Day 4 (also the day where we go sightseeing)

Group photo!

This is, if you haven't already figured out, a relatively light week for us. Our experience can vary between 8 - 10 weeks and we are choosing to spend 10 weeks here and thus I think we are using this week mostly the way we intended to. Rather I should say I think this is a justified and sensible use of our time. I have hit the ground running for different projects in different cities (in India) and I have known and been in favor of the motivation for that. That being said, it has been a really long time since I had the chance to slowly immerse myself into a new project. I think being in a new country, where I don't speak the language at all, where our work has relevance but not the pressing immediacy of say a disaster relief project (which I have worked on), I am grateful for the opportunity to explore the city, meet with different people and treat this like a marathon instead of a sprint.

We went into work today and figured that our field trip will be planned for later. We spent the morning reading. I have been using the U of M online library to download articles related to Community Forestry Management, focusing on Vietnam and nearby countries. Even as we move away from a pure Payment for Ecosystem Services project, I find myself intrigued by the approach and discovering new and exciting literature. I am finding it helpful to categorize my learning from each document into an excel and also have a presentation in the background, where I plug in some of the more interesting and important things I learn. Now I now about the Hue brewery (owned by the govt. and private sector) and that Thich Nhat Hanh (the famous monk, think Plum Village) is from Hue.

We also found out that CORENARM staff were taking a program coordinator from IREX for some sightseeing around the city and they graciously invited us as well. I have to be honest, the prospect of an afternoon walk around the city did dampen my enthusiasm a bit. The city is lovely; the heat, not so much. I was proven wrong and this was probably one of the most enjoyable days I have had here. We haven't explored at all and keep thinking that ten weeks is a long time. Yet, it is strange, that week 1 is almost over. In short, time flies and a day like today was nice.

We started by visiting the tomb of King Tuc, the fourth and final king of the Nguyen dynasty. It was cool and breezy and I will let the picture captions tell their own story.

The courtyard view

The relics were gorgeous, in their design and color.

This was to prevent people on sitting on a throne (and yet
we saw people do it). They were de-throned pretty fast!

Posing!

At the Duc tomb

That means no fires (I am still not quite sure why)

The view on the way out.

Gangnam style toy at a street shop!

We then had some sugarcane juice and went to the Thien Mu pagoda (I am 99% sure of the name). It is by the Perfume River, overlooks a mountain range, has practising monks and again I am going to let the pictures do the talking. There were people praying and the fragrance of incense and I find it soothing to be in a place that reminds me of home, even as it is not home. Keep in mind that I am often the worst photographer and I think some of these pictures are pretty neat (so imagine how beautiful it was).

The view outside 

Outside the pagoda

  

First sighting of the Thien Mu pagoda

That facial hair looked like it was real

This is the car in which Buddhist monk Quang Duc
 traveled before immolating himself

Practising Buddhist monks (young boys) playing football. 

A moment of rest for everyone.

We finished with a great dinner at a vegetarian restaurant (I am a traveling vegetarian simply because it becomes impossible to explain otherwise). We had fried rice, a mixed vegetable and rice soup that was soaked in butter and so good, a noodle and vegetable dish that was cooked on our table on a burner and blew hot waves at us, and wrapped it up with a rice pancake dish that smelled sweet but tasted salty (a nice group picture to follow later).

I got to meet and make some new friends and we went to get coffee. It was great fun but drinking coffee at nine in the night has consequences (like sleeplessness and restlessness and allowing Bridget Jones Diary to run in the background).

All in all, this was a great day! I am aware of how lucky I am to be having these experiences. In a way Vietnam is helping me rediscover my joy in traveling and exploring.