Cheeseburger meltdown

Well, we've been in Vietnam over 10 days and we collapsed when we saw a place for coffee and burgers near the waterfront of the Western Lake (where John McCain was shot down during the war). So we went for cheeseburgers and it was great. We followed this indulgence with a swan paddle boat on the lake, laughing and talking with other swan boat paddlers. We are having a couple of pure tourist days and it is fun. Yesterday we went to the Ethnic Museum where 5-6 of the over fifty ethnic groups of Vietnam have built an example of their traditional houses on the musuem grounds. wonderful-I hope to post pics soon (uploading takes time) . Today we went past the Ho Chi Minh park, museum and memorial. Literally thousands of Vietnamese people visit daily and lines are around several blocks. We visited the One Pillar Pagoda, a small exquiste wooden pagoda dating to 1049 (It's been renovated and replicated a few times)and sits on stilts on a little pond. On full moon nights Hanoi lovers circle it holding hands.From there we went to the Western Lake, Hanoi's largest and visited the Tran Quoc Pagoda, originally built in the 6th centurey. It sits on an island o the lake and has been home over the years to several famous monk-teachers and is a burial center for them too. The centeral courtyard holds a tree grown from a fragment of the original Boddhi tree under which the Buddha achieved Enlightenment. A small group of monks live there and carry out the necessary rituals. It is less of a tourist sight and more of religious center with several smaller alters to various teachers and a very large elaborate alter to Buddha. People pray, burn incense, bring flowers etc. It is a very beautiufl place. I really had a sense of a very deep centuries old holy place. I did not take many photos for that reason. Tomorrow we will go to the Van Mieu, a temple built in 1070 to worship the beliefs of Confucious. It is considered the first university of Vietnam, an elite institution of learning and holds the names on stelae (stone diplomas) of over 1,000 who managed to pass the rigerous exams between 1484 and 1780.

In between we are doing some business and visiting. Yesterday we had lunch with Phong who heads up an NGO that focuses on rural poverty and in particular AIDs education today. We also met with representatives of the Canadian NGO that helps spoonsor a scholarship program in Vietnam. Next week we will go to the Women's Union. I deeply appreciate these other opportunities to visit people in their workplaces and see their committment to building opportunity and social justice in Vietnam.