Saturday, February 24, 2007

Ha Noi

Dear friends

Welcome to the final posting dedicated to Vietnam. Hanoi was a real challenge when choosing photos. There are so many I’d like to show you.

We spent hours walking around the Old Quarter It is a maze of little streets teeming with life. There’s the street of the shoe shops, of the tombstone carvers, the tailors, haberdashers, of sweet shops, of art shops, etc. Everyone is busy, street sellers, bikes and cycles are everywhere. Amazing and we loved it…

We also visited Văn Miếu (文廟) the Temple of Literature, the first University in Vietnam. It was founded in 1070 as a Temple to Confucius and in 1076 the National University was established within the temple. When students reached their final examinations they were personally examined by the Emperor himself, just to add to the stress!

We visited Ho Chi Minh, the President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, (affectionately called Uncle Ho by many Vietnamese who hold him as their idol) in his mausoleum. He is embalmed and has been lying there since 1975. He died in 1969. The lovely yellow palace was where he used to live although he stopped living there and moved to a small wooden one-roomed hut by the lake in his gardens.

We visited two lakes. One, Hoan Kiem Lake by the old quarter, has a lovely Japanese red bridge (Huc Bridge, meaning ‘morning sunlight bridge’) which takes you to Ngoc Son Buddhist Temple on Turtle Island. The Vietnamese legend of the lake has certain similarities to the English legend of King Arthur and Excalibur.

The other lake, as you can see, has lots of erm…….swans! But also a lovely temple with a pagoda.

I have hundreds of photos of Vietnam and hundreds of lovely memories. It is a fascinating and beautiful country. Go if you can.

Next time I will be showing you photos of Taipei. Very different to Vietnam but also fascinating.

Have a good fortnight!

Love Alan

A colourful Government poster ushers in 2007















The Old Quarter















Mum picking up her daughter from school















Vietnamese florist















Daniela posing as a local!















Great presentation!















Local craftsmen















An oasis of calm away from the chaos















A craftswoman















With this lady we leave the Old Quarter





















The Temple of Literature....and a newly wedded couple















Buddha















Uncle Ho's Palace where he lived















Uncle Ho's Mausoleum where he rests....
















Ho Chi Minh Opera House













Caught in the traffic...














Huc Bridge










A Pagoda...and the photographer





















Those swans..... and Daniela















Good bye. Thank you Vietnam and your lovely people.....we must go back!

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Hoi An

Thanks for coming and welcome!

This posting shows photos from a town called Hoi An in Vietnam. It is about halfway up the country close to the east coast

We fell in love with it. It is completely different to the hustle and bustle of the big cities of HCMC and Hanoi and gave us another view of Vietnam.

The small handicraft industry is very active there. They will make or copy pretty much anything. The streets are lined with shop houses in colonial style, painted in warm Mediterranean colours. Many have old wooden balconies, ideal for sitting out of an evening, engaged in the sport of people watching.

Some quaint bridges, in particularly one built by the Japanese as a gift, straddle its gentle river, along which is located the bustling local market, and many ancient temples are scattered around town.

After Hoi An we flew to Hanoi for the final part of the holiday. In the next posting I will complete the Vietnam adventure with photos of Hanoi. It will be a difficult job choosing which ones to upload.

We had a great time in Taipei last week so after Hanoi I will show you the various faces of the capital of Taiwan.

Hope to see you soon!

Love

Alan