Blogs from Red River Delta, Vietnam, Asia - page 3

How many of you have stayed at a hotel, AirBnB, rental condo, or hostel that has a free book library? By free book, I mean leaving a book of yours, and taking a different one. Other names for these are free community library, free lending library, and take one, leave one. I have seen them in other places as well, on cute little Cul de sacs in my neighborhood, the YMCA, and Friends of the Library. Trading books has probably been around even before the public library. Maybe old Ben Franklin was onto something? Though it is contested, most of us credit Ben Franklin in 1731 for starting the first free public library in the (future) United States. Growing up, we always had a library card. On Fridays, when my Mom did the weekly grocery shopping, ... read more

Vietnamesere laver god mad som er meget smagfuld og ikke for stærk. Det vigtige er at det laves af friske råvarer. Det betyder at der bringes friske varer ind til byerne og bliver bl.a solgt af cykelhandlende. Restauranten vi spiste på efter sejlturen holdt man rejer, hummer, snegle og fisk friske i akvarier og baljer. På turen tilbage til Hanoi stoppede vi på et værested for handikappede unge som blev oplært i forskellige former for håndværk ved at brodere og lave stenkunst. Pigerne broderede smukke billeder med meget tyde tråde og drengene lavede meget imponerende skulpturer. Et andet stop var ved en lille landsby hvor vi gik en tur igennem de lokale marked. På turen hen til en lokal beboer kom vi forbi optakten til et bryllup. Den lokale beboer var gået på pension men fik ... read more

Så fik vi taget fat på Vietnaturen ved at gå rundt i mylder af scooter, bil, mennesker og gadebutikker. Man skal holde et vågent øje på hvad der sker så man ikke lige bliver kørt ned af en scooter. For at komme godt i gang med ture må det første være at hilse på Ho Chi Minh. Men inden skulle vi lige se resterne af et B-52 fly som var styrtet ned i en sø. En gammel dame kom forbi og fortalte hvordan hun havde oplevet styrtet og hvordan vand og fisk var svømmet over og ned i deres beskyttelsesgange. Selv turen forbi Ho Chi Minh var en andægtig og hurtig tur rundt om den balsamerede krop som selvfølgelig lå inde i et kæmpe mausolæum. I videnskabens tempel fejrer de studerende afslutningen på deres uddannelse med ... read more

Later in our holiday we are going on a boat and apparently the mornings will start with some Tai Chi. We could do with this now in order to get ourselves in a state of serene calm to be able to face the traffic without having a nervous breakdown. I’m sure the best way to cross the roads is to just close your eyes and walk. We headed for the Temple of Literature, which sounds like my daughter’s idea of hell. She would think we were either deliberately trying to ruin her life or having some sort of joke at her expense. It was a huge 30,000 Dong to enter, but I keep forgetting that that is just over £1, hardly denting my vast wad of Dong. I’ve noticed that there a no coins here, but ... read more

The route into the strangely angular Ho Chi Minh mausoleum is made up of a sober queue of people anxious to see the carefully conserved remains of Vietnam’s legendary leader. A line of curious tourists and locals nervously contemplating the idea that soon they are going to see the preserved body of the father of modern Vietnam. The shuffling throng is strictly policed by white-uniformed attendants discretely admonishing people for not showing appropriate decorum in their wait to enter the sanctum. All to look upon the face of real, world-changing history. Entering the mausoleum is a uniquely eerie experience. The Stygian darkness and the palpable feeling of awe lies heavy. Tourists know this is the one chance they’ll have to convene, however briefly, with a titan of twentieth-century Asian politico-history. And soon, as your eyes become ... read more