[monumentum]

Day #13: Pleiku on to coastal Quy Nhon (12-May-2010)
Waking up to a heavy breakfast is the last thing I'd do if I were home. But here in Vietnam, it is perhaps inevitable. How many sort of 'light' breakfasts were actually available, that's probably countable. This pho was one you wouldn't consider light. A value for money meal it was, tender beef, heaps of vegetables, piping hot soup with noodles. Just 25k VND. What a rip off on my part!

千佛界壇 - I was only aware of its name in Chinese, written high above the entrance of the temple

It was an impressive structure, standing higher than all its surrounding landscapes. However, pathetic me hadn't have enough skills to capture the scene properly. Look at the flare. No doubt flares might embellish certain photographs, I wouldn't say so in this case. How about the overexposure on the entire photo? Someone help me!

This temple was undergoing some recontruction while I was there. This pagoda (below) in particular. Its ground floor to 3rd storey were in grayscale, literally - just the hues of plain concrete, while the upper levels seemed to have been completed already.

Standing separately, there were several other pavilions such as this one (below) within the temple's compounds, where they acted as monasteries for monks to pray in.

Along the walls surrounding the temple grounds, this little shelter stood inconspicuously, where Chung pointed out to be where sculptors would reside day in, day out, creating religious statues of this sort. It was closed (like for lunch, though it was still morning) while I was there. Amongst the innumerable bronze & gold smaller statues, there was one particular Buddha which towered at least 3m above the rest, intricately carved out of wood.

Being a weekday probably, this temple had no crowd. Good news indeed. & it was really serene a place to spend time. The scenic landscape only offered the occasional calls of birds. One thing I realised in Vietnamese temples was how much they were influenced by the Chinese culture. Many temples bear inscriptions in Chinese characters. However, the language is not one compulsory in Vietnamese's schools, & many do not read it. Why then?

It's one quirk of mine to pay attention to trivial things, when the right thing I should be doing is probably learning a little about the temple itself. The wind chime (below) of weathered metal kinda appealed to me. Its color & texture spoke of corrosion, yet the carved details are properly retained.

Another sad little puppy idling at the temple gates. Vietnam's animals are mostly depressed creatures.. No offense though.

This is a church supposedly attended by the minority races in Vietnam, somewhere in Pleiku as well. What unique architecture - one which is highly popular with the minorities there, very high roofs. Communal house style, which is adopted from the Bahnar Minority group of Vietnam. Hmmm... Kinda reminds me of the sultan's palaces in Johor Bahru.

Today is probably 'Minority Day'. We headed to Dong Xanh next, which was a sprawling area exhibiting the many aspects of lives of minorities in Vietnam. It's wonderland-style main gate was an attention seeker, & can be spotted from afar. Upon entering the place, it'd remind you of a theme park, yet there's probably more to this place than just one to have fun at. LOL, but who can forget the kids? Look at that pond with water tricycles & that retarded elephant. Of course, Dong Xanh is supposed to be a water park, but the atmosphere was dead as hell the day I was there. Silence... I could almost hum with the cicadas.

I can't help but to take a photo of these sculptures (below). I love the guy's expression, so full of angst. The stark contrast of the girl's makes a sweet contradiction. A great pair.

Doesn't that look like Disney Hercules?! Striking resemblance eh? Even the hairstyle.. I wonder if they're related in some ways.

Even the minorities pray to Gods similar to that of the Chinese.

The ingot raised by the Laughing Buddha bears the Chinese characters 福禄寿, translating roughly to Bliss, Good fortune, & Longevity. The Buddha in this posture holding the ingot is also commonly found in other countries where the Chinese race dwell.

More different was this following temple I wandered into. A God distinct to the minorities of Vietnam, guarded by supposed soldiers in the traditional costumes of the ethnic minorities. The plaque on each pedestal on which the guards stand, are also distinct to each individual guard. It was like a mini biography, there were names, some other statistic-like info, & what I assumed to be brief backgrounds of each warrior.

How could you not love this dragon (below)?! Hahaha...

A journey up into this man-made cave would lead you to this altar, likely a Goddess worshipped by the ethnic minorities as well. The neon colors I find rather attractive in this darkened cave. That's the quality without a tripod.

That's all for Dong Xanh park!

Land of agriculture. With it comes these picturesque views you'd never find in a concrete city like one back home. Locals laboring in the fields, goats grazing on grassy plains, sloping plantations blanketing mountain folds. I'd trade anything material to see more of such!

Today's lunch was a unique blend of spring rolls with cool refreshing sugarcane juice (lime added!). Spring rolls being one the the most renowned delicacy in Vietnam, Chung had us stop at a stall by the highway to savor this treat. Chewy rice paper wrapped a combination of vegetables, shrimps, & meat, dipped with a unique sauce (I'd say it tastes rather similar to the satay sauce) made from peanut, lightly spiced. It wasn't a complicated fare. But still, more than satisfactory to both the stomach & the taste buds.

Look closely, & you'd notice the bamboo rack patterns on the rice paper of the spring roll, beautifully translucent white.

More roads cutting thru random villages on to our destination Quy Nhon. They're just like the beautiful strangers we'd cross paths with in our everyday lives, so mesmerizing & mysterious, so memorable, yet nameless to us. That's blunt. But to think of beauty in an artistic way, makes it less sinful. ;D

The machine commonly used to remove rice grains from their stalks (above), the former which would later be dried in the sun to be further processed to give us the rice we'd buy in supermarkets. That's a painstakingly tedious process, yet I don't think I ever bothered while I ate away heartily.

War memorial we came across along the way. Apparently each village has one, commemorating soldiers (& sometimes civilians) who'd died during the war, names of whom would be classified according to the province they were born in. It was appalling, for many were as young as 16 years old when they'd died. It is also touching in a sense that, to this very day, so many decades after their deaths, freshly burnt joss sticks can still be found around the site, & an active caretaker tends faithfully to the memorial every single day.

Chilli padi plant (above). Cashew nuts & chilli padi out sunbathing in the subsequent 2 images (below). A struggling country with versatility, Vietnamese make good use of their natural asset - sunlight, don't they?

Guess what he's making? Concrete? Or does that look like something more gross?

So do you know now? Those plain-looking things... Tapioca. That was a tapioca flour factory. The machine was fascinating, something like those strategy games with 'Tycoon' in their names. I cannot explain, but it reminds me of something along that line.

I like how the combination of flour & water combined, & hardened to form something like clay to the touch, but smell sourly sweet of spoilt tapioca. The finished products being packed into durable sacks to be transported to wholesalers (middlemen) for sale in town.

Soar above these mountains, don't you wish? But too bad we've only land transports to rely on here, guided by winding mountain roads & somehow obstructed views.

That black thing in banana leaf was something like the Malay's banana kuih, & again the sugarcane + lime juice. That's for tea in the late afternoon. It's good when you're travelling with Chung. You're substantially-fed. Another thing though, too carried away & you're on your way to putting on some weight. But well, when have you seen a really fat backpacker? My worst was a slightly plump one.

The brick factory & Cinderella's fireplace! These furnaces are used to heat & harden the soft clay bricks. The reason why no one was working? Hmmm... Who knows. That's when the industry is not driven by tireless pursuit of productivity. That's when people aren't thrown into constant frowns, multi-tasking, & vicious competition detrimental to relationships. Siesta, is that what it really was?

The exterior of a typical brick-making factory steaming in the afternoon sun.

Duck-herding (below)!

So we've seen how the finished bricks came about. How about the bricks moulded from soft clay? There you have it! Those deformed individuals were thrown back into the machine to be re-moulded. Have you ever imagined bricks to be soft, wet, & cooling? Yes, they are, here.

Plantations & more plantations. Rigidly pretty. Regularity can actually give rise to aesthetic appeal. Hmmm...

Ok I'd abstained from soft drinks for quite some time now. So at a stall we'd stopped for a drink of chilled Pepsi. How very delicious! Apart from selling drinks, this family running the stall made cinnamon incense for a living as well. Similar to the bricks, the brown sections of the joss sticks where initally soft & wet, so after being affixed to the dyed-red sticks, they'd be dried in the sun, like so (above).

Ok they kept chickens as well. I'm not sure if they were pets or food. But here they are, free to run around. I hope they wouldn't venture onto the main road, that's all...

The Cham towers at the mouth of Quy Nhon town. It isn't as impressive as what I'd see later on, but at that point of time I wouldn't have known. Nonetheless, these were something much more appealing than the modern apartments & office blocks I find at home.. Much of the religious site was destroyed during the many wars which Vietnam had gone through, leaving behind the basic skeletal remains, though the gist of how the Cham people worshipped was already amply captured through these few fundamental structures.

Looking up from the inside of the Cham tower. I felt like Sadako (The Ring) for a moment, the only daylight unreachable.

That night, Chung brought me to visit his childhood friend & his family at their home in Quy Nhon, where they treated us warmly to a spread of home-made seafood. That was my 1st time eating sea snails. But being as I am.. Probably most things are edible.

Having not met for so long, Chung wanted a photo with his long lost childhood playmate, so there, I snapped these photos for them. Many thanks to them for being so welcoming & warm. It really means a lot when you're alone in a foreign land. Despite language barriers, simple gestures really expressed a lot, exchanges effectively made. It only reminds me that up till now, I hadn't have the time to post these photographs (& others) back to those I'd made promise to back in Vietnam. Time wouldn't permit, & I wonder if I should take a break off journaling to get back to these people who'd reached out so dearly to me when I needed them.

It's harsh, isn't it? I'd told certain people once, that in life, trivial everyday matters seem to be at the top of our priority lists, while true happiness are more often than not, sidelined. I'm glad that Chung actually had the chance to pass by Quy Nhon, & had a chance of a brief telephone conference with 2 of his other friends as well. Yet under many circumstances, people who might've made the day for you once, might step out of your life abruptly, & permanently. That's always the case, & sooner or later, we're desensitized.

Anyway, back to practical matters. I'd burnt 3 DVDS (~12gb) worth of photographs for 60k VND. Is that cheap? I'm not sure. I'd been terribly worried about the whole affair going wrong, for despite asking us to return to the shop at 7:30pm to collect the DVDs & my memory cards back, when we arrived at 8:20pm, they still had me sit there for another half an hour, claiming that they weren't done with the burning. Irritated, I was throwing furtive glares at the person-in-charge. Ok, it's your choice of wanting or not to fault me. Meanwhile, Chung was diligently scouting the little town for a proper place to stay.

This inn we stayed at was much better than I'd expected. Sharing the same building as Vietcombank (or was that Vietinbank?), facing the town centre monument, the vintage-themed interior was really comfy. Clean & reliable hot water system, with a decent shower was more than I could ask for to wind down for the day (let's forget the washing for a moment!).

I wasn't done with the day after lugging my packs up the numerous flights of stairs. So there I was wandering around the town on foot without Chung to take the lead. Snapping photos at night was way more troublesome than expected. So sugar did the job of alleviating tension - I had a fruit dessert (below) at a roadside stall for 8k VND. A bargain huh!

So who said you couldn't take ice (furthermore, at the roadside) in a foreign country like this? I did. Nothing happened. Being a Malaysian kinda plays a part I guess, thanks to the many food stalls in the alleyways, along drains, directly by the main roads & many other seemingly unthinkable places. Immunity kicks in. Try being pampered, & you're in for a good time!