The Occupations of Vietnam: Dalat

Helmet for children billboard - most kids I saw on
motor bikes in Vietnam were not wearing helmets. 

The city of Dalat is at a higher elevation than most of Vietnam, providing a cooler atmosphere, which I welcomed with open arms. Dalat produces coffee and flowers. 

Crazy house

Our first stop was the Crazy House, with winding stairways and paths, toadstools, trees, and organic shapes. It was reminiscent of Spain's Gaudi, but not as breathtaking. Workmen continue to build onto the Crazy House today. They rent hotel rooms as well.

Sea monster bar in the ocean-themed ballroom at Crazy House

Mushroom tea party at crazy house

Gondola ride to Truc Lam Pagoda

Gondola to Truc Lam Pagoda

Truc Lam Pagoda can be reached via gondola - so of course we chose that route! They grow strawberries near the pagoda, making me feel right at home, since I live in Santa Cruz, where we grow strawberries as well. Vendors sold the fruit near the temple entrance.

Truc Lam Pagoda

This blue flower

Dalat King Palace - the summer palace of Bao Dai, Vietnam's last king

Linh Phuoc Pagoda

Linh Phuoc Pagoda is located on the outskirts of Dalat, down a small unassuming street. I was blown away by this mosaic modern temple. I climbed a seven story tower, saw countless mannequin monks, a buddha covered in orange strawflowers, and simply felt awestruck by the pagoda's quirky beauty.

Linh Phuoc Pagoda

Lin Phuoc Pagoda

Notes from worshippers on the giant bell, so big they use a
tree log battering ram to ring it. Lin Phuoc Pagoda

I love this temple! Lin Phuoc Pagoda

"Vietnamese Pizza" as they called it - a rice paper disk
with an egg, sausage, and a few kinds of sauce.
It tasted like dried shrimp, not my favorite.

Walking along the lake to dinner in Dalat I passed vendors cooking and selling barbecue sweet potatoes, corn, and eggs. Later, at the night market (above) countless people cooked these "Vietnamese pizzas". Street vendors are everywhere in Vietnam. It seems anyone who wishes to make a little extra cash finds something to sell, and often, that something is street food.

The Occupations of Vietnam: My Son

The My Son ruins, near Hoi An, are from the years 900-1300 AD. They are reminiscent of Angkor Wat because they were built by the same culture - Hindu. The Hindus from India were in Vietnam seeking spices.

The site was full of depictions of the god Shiva, lingams, yonis, elephants, and lots of seated meditation in limestone (grey) and local clay bricks (burnt orange).

Our guide pointed out these American shells found on the site. During the Vietnam War the Viet Cong used My Son as a base. The Americans bombed the site, doing much damage.

Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Two bomb craters between two of the largest temples at My Son

This temple was badly damaged by American bombs.
This dog led us around the entire site!

Bomb crater on the left

Lingam

The Occupations of Vietnam: Vietnamese Women's Museum, Hanoi

Vietnamese Women's Museum, Hanoi

Lobby of the Vietnamese Women's Museum, Hanoi

This morning I walked to the Vietnamese Women’s Museum with some other students. What a place! It was my dream museum except it was quite hot in there. I learned about marriage ceremonies in different Vietnamese ethnic groups, childbearing, work, revolutionaries the Mother goddess, and fashion. Learning about the marriage ceremonies was fascinating. Some tribes are matrilineal and females are prized and the man goes to live with his wife’s family. The rites surrounding childbirth were also fascinating. One case held nine different tribal baby carriers, with embroidery, quilting, beading, and batik. Basically, it was a very high quality ethnographic museum (with a focus on women, which was refreshing) – the best I’ve been to abroad. 

I loved seeing the traditional dress. The museum had
so many beautiful examples. Unfortunately, the
names of the ethnic groups to which the clothing belonged
 was not listed in English, so I
cannot label these photos with specifics.

Poster for breastfeeding women

Baby carriers!

Traditional dress

The Vietnamese Women's Museum website: http://www.womenmuseum.org.vn
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Frida Kahlo's Mexico City

I have wanderlust. I've been caring for my baby in Santa Cruz for over a year, and I want to travel internationally so bad it hurts. Thats not going to happen, so I am revisiting an adventure I had years ago, imagining myself in Frida Kahlo's Mexico City. 

I was inspired to write this post by a New York Times Article here, about Frida's current popularity, 60 years after her death. What most caught my attention in the article is the show about Frida at the New York Botanical Garden. Oh how I wish I could go!

Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo, which translates to: Museum House Studio. Juan O'Gorman designed and built the twin home studios for Frida and Diego, who lived and worked
"next door" to each other for 7 years here. Frida moved back to her parents' home in 1941, when her father passed away, but Diego stayed in the twin houses until his death in 1981.

Exhibits like this make me miss New York so much! The New York Botanical Garden opened the show "Frida Kahlo: Art, Garden, Life" on May 16th. The exhibit features Kahlo's art work, plus a reimagining of Frida's garden at her parent's home in Coyocan, Mexico City. Special events will feature dance, music, food and film inspired by Frida's artistic influences.

August Photo A Day - Days 7,8,9,10

In order to inspire more daily photography, I'm participating in Fat Mum Slim blog's Photo A Day in August. There is a theme each day and photos are shared with the hashtag #fmsphotoaday on Instagram.

Day 7 - Spot - Rockview, Santa Cruz

The Getty Center - Photo Essay

Please enjoy these photos I took about a year ago of the stunning Getty Center Gardens in Los Angeles. Amazingly, this museum is free!

Photo by Madeline Horn

Photo by Madeline Horn

Photo by Madeline Horn

Photo by Madeline Horn

Photo by Madeline Horn

Photo by Madeline Horn

Photo by Madeline Horn

Photo by Madeline Horn

Photo by Madeline Horn

Photo by Madeline Horn

The Getty Website - http://www.getty.edu

American Gypsies

Photo by Mike Brodie http://mikebrodie.net

Photo by Mike Brodie http://mikebrodie.net

Photo by Mike Brodie http://mikebrodie.net

Photo by Mike Brodie http://mikebrodie.net

Images of train-hopping kids - impossibly fashionable, totally filthy, piercing eyes staring directly at the camera - Mike Brodie's photos spoke to me immediately. The photos are beautiful and truly artful, yet the subject matter makes me squirm.

The images remind me of my youthful days as a punk rocker, hanging out with squatters and train hoppers. I was a runaway for a summer, sleeping in my 1972 Gremlin, at punk houses, by the train tracks, and on riverbanks. It scares me to think how vulnerable I was at 17 years old. I felt safe with my friends, and thank god my instincts were right. I escaped the lifestyle unscathed, but many of my friends were not so lucky. I knew homeless boys who were raped under bridges and teenage girls who overdosed in vacant lots. At least four of my friends from that era are dead - victims of the streets and/or drugs.

Mike Brodie (a.k.a. the Polaroid Kidd) train hopped for years in the mid 2000s, capturing his friends on film. The subjects of his photos have very few opportunities, yet live a life of total freedom. Like the dichotomy that is their lives, dueling emotions surface when I look at Brodie's work. Part of me wants to hop on the next train. Then I focus on the kids' dirty hands and remember the smell, and the emotional instability of life with squatter kids. Its impossible to not be affected by these photos.

Check out his website here: http://mikebrodie.net

Click here for a guide to hobo symbols.