so after a 13 hour bus ride from nha trang to hoi an i hoped to get some sight seeing in. we were leaving that afternoon at 4p via taxi to hue. i had read that hoi an is THE place to get custom tailor sewn clothes made in a matter of hours. they weren't kidding! the streets were lined with hundreds of tailors. who to go to? we stopped in a place called "Lovely." once i saw the shop owner was pregnant, i thought of all my girlfriends back home who just gave birth or are prego...and i was sold [View Full Entry]

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i must start this entry on a positive note: the rice fields. the first time i experienced the country side of vietnam. meditative. calming. soothing. watching the blades of grass float with the gentle caresses of the wind....epic. cannot be explained in words. my heart was full. fully in the moment. THAT was the highlight of a 13 hour bus ride. yes folks, 13 hours! for those of you thinking about taking the open bus ANYWHERE in vietnam....did the travel books mention that even though the price of the bus is probably 10 times less than the train....there is no bathroom [View Full Entry]

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wow! where to begin. i arrived a week ago to nha trang. a beachside town that reminds me of hawaii! yes. hawaii! i've sunbathed on the beaches of oahu and this morning at 9am when my cousins and i went to the beach (saturday morning) i sat in meditation with my eyes open gazing at the distant islands off of nha trang's shore...and thought...wow...hawaii. but better. better because i'm among my people, as a friend said to me, "isn't it nice to be among the majority?" and that i am. my cousins have been teaching me conversational vietnamese. every day we [View Full Entry]

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ah. the white buddha at long son pagoda. it stands 24 meters in height. (although some websites say 9, another 14). you can see it sitting on the hillside as you drive towards it from the catholic church in town. if you happen to even be coming that way. --- http://www.farofflands.com/avpa/0nha_trang.html Long Son pagoda is a shrine of a huge 14-meter-high white Buddha image seated on a lotus blossom, lying atop the hill with a flight up of 152 steps. The White Buddha is crafted in 1963 to dedicate to Buddhist monks and nuns who, in the time of Diem Presidency, [View Full Entry]

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this is our third day on the boat tour. terribly rushed. we arrived at the pagoda and left about 1/2 later. a rushed tour through the pagoda, a breath-taking view of the rice fields leading to cambodian border, and then a run-walk down the steps in order to meet the next tour boat that was awaiting a transfer. we rushed to then travel 4 hours by boat and 4 hours by bus back to saigon. the third day was not so well-planned...it would have been worth it if we had more time to sit still at the pagoda...but it was not [View Full Entry]

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no denying my asian routes here. a postcard image of me in a RED dress and the rice patty hat on the floating market. our tour boat anchored along-side another boat that was buying pineapples from a farmer that was selling. we jumped on board their boat and watched them slice a pineapple for our soon to be succulent enjoyment! [View Full Entry]

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day one of the boat tour. we stopped along a village, ate lunch and took a short bike trip. ofcourse i'm a sucker for vietnamese children..actually any children. this one wanted some bottled water so i poured some in his mouth and eventually cooled him off with an overload. they all giggled and ran away! (thank you to my friend carl with the digital camera, who just emailed to me. namaste.) [View Full Entry]

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i embark on a 3 day/2 night boat trip throughout the mekong delta with another yoga teacher friend of mine coming from bali, carl from the bay area. might not be on emails for a few days. here's a cool site with some great pictures someone else shared online: http://www.farofflands.com/avpa/0mekong.html peace out.... [View Full Entry]

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excerpts from the online article, Visit the Vietcong's World: Americans Welcome, By Seth Mydans,July 7, 1999: Following the man in green fatigues, the tourists arrive at an open-sided hut, where the women in black show them to their seats. There, on a big-screen television set, the Vietnam War plays on: B-52's drop strings of bombs, villagers run for cover, communist guerrillas fight back. -- For those who still don't get the message, a narrator says: "Cu Chi, the land of many gardens, peaceful all year round under shady trees ... Then mercilessly American bombers have ruthlessly [View Full Entry]

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11 february 2005 i made a day of the co chi tunnels. dung, my cousin arranged for a motorbike driver to take me on an hour-long drive to the tunnels. i had no idea what was ahead. not just the thousands of motorbikes that RULE the roads (cars + trucks don't have a chance), but the underground tunnels that took 25 years for the VC to dig! first my driver, thanh, was a tiny vietnamese 32 yr old man who was shorter than me (i'm 5'2"). he was teaching me how to speak vietnamese as best as he could, always busting [View Full Entry]

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