accidentally found a new bus company to go to saigon. while you might think i now love them for their finest gentle taste (this is the breakfast they give you--basically a sweeter hot-dog-bun-type bread with some sweet green bean paste at the bottom.) or their wide comfy seats with only three across the aisle so if you sit on right, as i did for both legs of the trip, you get to sit by yourself. no, what i loved most about rac express bus is...located here http://miandering.com/2009/05/20/photos-of-the-day-2/, as the story is too long to be accepted as a caption by picasa!
i think of this as the vietnamese version of crazy eddie.
back in the land where my name means sugar cane!
you can never have enough mia, i say.
clearly this is not the vietnamese version of new york city's 'dollar' or '99 cent' stores, clearly they are trying to get all ghetto chic on us, no?
uniformed street sweepers are a regular sight in vietnam.
she pushes her dumspter around all day, sweeping up, so while you still do see garbage on the street, it's clearly not much as it would be if we didn't have the dumpster ladies.
i literally spent an entire day trying to get these photos of this place i remembered from my last trip to saigon and was dying to get a picture of. it's way out of town on a bus route i had taken the first time i was there. the first time i tried to find it again it poured and i didn't see it and didn't want to get out of the bus anyway so i stayed on until the route ended and then waited for it to turn around and go back...
then i went again later when it was almost dark (hence the poor quality of these photos) and snapped about 50 photos, making the people on the street (not to mention those at the restaurant, but i was across the street so i hoped they wouldn't notice me) think i was nuts.
but really, how could i resist? more importantly, who could resist a piping hot bowl of fat baby soup?
the baby menu
yes, in case you missed it: here is your bowl of baby. fat baby soup, i like to call it.
on this trip i discovered something i hadn't before: the streets of vietnam are also full of abandoned cards. well, this was in dalat. i didn't see any in saigon, but probably a) i wasn't looking closely enough or b) the dumpster ladies are good at their job.
i've always wanted my own personal cement mixer, haven't you? this one is so convenient...fits right on your porch. or you could store it out in the street.
dalat had the same bubble tea place i'd seen in saigon, and something about it being called 'tapioca milk tea' made me want it more than i'd want it if it was just called bubble tea. though the sign (and the cups) had english on them, the only thing on the menu i understood was kiwi, rainbow and vanilla. i ordered vanilla. it turned out to be bright green. also, still, it's not everywhere you get the 'Tea of cool, craving, content..' (note that that is either an extra period or a one-dot-shy ellipsis.) speaking of content, i must have ordered the wrong category of tea, as mine contained no tapioca/bubbles. come to think of it, i don't think there was any actual tea in it, either. the 'lid' is put on by this cool-looking machine right out of willie wonka that puts the plastic on top and seals it.
7 of spades with dying flower
clearly somebody lost a round and was not happy about it.
halfway through i discovered the chain is taiwanese. '100% Flavoruing import from Taiwan“! ps it tasted really good, actually. i texted my vietnamese friend and asked her how to say taro (khoai mon) and went back the next day and got a taro one (well, the powder had the right pinkish color), with tapioca this time, but it actually wasn't as good. perhaps because the tapioca, which was brown, had a vaguely cola taste to it which permeated the drink.
dalat is a lovely mountain town. the cool air was the best part and literally made the 7-hours-each-way bus trip completely worth it.
(note the gloves. it's not *that* cool in dalat. some people were wearing parkas, even during the day, during which i was wearing the same summer sleeveless top and light skirt i wear in phnom penh. very hard to understand.)
speaking of coffee kitty, i realized recently that i've become completely accustomed to the fact that almost every restaurant (especially the open street-side kind) has it's own dog or cat. health code, schmealth code. if you have a cat, at least you don't have mice. and with both, well, you don't have as much floor cleaning to do.
this house had the usual laundry hanging out front, but also a bunch of woven bamboo (placemats, maybe?). unclear if this family makes them or just uses a lot of them.
this motorbike cover reminded me of bedsheets i had back as a kid in 70s.
baby laundry and bike
is this the most hideous house you've ever seen, or what? i simply cannot imagine what would possess someone to build this fruit-themed montrosity.
the whole reason i was in this part of town was to find this one pagoda, lam ty ni. when i arrived it was closed. perhaps for lunch. ah well.
i was really sad i missed seeing the inside. the pagoda is famous because of the monk, vien thuc, who has lived there since 1968. he created a garden called the 'divine calmness bamboo garden.' he is also a painter and has tacked up countless hanging sheets on which he's written examples of his philsophy, such as 'living in the present how beautiful this very moment is' and 'zen painting destroys millennium sorrows.'
at this house i was playing a little game of capture the flag...took about 20 photos as the wind blew the flag every way but showing the star like i was trying to, um, capture.
like i said...lovely.
loved the periwinkle house!
periwinkle house, detail.
moulin rouge. ha!
you can discover the meaning of life at this bar.
i had forgotten that vietnam is truly king when it comes to people carrying amazing things--and amazing amounts of them--on the backs of motorbikes. one went by me with four huge vases strapped on. just as i was lamenting the fact i didn't have my camera out, a second one rode by. i managed to catch a small glimpse of it in the backgrouund. picture four of them, two on each side. sorry i didn't get it for you. it was truly something to behold.
this strange building is some kind music center, from what i gathered. (gathered from the words 'guitar,' etc on the sign, that is.)
preschool, maybe?
ok, of course this makes sense enough to us, as native english speakers, but as many of you know, pho is vietnamese noodle soup, so...i imagine some confusion sometime ensuing. i'd love to be able to copy a good pho, frankly.
dumpsters
dumpsters, one overturned
road median gardening...
or so i thought...
the ubiquitous cell phone...
when i got to the other side, i realized they were painting.
ok, i probably shouldn't admit this but since i'm here to entertain you, what's the point of having shame? when i saw this statue (in front of the cathedral in dalat) i thought, 'what? is that the madonna holding a dog?' as i got closer i realized,' oh, it's jesus.' and as i rounded the front i realized...DUH, MIA. IT'S A LAMB. i had really been thinking something along the lines of a humane society or patron saint of dogs or something. i know, my lack of religious education is definitely (and, i know, pathetically) showing.
what an amazing name for a bike, eh? surely more fitting for a big hummer or srv or whatever. but hey, let this guy (or girl) have his (or her) avarice. i think on this scale it's probably quite manageable.
nice to know vietnam continues the proud (sorry, no pun intended there) tradition of using fierce animals as cement logos. i hope some of the words on there say 'lion king.'
these guys clearly felt left out that i was photographing inanimate objects, as after i took the cement one, they insisted i take one of them.
xuan huong, the lake around which dalat is built. with purple restaurant.
beutiful halinh! (clearly a classy joint. marred only by the spelling.)
sorry i can't tell you what it says, but i think i'm safe in guessing it's something along the lines of 'we're the best!'
recycling lady, vietnamese style!
this is an old russian-built diesel train that runs out to a village called trai mat.
this train, on the other hand, appears to be just for show.
train innards
aHA! my theory is blown. this is PIG cement! wonder which brand sells better...
view of the old train station. these are the only trains that use this station anymore. which means it basically only exists at this point for tourists.
pulling away
some really lovely scenery along the way...
and even a glimpse of a wedding!
in addition to the pretty houses, we saw tons of greenhouses along the way.
as well as non-greenhouse agriculture
(have i mentioned lately how much i love the zoom on my new(ish) camera?)
by the way, can't you just *feel* the cool mountain air from these pictures? i dont' know why, but i felt like everything looked as crisp and fresh as it felt.
arrival in trai mat. this shop looks like it was tons of fun to paint!
choo-choo train crossing! this sign may well be left from when the railroad was used regularly by the french..
the main site to see (and the only one you are given time to see, since the train only stops for half an hour and then you are pretty much forced to return) is the linh phuoc temple...
first came the many-headed guy...( this wasn't the actual temple yet. some connected building right next door. keep going. you are in for a treat.)
fruit, signs, wall
fruit tree, signs, wall, column
ladies and gentlemen: temple (chua) linh phuoc
truly one of the wildest temples i've ever seen
the pagoda next door
the creatures, the colors...
the pillars are made out of broken rice bowls and beer bottle pieces!
yeah. just totally wild.
these guys guard the door, of course.
and these guys too, i guess, but they are secondary. and...what are they? looks a bit like a dog to me, but you know what happened the last time i thought a dog associated with a house of worship...
swastikas. in asia they are lucky. so they were lucky way before hitler co-opted them to stand for the pure evil we associate with them today. reminds me of a funny story, actually...when i was in india i was buying gifts and bought a little cloth embroidered backpack-type bag for a friend. only after i'd walked away did i realize it had swastikas in the design (*and* the friend i had it in mind for is jewish!), so i went back to the vendor (this was on the street in delhi, where the vendors all just have their wares laid out.) and had to explain to her that i needed to exchange it for a different one... (swastikas here: good. swastikas in my country: not good. cannot have.)
some bizarre garden-like thing next to the main temple building. the whole thing was starting to get a bit disney-ish, it's true.
the inside of the temple. check out the ceiling.
this arch is on the street leading to the temple. i like to think of it as a special 'thanks for visiting,..y'all come again now, y'hear?' buddha.
i didn't do that well on my mission to caption crazy things on the backs of motos, but i tried. here...not sure. metal rods and sheet sets?
i feel kinda bad for this temple. i mean, with the other one in the town, i bet no one ever visits it. except, you know, for religious reasons---which it probably prefers anyway. i mean, i would. if i were temple.
house right across from train station
little pink house...
road work
grandma and little one
believe it or not, i was watching carefully the whole ride back so i could get this picture. i'd like to call it 'recycling on the roof' but i can't really be sure what those bottles are actually being collected for.
pagoda on the hill
when we came back to the train station we found this couple taking formal photos. adorable.
she even had an 'attendant' helping her
when it came to the next position the photographer requested, two attendants were required to get her onto the steps properly.
picture perfect
i know they're trying to be helpful with the illustrations, but for me it just makes it more complicated. and anyway, also, is it really wise to leave calling 114 until *after* you've tried to put the fire out yourself? i mean, if it was me, the likelihood is i would have made it worse.
wacky landscaping in front of the train station
you gotta love a flush squat toilet.
needless to say, i didn't go to this karaoke place. some of you think i'm adventurous. well, i'm not *that* adventurous.
dumpster with discarded shoe
ok, let me get this straight. you come to the showroom with your valentine, maybe stop somewhere along the way to go out dancing. you buy the bed. you make the baby. have i got it?
buggies and boy
buggy and horse
afternoon sun on xuan huong
food vendor packing it in for the day. or is it headed to her night perch...? vietnam is all about the street food. hence, i love it.
strawberry ladies, dalat market. strawberry season must have just started, as this entire street was lined with strawberries (and, yes, strawberry ladies, protecting both themselves and their wares from the sun).
minh anh: making helmets cool. also, it's the law! ...the very recent law. (and actually, the second one on the top is a PSA you see on billboards, not a fashion magazine ad!)
yet another keep-my-laptop-plugged-in contraption: this time with phone cord. (yes, my $7-a-night hotel was so fancy it had a phone to call the front desk.)
mia's trip to the market: vegetable chips; cookie/cracker thingies she hasn't had since ban lung as is therefore very excited about; mulberry candy she was talked into buying by a woman who insisted on giving her samples of everything; an avocado that should be perfect to eat tomorrow; beautiful-looking cherry tomatoes to go on the sandwich she will make for the bus trip tomorrow with the avocado and the fresh baguette she will go back to the market to buy in the morning; and one 30-cent bottle of nail polish remover that a) didn't take all the polish off her toes even though she literally soaked them in it; b) leaks once you open it, so it's really single-use only if you don't have a bathroom shelf to put it on; and c) will be left in the hotel room in hopes that someone else has a shelf to put it on and can get some use out of it (even though it has shown itself to be almost useless).
the vegetable chips have okra in them. ok, you may not find this particularly exciting, but...when was the last time you found okra in your bag of vegetable chips?
the bus i took from saigon to dalat was the run by the puong trang company. it was a perfectly nice, comfortable bus. what i didn't realize until the trip back that they call themselves, yes, puta. so...yeah. there i was, ridin' the puta bus.
paid a visit (literally, in fact. they charge admission) to a guest house/gallery known as 'crazy house.'
my guidebook says that the rooms and garden resemble scenes from the pages of a fairy storybook. i would agree, but with the reminder that many fairy tales are, when you really look at them, kinda creepy and fucked up.
every room is named. this is the bear room. you can see why my guidebook says it is not a particularly comfortable place to stay. in fact, all the rooms are open and have 'do not sit on the bed' signs on the beds. i guess that's why they charge admission now. it's not really functioning as a guest house. it's basically just some really eccentric guy's crazy dream...which he made a reality by building it.
the gourd room. every house should have one, no?
the kangaroo room
one thing for sure: this is definitely not a case of false advertising. in fact, as i walked through it (and it's quite maze-like, all the steps shaped like tree stumps), all i could think, over and over, was 'this is crazy!'
yeah...seriously scary fairy tale.
it's still unfinished, and this part is kind of sad. guess charging admission doesn't make as much money as having paying guests staying overnight would.
crazy!
dung is a name, and, as i learned from a young vietnamese guy and his american friend on the puta bus on way back to saigon, it's pronounced similarly to 'yoong.' the photo i *didn't* get and still regret was the one of the place called 'dai ly dung.'
relax is a pretty good name for underwear, i guess.
...thank you about that.
what i want to know is: pho for *which* president? i mean, 2000...?
bizarrely, the fairy tale theme continued on my ride back to phnom penh. (this is, by the way, the big wide comfy seat of which there is only one in the aisle, which i mentioned at the beginning of the album. exciting, i know.)
