out of the club in a head lock and the other wiping blood from his nose; locals it seems. i fail to understand how this remains a common occurrence here, but they definitely have security in place for a reason.

as we close out the club of sails, the girls have befriended 2 new englishmen. we walk over to the aptly named why not? bar and the group persuades me to stay a little longer even though i am flying out the next morning at 6. i'm in the restroom when a fairly amiable looking gent asks where i'm

mr. dominic hall, i owe you a beer next time we meet. hall is from the uk and upon deciding i'm a cool cat, he imparts some wisdom on me. a friend of his had been robbed and the same trick had been attempted on st. hall himself, although he was too daft (endirekt). a woman approaches offering unsolicited acts, she distracts whilst a gang of women pull up on mopeds and grab you. it wasn't until they vanished rapidly that dom's friend realized he had parted with his possessions. i thank dom and tell him i will say goodbye on the way out.

back at the table of swedes and englishmen, i engage in another serious conversation with the knowing english. upon seeing the looks of severity on our faces, the swedes command me to change the topic. i take this as my exit music and bid them safe travels. i shake dom the great'si'm off.

well... off for a block before a woman grabs my arm. i keep saying no to the offers, but she won't have it. my hand is on my wallet and i hear the putter of mopeds, glancing over my shoulder to see 5 or 6 valkyriettes reinforcements hurdling down on me. thankfully, i know what to do. i tell the woman to shove her offers, physically remove her and extending my middle finger, dash away from the ominous scene. daft steve is too quick on his toes to get caught by hoes!

i walk with my head on high to the hotel, pack my things and fall asleep. it was an epic day.

tomorrow is hcmc in one day.

nha trang - in an octopus' garden, in the shade, day 7

i beat the wake up call and have a breakfast and walk to coco diving company. run by ludo, a funny man from luxembourg and very knowledgeable instructor. along with us are 2 swedish ladies, karin and linn, who are traveling an extensive trip after graduating high school. we are immediately off to the island of koh mun and i go through the basics with a frenchman named ben with sharon. they take care of most of the movement on this first dive and i like to think it came very naturally to me.

in short, diving is a completely different world. the colors are so visceral and iridescent, sometimes, i think my eyes are tricking me. diving beats the living daylights out of snorkling! sure, it's more expensive, but to witness the gift of depth and not hurrying yourself while you are down there, you really experience the ocean for what it is. to me snorkling has become similar to reading about the moon and diving is landing on the moon and picking up some moon dust and showering yourself in it. the clarity is absolutely amazing and despite the fact ben is literally pushing me everywhere, the first dive blew my eardrums and mind. we have a little baguette lunch and then talk about the upcoming dive on a different site. this dive, my handler was the vietnamese gentlemen, whose name i forget. on top of pushing me around underwater, he is in charge of the underwater photos, so he is really relaxed about letting me go on my own. it's astounding to me how peaceful and calm i am when i'm underwater. the amount of energy necessary to maneuver is extremely low. the other awesome thing about diving is the hand signals. obviously, my accent is difficult to understand underwater, so they have sign language to communicate universally. the 'ok' sign, which is completely derogatory in brazil, means ok with a question mark and can be used as the response to the question. thumbs up is go up, down is go down, wishy-washy is something isn't good and you point to your ears or goggles; my favorite is the madonna-esque 'like a virgin' pose which signifies you are cold. the water is like bathwater, but at times cold currents come through and they can actually be freezing! the body can go into hypothermia at 95 degrees and you dissipates heat 25 times faster than in the air.

after the dive, the salesman at the shop recommends we go get a massage with the blind. apparently they think vietnamese massages are better than ones in thailand. i politely disagree. i've got a high pain tolerance when it comes to deep tissue massage, but this was a different story. the masseuse put thumbs into the small of my back and if i could have swiveled my head 180, i'd bet i'd see a handstand. my 14th vertebrae thanks you heaps.

i've been pretty accommodating to sharon's vegetarianism. she isn't my girlfriend; she's just someone i ran into on the plane who was headed the same direction. i don't think you can get a good feel for the food in vietnam if you stick to vegetarian food either. she starts in about how we won't stop being cruel to other humans until we stop eating animals and i decide to play devil's advocate akin to my philosophy days in college. i tell her that something must die for us to live, (she could have given the example of fruit in hindsight, but that's not enough to live on), and she can't come back with an actual argument other than you can't see/hear plants suffer. i can tell i've struck a nerve though.

nha trang beach with the locals

sharon is pretty eager to travel to dalat, and although it's close, i want to have another dive so i am certified. she makes a couple of weak arguments and i don't relent. i guess that was that and she headed up to dalat and i stayed in nha trang. safe travels, that's all you can wish a fellow traveler when you part ways.

i then go back to the hotel, shower up and go out for dinner. this night, a guy at a electronics booth convinces me to eat at the indian restaurant adjacent to his shop. i ask if it's really that good or if he gets a cut. he concedes it's a bit of both, as when he gets a diner to go there, he gets a free meal. i try it out and wasn't disappointed. i had the tikki masalla (sp? jay?) and it had lovely smokey flavor. sadly the nan was bland and buttery. onward to the sailing club, a dance party on the beach. it's pretty wild out there. i did hear of a fight this night and saw a fight the next.

the club is situated directly on the beach with a huge bonfire and fire twirlers. they specialize with drinks in buckets and they are cheap and strong. the dance floor gets loaded even though the decibel level is similar to what i imagine the who's concert where most of the audience and pete townsend went deaf. i'm getting used to these beach dancing anthems and it's good fun. i met an aussie dad taking his son on a trip around vietnam. we laughed and watched his blitzed son try aggressive dancing to lure a partner. i went out to take in the bonfire more and got asked to sit at a table with some girls, within the first three questions a not-so-meek hint escapes, 'you have money?'. yeah sweety... but not for you. walking home as a single guy in nha trang is physically and mentally challenging. their blocks give vegas a run for the money and on the way home, a solo gentleman of my stature is propositioned for 'ladies', coke, x and marijuana at least a half dozen times. the best thing to do is ignore them and keep walking. they don't seem to understand the word 'no,' even if it's in vietnamese.

i still have to study for my test, so i stay up really late and watch the dvd ludo gave me. then i pass out reading the book.

nha trang - beach bummer? no way! day 6

i've truly been lucky that i keep getting wake up calls on time. even though i usually habitually wake up before they manage to call me.

i organize a cab to danang and have another regrettable breakfast at the hotel.i befriend two vancouverites in search of a chiller beach than nha trang randomly. duffy and lindsay are traveling a bit and lindsay is on the same search as myself. as my conversations run, it can be a bit of a time trial to see how long i last without talking about music. it turns out randomly, duffy is in a band who my roommate matt's buddy recommended to me ages ago called ladyhawke. small world indeed. they are very nice and i thoroughly enjoyed chatting with them. they gift me some tips and are off at nha trang's airport north. 

as luck has it, an israeli living in rome named sharon saddles up next to me on the plane and we decide to be travel buddies since she is alone too. besides hinting at being a hardcore vegetarian, convinces me i should try diving in nha trang. after chilling out on the beach, she spends quite a bit of time looking up vegetarian restaurants and we look for diving shops. for lunch, the meal was cold and regrettable, but dinner was fantastic as i got a claypot meal; my favorite dishes in vietnam. we stroll around and find the diving shop and set up the dive. we then head out to a local bar, the red apple club, which would be at home in any city in america with free shots and an aussie promoter. i've been watching what i drink as i've been traveling alone. since we are getting up early, we shove off around 12:30ish to be rested for our virgin dives.

upon the walk home, i'm accosted by motorbike after motorbike, (moto!), pedalling ladies and drugs. they followed me for blocks some times and it was a little disturbing because i was alone, but i feel pretty safe in vietnam. 

tomorrow jacques stevso? zizzous?

hoi an - part deux, day 5

6am, another mind melting, sunny day in hoi an. i love the sun, but i'm beginning to believe it's only goal is to turn my pasty white physique to a lobster red shade I've only seen worn by dad after forgetting to apply sunblock in brazil under an umbrella. after a forgettable breakfast at the hotel of a bagette and boiled eggs, i start another stroll around town. it is short lived as i stop to wipe the sweat from my brow with an ice cold beer. to my surprise i run into the first south american on my trip. jineth is from colombia and interestingly enough, she is wanting to tour the marble mountains so we walk over to quyen, who breaks into his usual spiel and apparently doesn't remember we arranged a bike for the day. he told me he is a veteran of the vietnam war and was on the american's side. he promises to find another easy rider for her, and i'm supposed to be back by 12.






 

food, sometimes we consume it, sometimes it consumes us. while enjoying my fried duck stuffed with shrimp and i got chitchatting with some parisians, time flew by. i really don't recommend running, or many other activities, for that point, in 34 degree weather with insane humidity. a human stuffed with a duck, stuffed with shrimp usually maintains a landspeed of 2 mph, but i managed to kick it up a notch and squeezed at least 3mph out of my greasy duck fuel and was only 15 minutes late.

riding cyclos in vietnam has freaked me out, rightfully so, as they bomb the opposite direction in hanoi, obey no stop signs, wear no helmets and strap gear equivalent to space shuttles on their backs. easy riders have a much better rep, authentic ones at least. i was pleasantly surprised at quyen's ability to maneuver, even if the traffic wasn't a tenth as dense as hanoi. he pointed out weddings and buildings of note as we cruised through the country side to the marble mountains.

the marble mountains are something to behold. especially the 'water' one we climbed. they even have a new elevator quite like the one i encountered in salvador, brazil for the really fat tourists. i will admit the steep steps did cause me to perspire a 125% more than usual. at the top there is a gigantic white buddha and a temple. jineth and i wonder into the caves atop the mountain first. they are huge and hold the buddha which i'm standing next to in the photo for perspective. there is another cave with an adorable pair of buddhas, one sitting and another laying down behind the sitting buddha. it's as if he is the older buddha watching over his younger buddha brotha. then we venture to the pagoda atop the hill. seeing it from the ground gives you more perspective and appreciation towards the pagoda. even though they take great care of the pagodas and temples, i don't think they feed the lions much; one tried to munch my head a little.

 
we get back down and chat the marble locals up. i thought i would be more useful in conversation due to the fact i bought granite and marble for 5 years, but their family has been at it for 100's of years. we hop back on the hogs and head into town, where we tour an important governor's house kept up by his relative proudly displaying all the instruments of his grandfather, even a casio radio which looks like it was made in 1995. he did live to be 102. i was about to try the medicine potion they had in the front but a huge group of tourists came in and we left. jineth splits and i wonder around town trying to find the night life again with some new friends of friends. dave lived in japan for a while, but is bartending and managing a restaurant in indianapolis. we strike out again and they head to bed and i meet some girls from california.

the second highlight of the day behind the mountains is when i break into the locked pool and float on my back drinking beer. since there is not much light pollution at all in vietnam, the sky is amazing. the subtle sounds of the water splashing against the edge of the pool seems to charm the astral display brighter, (eat your heart out risinger). the bad part is when my ears aren't under the water, i'm listening to these 23 year old girls talk about money and their sex lives. they work in the medicine field and are going back to school to earn more. they seem completely fixated on marrying rich and doing nothing else. they did relay trysts and infidelities which i ended up holding my breath underwater for as long as i could to drown them out, (pun intended). i finally concede and retreat to my freezing room, thanks to my overzealous airconditioning!

tomorrow, i face the town of nha trang, sharks, pirates and discos! will steve continue his travels or be eaten, plundered, or turn forever into a dancing machine? tune in shortly.

hoi an - how to glow, day 4

i woke early in hanoi and took the cab from the hostel. safe to say, he tried to charge me after i paid the hotel, but i'm smart and keep copies of the receipt. i guess i'm just unhappy that he tried. short flight into danang, and even shorter in the city, as i met some aussies who were headed my way.

we managed a cab for dirt cheap, $5 a person for a hour long cab ride. but this was because 2 parisians wanted to tag along. they all went for the resort hotel, $70 a night would be a steal in the us, but i'm on a budget and i want to get the authentic experience. i realize that turning that phrase really means nothing. i'm a tourist and get treated like such, although a later entry, (hint, hint), will show you otherwise. the cab ride was interesting, hoi an is very near 2 or 3 beaches and the government and private companies have tried to erect many resort type complexes, but apparently the good ol' usa ain't the only place where buildings get shut down. massive lonely skeletons of buildings loom on the beachside, whether they have been there months or years, i have absolutely no clue, but they remain testimonials to the fact we are creating more than is desired, only then to try selling/filling empty buildings. anyway, too much philosophy. 

 
we got to their resort, which i will admit looked nice. i wasn't concerned though and when i saw the hotel i was staying in for $18 a night, i was sure they would be jealous. i had a gigantic room, a decent bathroom, a/c, breakfast and a pool (theirs was bigger, of course), but other than one night i really didn't use it.

after settling into the hotel, the manager tried to get me to buy suits. apparently everyone in this town is "related" to someone who owns a shop. they try and try to convince you this enables you to get a deal, but the truth of the matter is they are getting commission. the commission is on everything, but i've come to understand that's the nature of vietnam. bargain low, maybe 50% and go from there. just don't be impolite and keep your hands ready for the draw.

hoi an, what can i say? it's a tourist's wet dream. being a peddler's city, suits, lamps, art, and ceramics are all obviously pointedly for the tourist. the interesting thing is: in america, we try to distinguish stores by how different and unique of goods are sold, and we would most definitely not, (or i wouldn't), open a shop next to a shop with the exact same merchandise. oh usa... you are so shortminded. in vietnam, you will walk down a street of shops all offering basically the same thing, they all are pretty similar in price and most of the difference lies in the customer service. thank god i'm not here for shopping... i hate shopping. needless to say, i had a difficult time in hoi an, despite it's charming night display of lamps and lit river statues. tourists are less likely to talk to strangers because they are either in their lovey bubble or in full on shop mode, (i will mention i did find a couple from seattle and a couple others (word play!) who were kind enough to let me crash their bubbles). 

 
hoi an was absolutely boiling hot. i mean, so hot you start walking a minute outside after you've showered and pools of sweat are cascading down your face. not to mention your shirt feels like mummy wrap because your sweat has acted like a intensive bonding agent. so, after i buy the tourist package to see 5 sites, i see 3 pagodas and i'm dying. my feet feel as though they are going to blister. i ask where in god's great earth i can get a foot massage and am told it's $6 for 30 minutes, but it's a ways away. they offer to have a car pick me up. i think that sounds completely ridiculous, seeing as i'm only spending $6 and thank them and leave to walk through the market. at least it's got cover and shade. 

 
while i'm baking like a french baguette, i manage to score some dragonfruit and munch on what i describe as a kiwi meets cucumber. while i'm stuffing my mouth, i ask again about a foot massage. after a couple of confused looks, a woman comes by and listens intently. she then walks me through a maze of the market and finally i get seated and told the masseuse will be there shortly. i was a little worried, but then again, there are so many people in the market that surely, i could just yelp a little if i get robbed... the masseuse, tu (?) shows up and offers me a massage for $10 and i say it was $6 with another company. she then concedes and offers a full body hour long massage for $10. she did an amazing job. apparently she was taught from her mother and is really good with deep tissue and my feet are as good as new. i thank her and head out to the hotel and shower. 

where the night life is in hoi an? during the day streets are flooded with 'ghosts' shopping around and eating, but at night, they seem to vanish in that way ghosts do when mario is looking at them. well, i guess you can still partially see them even then. so after a good walk around, i settle at a restaurant near my place, mostly due to the amount of people eating there; more people eating and still alive, the better the restaurant. it starts to rain and a couple comes in from outside and sits behind me. after hearing english, i bulldoze my way into the conversation and they oblige a seat at their table. turns out they are from seattle! wedgewood represent! (their blog) they've started a year long trip and we start discussing all the usual things seattlites talk about, including politics, news and the awkward elephant in the room called
'work'. we walk around in search of an animated and interesting bar; ending up on the balcony overlooking the pavilion where live music is being performed. it just seems like everyone's asleep in their lover's arms with air conditioning on full blast. we part ways and i head back to the hotel to get some sleep before i take a big chance on an 'easy rider', (a chopper style bike with a guide who speaks decent english) named 'win', up to the illustrious marble mountains. in vietnam, bikes seem as dangerous as slapping a cobra in the face and calling it's mother a worm, so i don't have to mention i'm anxious.

 
until next time, dear reader.

if you should care to look at more pictures they are located here_____________________________

halong bay - dragon's pearls, day 3

halong bay. what a miraculous demonstration of nature's potential. we were picked up at 8ish and swept off through the country's red river delta, amidst a sea of motorists gone insane. we made it through border towns, passing gigantic trucks at our peril in the opposite lane. the 3.5 hour drive over was simply hairy; some kind of chicken game ferociously played for terms of lives on the asphalt. i learned to just look at the countryside. more than once we had huge trucks belting at us, head on and astoundingly enough, i'm still alive. perhaps it was my donation at the temple yesterday? motorbikes, by the way, are the craziest folks, and if i'm not nudged/bumped/killed by one before i leave, i will scratch the buddha's belly in triumph. finally, we started seeing some halong signs, denoting we were in the city.

halong seems to be a smaller version of hanoi. bustling and bursting with activity, but rural and spread out. if it wasn't for the awesome tour guide and fellow travelers, it wouldn't have made quite the impact. i was told you need to witness the 2 night, 3 day tour and with my reckless/ignorant/last minute plans, this was impossible. instead, i was on the one day tour and it turned out pretty well. carrie, a londoner on a jaunt around the world, had more than a couple of hints for me, as well as some advice on blogging. then there were paul and susan, a couple of brits living in singapore. after we got into hanlong bay, we were herded off the death vessel/bus, onto the floating (piece of) 'junk'; just kidding, our barge was in really nice condition.

the islands in halong bay are incredible soapstone peaks jutting from the tea green sea. apparently they are numbered over 3,000 and were created by the dragon father of the vietnamese people, (their mother is reported to be a fairy; for serious). as myth or the truth goes, the dragon spit pearls into the ocean and created the peaks to protect vietnamese people from the invading chinese.

we ventured first to a fishing village to commune with our soon-to-be meal. the floating fish marts save seafood in sunken nets for lean times. they have a plethora of seafood: fish, octopus and shellfish. we were briefly looking at the fish one moment, then the next, back on the boat for lunch. First course was french fries, (which the brits call crinkle chips), spring rolls, and a cucumber salad. then on to seabass, garlic octopus and sauteed greens. for desert, they brought us a huge bowl of rice and some slices of pineapple. then we were off to the cave of wonders!

well, they should have named it that, although disney would surely have a lawsuit. they call it the cave of surprise, an island where we saw gigantic limestone caves which were moodily lit. as the trip guide was offering free drinks if you could correctly identify formations; it seems who ever named them was doing so after numerous drinks.

seakayaking. a sport where carrie and myself set an olympic record for circling craggy islands. it was fun and i was surprised at how deft we were able to maneuver. the water was cool and refreshing to touch and i was extremely tempted to jump in, although that would have been to both our woes if i tried to get back in. we spanned quite a distance in only 30 minutes and saw some caves which were too small to enter as well as a shrine to swimmers who were eaten by the dragon. ok, i made that up, but who knows what it could have been for? maybe swimmers who drowned? the other weird thing is at these offerings i see boardgames and white castle cookies. call me ignorant, but i thought buddha would be better fit with keebler cookies and monopoly, not jenga and white castle. then onward and inland on the boat.

although we missed sunset, there was a beautiful blanket of fog, still enshrouding the islands and the sun made it's final wave to use as we docked. the ride back was another 3.5 hour white knuckle affair; equally maniacal. i tried to sleep with no success and chatted a bit with carrie, who passed out after deeming my blog's title worthy.

back in hanoi, where the party in the city, don't stop even though the heat is on. i made a short visit to the nightmarket. (insert thee more shallows 'night at the knight school' reference). it was filled with haggling people and after a moment of entertaining a vendor for some shades, i decided i was too exhausted to talk him down. i was that tired. but i promised to meet carrie for a drink and a few beers later, we closed the bar. at 11pm. for serious, how can a town with a party reputation keep it's title if bars close at 11? oh yeah, because all you have to do is walk up the street and there is an even dingier bar, one where some s.o.b. peed all over the bathroom. we chatted some more and even met a news correspondent. by this time my eyes were having a difficult time staying open; due to alcohol and jetlag, i promise! i said goodnight and bon viagems to carrie and conceded to sleep.

hanoi from a spectator, day 2

waking at 4am and trying to go back to sleep was almost a waking nightmare. however when you are in a beautiful new place, i don't think twice to get up and walk around. i showered briefly and walked around hoan kiem lake in the rain. no, not the seattle rain, but the warm and cathartic rain from south east asia. with the rain and the clouds, there was an unreal pastel light that bathed the lake and all the surrounding buildings. the vietnamese were en mass surrounding the lake, doing various forms of what looked like yoga to my untrained set of eyes. as i breathed in, the weight of the air rushed into my lungs and as bizarre as it sounds, almost was fortifying. i remain unsure whether it was the dense humidity or the warm rain that held me like my mother when i was young. after a walk around the entire lake, i ate some free pho from my hostel/hotel and prepared for a day of walking.

 

first up: the ho chi minh masoleum. you can't really prepare yourself to see interred remains, much less minh's and even though we were pushed in and out of the masoleum faster than you could say 'communism', there was something haunting as i left. maybe the fact vietnamese school children were all around me, some maybe as young as 6 and seeing a dead body of a former leader; a different time, place and world entirely. there were no real notable reactions from the crowd that i had anticipated. the whole complex is absolutely gigantic, so i strolled around further. hcm's working houses remained well taken care of, but at the same time not thoroughly engaging. sure, i get that they are trying to give the impression that he was humble, but i think they clubbed that bullseal to death. the ho chi minh museum was truly ghastly to me. on top of all the propaganda, there were monumental piles of horrid art neuvo, (in my opinion, as always), and splashes of documents from the man himself and other officials and leaders. 

 

the first pagoda seemed like something special until i laid eyes on the gleaming led lights giving a gentle glowing effect to the buddha. apparently, mcdonald's has paved the way and it's simply a matter of time until the pyramids have bright neon outlines with flashing strobes behind them. the one pillar pagoda was actually beautiful and serene. a gift from an emperor who believed he met the goddess of mercy while perched on a lotus flower, (desperately trying to avoid a radiohead reference... shit). it had more of simplistic beauty, even if the buddha was glowing in neon again. the pagoda itself is perched precariously on one pillar signifying a lotus flower and i'm surprised it hasn't seen the leaning tower effect. 

 

the temple of literature had some interesting points too, but simply reiterated - everything will eventually crumble into dust. sitting on the park bench waiting for a water puppet show, this sentiment hits me like a gong. my sweat, my tears, my smiles, my love: it will all be nothing, but a speck of dust in some generation's eyes. all this potential to set kinetic energy free. it doesn't mean it's not worth every single labor; it's always worth it.

 

the water puppets were a tourists dream. in fact, i wouldn't be surprised if a tourist came up with the whole show as a way to get fellow tourists to watch puppets splash and listen to traditional vietnamese music. i was definitely entertained when one of the dragons was a little bit off; call me a cog, but seeing one element of a choreographed act just a little, teensy bit off makes me understand the world still has elements of chaos and disparity. and somehow that comforts me.

i ended up passing up hanoi's nightlife again, as i was thoroughly exhausted after such a full day. i keep telling myself, i need to stage and work towards more.