Brother True, Buddhism vs Einstein

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How Fast is That?

The bus was empty, well relatively so. In terms of Vietnamese busses it was as empty as they come, only 6 or perhaps 7 of us were travelling south from Nha Trang. The most likely explanation for the large discrepancy between the capacity of the bus and the actual usage is the fact that we had departed at the unholy hour of 7:30am and most people in Nha Trang, including yours truly, could never comfortably wake up at that time. I can not precisely say when I went to sleep, only that it was well past the time where you stop looking at your watch because of how depressed it makes you feel knowing that you will be out of bed within four hours. These things just sort of happen when you're on holiday, the infamous last words "I'm having an early one tonight" invariably convince people to buy you drinks, and what kind of Australian could refuse them?

Irregardless of my discomfort, there I was, sleeping on the bus in one of those feotal/couldn't-stay-awake-long-enough-to-get-comfortable type poses for the first half of the journey. Breakfast had been a hurriedly bought doughnut and I probably managed to brush my teeth, who really knows. After lunch however, I managed to stay awake long enough to be interested in my surroundings, at which point I noticed how empty the bus was. The journey was exactly opposite to my journeys on local busses: comfortable, fast and convenient.

My companions that day were a very quiet American (guessing) couple who didn't so much as look at me no matter how many pearly whites I shone at them, a few locals natting away at the front, and a monk. The monk was the only one who showed interest in me, which may or may not have been weird. He said hello and asked where I was from, perfectly standard questions given the situation, and then he moved over to sit next to me. Now, when every passenger on a bus has, on average, about 12 seats to call his/her own I find it somewhat annoying when you have to sit in an uncomfortable position. There are all sorts of ways that he could have arranged himself near enough to me to talk without invading my personal space, say for example sitting in the row in front of me and turning around, but no, he had to sit right next to me. Due to me unfavourable start to the morning this was not what I was after, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt and let it slide. After all, I was intrigued to know what he would have to say.

The monk introduced himself as Brother True, whether that was an indication of his nature or a misnomer was unclear just yet. He bagan by asking me questions about where I was going, why I was in Vietnam, where I came from, was I happy. You know, the usual Q and A that you get when you meet someone new. True was very happy to tell me about his own life as well, and he has led quite a life. He has spent his life learning the principles of Buddhism (well, he is a monk after all) and then teaching what he has learnt to non-buddhists around the world. He actually spent several months in Los Angeles teaching executives and CEO's how to stop worrying and love the bomb, or capitalism as it were; he done similar work in Europe and Australia as well.

From our conversation, which by this time had become lengthy (around about numb to the knees would be the most accurate measure of time I can give), I learned all about True's ideas of what it meant to be good. He was all about living for the moment, not worrying about the past or the future, and he used all of those dodgy catch phrases you see on infomercials over and over. The only difference was that the phrases seemed credible when coming from him as I could see a distinct belief behind them. Such terms as "inner energy" and "converting anger into positive energy" were commonplace, as were analogies with science - my favourite was when he used his basic knowledge of electricity to put his "inner energy" analogy in terms more friendly for me by comparing the conversion of solar energy into electricity with his human conversions. Despite the sheer dodginess of what he was saying, I began to believe that there was legitimate meaning behind the sales talk; the concept of channelling one's anger into other outlets such as meditation does appeal to me in some aspects (personally I prefer Jeff's ideas of just being totally apathetic).

Then came the bombshell, Brother True told me that the mind was a very powerful thing and can travel faster than anything else in the universe. He said, quoted verbatim, "Einstein was stupid. He was very wise, but not very smart". Whoa! Hold on sonny-boy, you said what? He expanded: the mind can travel large distances instantaneously such as when you switch from thinking about yourself to thinking about the sun. In this sense it can travel faster than light, sort of. I told him that this didn't make Einstein and idiot but he wouldn't listen; he thought it was the best joke ever. In the end we agreed that in some cases light was faster, particularly over short distances and when my mind was involved.

Borther True also told me some other amazing things that I did not know about the world, most of which was to do with the philosophies of Buddha. In the monk's perspective the teachings of Buddha and Christ were almost identical with the same ideals preached by both religeons; I found this unusual and yet quite wise of him to think. Unlike the western religeons that I am familar with, the monk's religeon was not about praying to heaven, it was about listening to the wise words spoken by Buddha thousands of years ago and acting upon them. He said to me that if anything is going to happen in your life you will have to do it yourself, don't waste time praying to someone else to do it for you. I like this idea, listen to wise people, learn from them, and then do what you please with your life. Buddhism rocks, but Einstein was wise too.

Mui Ne for the Landlocked

Upon arriving in Mui Ne, a small beachside hamlet in southern Vietnam, I found a cheap room. At $3 it was cheaper than I had expected to pay for a single bungalow so I was well pleased with my find. However, after getting cleaned up and heading off for a spot of lunch/swimming I found the catch: I was a long way from the beach. Even though the sea was only twenty metres from my door the actual beach started a good kilometer down the road, and even then the good stretch of sand started yet another kilometer down. Unperterbed, ok, a little perterbed, I found the beach and looked for a place to swim but one problem struck me: no-one else was swimming.

That's right, it was a bright, sunny afternoon in spring and I was standing on a pristine, white sand beach covered at every possible angle by towering resorts and not a single soul was swimming. The reason was that about half the population of Australia, the USA and Brazil was kite-boarding in the ocean. Hundreds of kites glided above the sea propelling foolhardy people across the shimmering surface at ludicrous speeds. Fortunately, or otherwise for those sitting on the beach looking for some entertainment, none of the kites entangled or pulled their riders off in some kind of Icarus fantasy which left the beach totally clogged. To swim would mean getting periodically run over by a board, something that I was not inclined to try, so I mournfully went back to my bungalow.

Fortunately things got better. For starters, the nightlife was fantastic as I found some great seafood restaurants, a beachside bar and a few new friends. Fresh mussels cooked in garlic butter followed by a game of pool, a cold beer and a chat with some attractive dutch girls made for a great night. Additionally, Mui Ne is host to some of the most spectacular landscapes that I have seen; not spectacular in the way of the Karsts near Lak Xao or the mountains of Longji, but spectacular in a "no, this can't actually exist" kind of way. Giant red and white sand dunes abound in the area, along with two attractions which have to be seen to be believed: the fairy spring, and red canyon.

The fairy spring is a small canyon carved through a sand dune and the supporting sandstone by a stream. As you wade up the stream you are presented with a rainbow effect of diffferent coloured rocks and sands, all flowing into one another in the stream. To say the word surreal is an understatement. Red canyon is exactly as it sounds, well sort of. At the edge of a cliff the red sandstone has been worn away to create a series of crevasses etched into the mountain which you are able to climb through. If anywhere on earth looks like Mars (the Mars of hollywood films and not the actual one in the sky, that is) it is here as you can find yourself totally surrounded by towering red spires with not a hint of other colours save the crystal clear sky.

In the end I was sad to leave Mui Ne, despite the fact that swimming required at least two life insurance policies. The food, the nighttimes and the landscapes made it one of my favourite stops in all Vietnam.

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Photos

Mui Ne Beach
See all the kite-surfers?

Fairy Stream #1
There are so many photos of the Fairy Stream that I'm not going to label them, sorry.

Shifting Sands
Still at the Fairy Stream.

The Falls at the End of the Stream
Still at the Fairy Stream.

Fishing Village
Overlooking the Mui Ne harbour.

Boats at Sea
Fishing boats waiting for the night. They only go fishing after dark and the lights out to sea make for enchanting evenings.

Red Dunes #1
Again, there are a lot of photos of the red sand dunes near Mui Ne so I'm not going to caption them all.

Red Dunes #5
Sorry, I got all arty again.

Kids Sliding Down the Dunes
These kids follow you round showing off the dunes, then they demand money.