Free Weekend July 6-8

This past weekend was the free weekend in the program, no activities planned. Six out of seven students headed to the mountains to Bach Ma Natl Park with the Vietnamese students for an overnight trekking trip. While they hiked some seven kilomteres through mountainous jungles, Hong Anh, Xuan Anh and I opted for a more relaxed weekend trip to the beach on Saturday. We visited Canh Duong Beach about half-way to Da Nang and a lovely protected cove with a nice shallow, sandy beach as well as covered shade areas where our car parked and we ate freshly caught seafood.



Joining us on this trip were Thao, sister Dung, and Dung's friend May all travelling from Saigon to Hue for the weekend. Thao is pictured here in a basket boat parked on the sand. OK, we couldn't resist. Everyone took basket boat pictures. They are like giant floating cereal bowls.






No trip to Vietnam is complete without a picture in or near some kind of fishing boat. These boats are quite interesting, made of interwoven strips of bamboo then sealed with tar. There is a kind of near-shore squid-fishing boat also made from thick, basket-like interwoven bamboo. Why? Because in this region, there's a kind of sea worm that bores through wood. Bamboo is more fibrous, especially when coated with tar; and it can be more easily replaced. These are paddled with a single oar with the boatman standing in it, used for near-shore activities, getting back and forth to the boats etc.

All weekend people were burning votive paper and laying out incense in front of their homes. It isn't the full-moon period of the lunar month, so I was curious. It was an anniversary of an 1885 uprising in the citadel against the French where some 1000-2000 locals died, especially members of the royal family. The French troops were ordered to massacre civilians in retaliation for the newly crowned king Ham Nghi who urged all Vietnamese to fight.




Dung and May standing in front of a circular window of the palace gate. For her many admirers, here are some more pictures of Xuan Anh for the grandparents, some taken by Auntie MayMay.


"cheese"











the "ugly face"












"goggle face"











"hat head"