{"id":1698,"date":"2014-01-01T15:21:19","date_gmt":"2014-01-01T20:21:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/?page_id=1698"},"modified":"2014-10-25T11:52:02","modified_gmt":"2014-10-25T15:52:02","slug":"southeast-asia-with-peter-2013-page-07","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/southeast-asia-with-peter-2013-page-07\/","title":{"rendered":"Southeast Asia with Peter – Page 07"},"content":{"rendered":"

Southeast Asia with Peter – Day 11<\/strong><\/h1>\n

We left Saigon early in the morning and headed by bus south to the city of Chau Doc on the Mekong river delta. \u00a0Here are a few early morning street scenes. \u00a0The unlicensed selling of food on the street is illegal. \u00a0I think someone forgot to tell these women…<\/strong>\"IMG_4779\"<\/a> \"IMG_4781\"<\/a> \"IMG_4780\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"IMG_4784\"<\/a>We passed this row of buildings across a canal. \u00a0They are an apartment block. \u00a0Henry described typical one floor Saigon apartments: \u00a0They are about 12 to 15 fee wide and about 50 to 60 feet deep. \u00a0That’s about 600 to 900 square feet. \u00a0Not very big by our standards, but Saigon is very crowded<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_4778\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Even our Asian Ruby 3 hotel was narrow. One room wide and 5 rooms deep!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"IMG_4786\"After about an hour of driving, we had a rest stop<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0In Vietnam, a typical roadside rest stop is a veranda with hammocks. You buy food or a drink and stretch out for a snooze. \u00a0This is Jerry Ashley from CA. \u00a0He was traveling with his wife Donn (picture later). They we experienced travelers and did a lot of sight seeing on their own.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"IMG_4790\"<\/a>\u00a0While Jerry was “resting”, Ole and I had a glass of coffee. \u00a0This was brewed in a little aluminum drip thing into a small glass with a scoop of sugar and some sweetened condensed milk to smooth it out. Pete had fresh coconut water in the original container. \u00a0Mary looked on.<\/strong>\"IMG_4793\"<\/a>We needed a trip to the “happy room” after that coffee.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here is the \u00a0proprietor<\/span><\/a>‘s<\/span> home. He allowed us to come in a take photos.<\/strong>\"IMG_4799\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The\u00a0\u00a0proprieto<\/span><\/a>r and his daughter<\/strong><\/span>\"IMG_4800\"<\/a>Their house shrine<\/strong>\"IMG_4803\"<\/a>His son on a bed. \u00a0Note the bug zapper and mats (in the back).<\/strong>\"IMG_4804\"<\/a> \"IMG_4805\"<\/a>Their kitchen and rice storage crock.<\/strong>\"IMG_4802\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMG_4806\"<\/a>Their sewing room and computer room.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>\"IMG_4796\"<\/a>And, finally, their fighting cock!<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>On a more somber note: We stopped at a Vietnam (American) War Cemetery:<\/strong>\"IMG_4807\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Memorial Stele<\/strong>\"IMG_4808\"<\/a>I’ve been to many war cemeteries in the US and Europe and I always get a little chocked up think about the young men and women who violently \u00a0gave up their lives for their country. \u00a0It’s very sad to lose so many unlived lives.<\/strong><\/p>\n

These graves are marked with a white structure with a head stone with names and dates. \u00a0The body is not in the white structure, but is buried below it.<\/strong>\"IMG_4809\"<\/a>This section of the cemetery is being restored. The man below is cleaning head stones.\u00a0<\/strong>\"IMG_4812\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The pictures below are places we passed as we crossed the many villages, canals and distributaries of the Mekong delta:<\/strong>\"IMG_4815\"<\/a> \"IMG_4816\"<\/a> \"IMG_4817\"<\/a> \"IMG_4832\"<\/a> \"IMG_4834\"<\/a> \"IMG_4835\"<\/a> \"IMG_4854\"<\/a>\"IMG_4876\"<\/a> \"IMG_4875\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We made another stop at a the Sau Xe candy shop in the village of Sa Dec. \u00a0We used the “happy room” (western) and bought snacks to keep us going. I bought some durian candy, it didn’t taste like I thought durian should taste like.<\/strong>\"IMG_4829\"<\/a>The green packages contained sweetened “sticky rice” a local confection.<\/strong>\"IMG_4844\"<\/a>This is a picture of a Vietnamese school girl wearing an\u00a0Ao Dai<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"IMG_4860\"<\/a> \"IMG_4864\"<\/a>\"IMG_4859\"<\/a>We crossed the Mekong at Long Xuyen and had lunch at the Dong Xuyen hotel. \u00a0This little feller is having his lunch on the ferry.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"IMG_4855\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMG_4873\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here’s our lunch menu. \u00a0It is typical of most meals: fish, chicken, pork, and fruit for dessert. The fish probably came from a Mekong fish farm.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>\"IMG_4883\"<\/a>Our next stop was a visit to the Cao Dai temple.\u00a0Cao \u0110\u00e0i \u00a0is a relatively modern syncretistic<\/span><\/a>, monotheistic<\/span><\/a> religion<\/span><\/a>, officially established in the city of T\u00e2y Ninh, southern Vietnam<\/span><\/a> in 1926. Due to its young age, it shows its syncretistic roots more than older religions\u00a0\u00a0(Syncretism\u00a0is the combining of different, often seemingly contradictory beliefs.).<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The noble effort of Cao Dai is to unite all of humanity through a common vision of the Supreme Being, whatever our minor differences, in order to promote peace and understanding throughout the world. Cao Dai does not seek to create a gray world, where all religions are exactly the same, only to create a more tolerant world, where all can see each other as sisters and brothers from a common divine source reaching out to a common divine destiny realizing peace within and without. \u00a0 ‘Nuff said?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"IMG_4879\"<\/a>Above the door is “The All Seeing Eye” \u00a0This is the visual symbol used by Cao Dai followers for their Supreme Being. \u00a0I wonder if it means the same as\u00a0The All Seeing Eye on our US $1 dollar bills: Annuit C\u0153ptis\u00a0 \u00a0“He [God] has favored our undertakings”. \u00a0 Hmmmmm…<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"IMG_4884\"<\/a>We weren’t there for this gathering of the faithful, but it’s impressive!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"IMG_4888\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Of course, no ceremony would be complete with a “Naga”.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>\"IMG_4887\"<\/a>\u00a0Here’s our guide \u00a0Henry giving us a run down of Cao Dai. \u00a0It was followed by a practitioner doing all the bowing ands scraping that is part of their ritual<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"IMG_4885\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Lao Tze, Buddha, Confucius and are Jesus Christ above the altar.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"IMG_4881\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A mural inside the temple commemorates French novelist Victor Hugo, Chinese Nationalist Party leader Sun Yat Sen and Vietnamese poet Trang Trinh as three of their saints.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"IMG_4880\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This guy was guarding the door to keep heathens like myself out, He didn’t scare me a bit!!<\/strong>\"IMG_4891\"<\/a>As we drove away from the temple I got this shot of Peter meditating.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

We visited a family \u00a0operated brick factory. Fun for the whole family!!<\/strong>\"IMG_4898\"<\/a> \"IMG_4900\"<\/a> \"IMG_4901\"<\/a> \"IMG_4905\"<\/a>They use clay from the Mekong that is extruded in the machine on the right in the second picture. \u00a0The bricks are\u00a0air dried\u00a0and loaded into a kiln and fired with rice bran. (The rice bran ashes are used as fertilizer). The bottom picture shows the finished bricks being stacked for shipment. \u00a0It’s interesting that the grey clay turns orange when fired. That’s our bus on the left.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"IMG_4909\"<\/a>Brahman Bulls<\/span><\/a>\u00a0are used for pulling carts. \u00a0These guys had just unloaded sacks of rice to be transported by barge up or down the Mekong. Theye are the yellow sacks in the rear cart. Old bulls become very tough steaks.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"IMG_4910\"<\/a> \"IMG_4911\"<\/a>We were welcomed at the Dong Nam hotel in Chau Doc. \u00a0Another nice room!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dinner was at a home restaurant run by Ms Tui. <\/strong>\"IMG_4915\"<\/a> \"IMG_4916\"<\/a>Our soup course was made with cassava, It looked good but was very bland and starchy.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cassava (aka manioc, yuca, and\u00a0tapioca-root)\u00a0is the third largest source of food carbohydrates in the tropics, after rice and maize<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0Cassava is a major staple food in the developing world, providing a basic diet for over half a billion people.\u00a0It is one of the most drought tolerant crops, capable of growing on marginal soils.\u00a0Cassava root is a good source of carbohydrates, but a poor source of protein<\/span><\/a>. A diet consisting predominantly of cassava root can cause protein-energy malnutrition<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

After dinner we went back to the hotel for the night! \u00a0So ended Day 11.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Go to Page 08<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Southeast Asia with Peter – Day 11 We left Saigon early in the morning and headed by bus south to the city of Chau Doc on the Mekong river delta. \u00a0Here are a few early morning street scenes. \u00a0The unlicensed … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1698","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1698"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2407,"href":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1698\/revisions\/2407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}