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Saigon
Apr 21, 2010 6:46:56 GMT
Post by hwinpp on Apr 21, 2010 6:46:56 GMT
Good to see you here Bun Cha, and as usual, with good posts Great pics, Ilbonito I've never seen Saigon from that angle. I usually just pop in and out for a couple of days and am usually free only in the evenings so it's a completely different Saigon that I see. And for me it's always a welcome change from Phnom Penh. I have to say I much prefer it to Hanoi with its cement headed party politics and policies. But this is relative anyway, I like Hanoi too. I know of the prejudices and the reputations of the Northerners and Southerners and have to say it isn't really as divisive as people think. In the end what's most important for me is that the people are more honest in their dealings than a couple of other places in SEA. The Vietnamese are definitely made of different wood than the Lao or Thai and that's what bothers a lot of people who've been to those countries before going to VN. The only places I've been ripped off in VN were in the north by the way. And even those occasions turned out well in the end because of Vietnamese people who helped me.
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Saigon
Apr 21, 2010 10:22:49 GMT
Post by ilbonito on Apr 21, 2010 10:22:49 GMT
Can you get AIDS from blowing on a dandelion?
I think its supposed to be some kind of vague, veiled reference to mortality...
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Saigon
Apr 21, 2010 10:41:31 GMT
Post by ilbonito on Apr 21, 2010 10:41:31 GMT
Choose your idol:
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Saigon
Apr 22, 2010 0:59:21 GMT
Post by gertie on Apr 22, 2010 0:59:21 GMT
I'll take door number three, please, Monty.
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Saigon
Apr 22, 2010 4:19:26 GMT
Post by hwinpp on Apr 22, 2010 4:19:26 GMT
Where did you take the pic of Uncle Ho's bust, Ilbonito?
I've avoided going even near his mausoleum in Hanoi...
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Saigon
Apr 22, 2010 7:56:52 GMT
Post by ilbonito on Apr 22, 2010 7:56:52 GMT
It was in Saigon, somewhere. Maybe some kind of government office? I haven't been further north than Dalat in VIetnam...
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Saigon
Aug 26, 2010 19:16:57 GMT
Post by Deleted on Aug 26, 2010 19:16:57 GMT
I met a guy called An when I was in one of the temples. He was living in the temple (and sleeping on a hard wooden bench -- he showed me!) because he had no money. He was from one of the other provinces. Here is the temple. Here is An with one of the monks who showed me around. I was most impressed by the funeral urn room. People are cremated and their urns are stored in cabinets. They come and get them to perform various ceremonies, but I was really fascinated by the cabinets.
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Saigon
Aug 27, 2010 1:08:51 GMT
Post by bixaorellana on Aug 27, 2010 1:08:51 GMT
Is no-one going to comment on the freaking spectacular Buddhist waterpark? That was pretty much the unexpected and impressive highlight of my Southeastasian travels. I loved the wildly unexpected scale of it; just fabulous! Apologies, Ilbonito. I just went back through this extravaganza of a thread and see that I never really commented on how wonderful it is. And geez-looweez yes on the waterpark! What's not to love? One of the reasons I never commented fully was because I got absorbed in the whole dialogue about the ways in which you didn't care for Saigon and your gracious attempt to explain your feelings when, well, not exactly challenged, but certainly pressed about them. Frankly, that's one of my favorite things about all your travel reports -- that you are honest about your impressions whether you fell in love with a place or were not exactly taken with it. Too many fantastic pictures here to comment on all of them, but I treasure the image of the motorbike carrying bonsai and found two of those '60s pics quite lovely (what can I say? ) At any rate, it was great to see this report bounce back up and it was fun, interesting, and illuminating all over again. I've avoided going even near his mausoleum in Hanoi... Why is that, please, HW ~~ because of the associations involved, or because of the tourist aspect? Kerouac, those aren't the front and back views of the same building, are they? That first one looks like a subdivision house in Florida, lacking only raked white gravel and gazanias around the mail box.
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Saigon
Aug 27, 2010 3:21:18 GMT
Post by hwinpp on Aug 27, 2010 3:21:18 GMT
My aunt is in an urn in one of the temples in Port Klang, Malaysia. I think nowadays it's a money question. Proper Chinese graves are huge and quite expensive so urning the ashes will become more and more popular.
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Saigon
Aug 27, 2010 4:59:01 GMT
Post by Deleted on Aug 27, 2010 4:59:01 GMT
Kerouac, those aren't the front and back views of the same building, are they? That first one looks like a subdivision house in Florida, lacking only raked white gravel and gazanias around the mail box. No, but they were both part of the temple complex. The first building appears to be a former French colonial house.
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Saigon
Aug 29, 2010 5:53:32 GMT
Post by ilbonito on Aug 29, 2010 5:53:32 GMT
My favorite temple in Saigon (well, just outside it) was also one of its most visited; the famed "Holy See" of Caodai. Caodai is a Vietnamese religion founded in 1926 by a group of “prophets” in the city of Tay Ninh, about 90 km out of Saigon. Today, it has grown to a religion with more than 4 million adherents. For a long time it was also a powerful political force, with its own army and the right to collect taxes within its district, but these rights were stripped (unsurprisingly) by the Communists. Like followers of Bahai, Caodaists stress the unity of religions – that many of the great figures of different faiths -Buddha, Lao Tsu, Confucius, Mohammed, Jesus (and more strangely) Jeanne d’Arc and Victor Hugo (!) – were essentially sharing the same message, and should all be venerated. The riotous colors of their temples signify this – each color represents a certain religion, eg Catholicism is red, Budddhism green. The worshippers themselves wear white. Today the lavish and spectacularly colorful “Holy See” at Tay Ninh is a popular tourist daytrip from Saigon.
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Saigon
Sept 22, 2010 6:27:47 GMT
Post by hwinpp on Sept 22, 2010 6:27:47 GMT
Here's one about half way to Saigon from the border. Looks well kept:
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Saigon
Nov 23, 2010 23:38:19 GMT
Post by Deleted on Nov 23, 2010 23:38:19 GMT
This is one of my favorite observation posts in Saigon, on the corner of Pham Ngu Lao and De Tham. I noticed that it also happened to be one of the favorite hangouts for American Vietnam vets who have moved to Saigon (just try to imagine the psychology of their lives to do such a thing), and it was impossible not to listen to their conversations. Just a couple of other scenes of De Tham for the moment...
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Saigon
Nov 24, 2010 3:12:48 GMT
Post by hwinpp on Nov 24, 2010 3:12:48 GMT
This one is still there, Jack. It's still open until the early am and I sometimes get a sandwich there if I've been out late, just 10k dong, under 0.50USD. In that little glass contraption, top shelf on the right, do you see that greenish, roundish thing? That's your sausage you mentioned elsewhere, still wrapped up in lotus leaves and transparent plastic ;D Just saw Bixa ask a question just before you, why I avoid going to see Uncle Ho's mausoleum. Very simple, I think it's a personality cult that serves to brainwash all the visitors. I refuse to support a corpse and what it stands for, so I will not go there and donate my money (or is it free?). ;D
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Saigon
Nov 24, 2010 4:36:45 GMT
Post by tod2 on Nov 24, 2010 4:36:45 GMT
Hwinpp - I'm looking into the glassed-in cabinet and notice what I think? is Laughing Cow cheese triangles?(round boxes) And, those tins look suspiciously like South African Saldahna Pilchards in hot chilli tomato sauce ;D What are those 2 little Budha statues doing in there - for sale or to protect the food from flies?
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Saigon
Nov 24, 2010 6:08:26 GMT
Post by Deleted on Nov 24, 2010 6:08:26 GMT
Every food establishment, even one on a cart, has a little altar, tod. One of the things that France left behind in its colonies but which is very much appreciated everywhere are the municipal theatres.
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Saigon
Nov 24, 2010 6:14:04 GMT
Post by Deleted on Nov 24, 2010 6:14:04 GMT
Some of the main thoroughfares of Saigon are jam packed with traffic, but some of the other major avenues and boulevards are strangely calm. The cathedral of Saigon has always been well cared for.
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Saigon
Nov 25, 2010 3:33:12 GMT
Post by hwinpp on Nov 25, 2010 3:33:12 GMT
I'll be heading over in the next two weeks, BTW, important meetings re Air France and Turkish Airlines
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