[monumentum]

Long overdue updates. Been busy, still am, but needing respite, this is indeed. Can't believe the next trip shall be in the coming month, but before that, there'd be lots to do. *whines*

*^)#)(*_$*&#)(&#!%^$%!!
Life now is boring to bits. So much to do yet knowing that I'd do them for the sake of just 'getting by'.
Doesnt anyone question this? Yet if one rejects this way of living, it's perhaps a rejection too to the so-called 'better' future.

Day #24: From Vinh Linh to Hue (23-May-2010)

That was my morning jambu dessert before breakfast. ;X plucked from somewhere, I forgot where. But I stole!

Focus on the food. & the traditional way to make coffee. Pace of life too slow to ever be appreciated back home. This thing took a good 15++ minutes. But that gave me some time for my book.

(Above) A village in the valley. So scenic it felt as if it'd only come from an animated film, like toys? & furry little pods of dunno what. Like the way how everything is so natural...

Even the artificial seemed all so serene. Therapeutic, gives a peace of mind. Chua Cam Lo, along a deserted road.

Roads, roads, & more roads. But roads aren't boring if they could go on like this forever.. Awesome to know that such places still exist.

So this is Trung Son cemetery (finally got this spelling correct, cld nvr spell this word). Nvr seen this massive number of graves congragated in one area before. Graves were grouped according to the provinces from which the soldiers came.

So students in Vietnam could do 'volunteer work' by coming to such memorial sites to do offering. Wish we had such things back home. But somehow we're more practical to only make 'offerings' to the living as our volunteer work. If it isn't the intellectually diabled then the old folks. We ought to go beyond the conventional some time, really!

They'd been dead for decades, but I'm guessing that they'd be really glad if they knew they're still remembered today. But these were actually deaths that 'could have been' prevented. But nvm that, it's all still happening to this very day.

This is what I learnt, Nghia Trang = cemetery, Liet Sy = soldiers, Truong Son = name of this cemetery.

A random shot above, from I forgot where. Below, lunch. Looks like the typical ChapFan back home. No, won't be missing home. Nvr wld happen.

17th Parallel. The so much talked-about tourist destination. But in fact, there werent many ppl like I expected there'd be.. & there was this really cool caretaker who was speaking so fluently in English with me about how much he likes Malaysia too. But really, Vietnam seems a better place to like. Perhaps this is why I like this country. Ppl arent so dao. It brightens the outlook of life. Look at that untarnished blue sky. I've no idea how it turned out so blue. Back home it always seems so bleak & white..

(Below) There was this phenomenon in the water that gave a shimmering lollypop pattern. Couldn't guess what caused it, but it was certainly worth the shot. Cool stuff. (:

Skies after skies.. Can nvr get enough of it.

(Above) LOL decoration. Ok so you could print architectures onto 2d surfaces to mimic the real. Yes nice one! It looked real from afar, but a step closer & everything comes out. -.-|||

A break from the sun, the indoor section of the 17th Parallel. Say hello to Mr. Ho Chi Minh.

Spooks spooks. Museum again. & all alone again here putting in these words, everyone's aslp in the house. These things always take so much courage, don't they? Somehow these historical sites always carry these freaky mannequin things.. Do they think that the haunting photographs alone aren't disturbing enough? GOSH.

The meeting of the Geneva Convention! Talk like so well-informed... -.-|||

Waiting for the flag to flail in the air into a photogenic position isn't fun. Patience is the key... Now it vaguely spells Vietnam. Otherwise people might just see it as China, Samoa, Tunisia or other God-knows-what..

LOL not touristy enough? This is Vinh Moc tunnel. Yea, a place where TOURISTS go to. A local brought me around. He's deaf, & mute, but somehow he was a great guide.. For going in without a guide isn't ideal. No one would wanna get lost in there. If I did, by the time they found me I wld've turned into a pile of bones. Probably scared myself to death. Yes, obviously, with such statues sitting there everytime you turned the corner, with the torch as the only source of light.

(Above) A 'secret' room where confidential meetings were held in, deeper underground than the average rooms. OMG can you see that statue down there? Yea, gave me a shock.. I thought Sadako was climbing out...

This was a tunnel built by civilians using all the traditional tools during the Vietnam war. It was an elaborate network underground, with an escape route leading out to sea.It's Amazing Human when it comes to the instinct to survive. They divided the tunnels into different sections, like those for maternity, family rooms, cooking rooms etc. But obviously they couldn't really cook in there, the smoke will be a complete giveaway to enemies.. Reading such info from the museum was a total necessity.Else wouldnt hv known what was going on. Thanks to the English version. Perhaps that's a plus in visiting touristy places.

Anw camera batts all died in Vinh Moc... ;X clever me. So that's all for photographs. Could it be the spiritual forces in there?! They didn't want to be photographed any further.. ;D The cam flash wasn't working properly too, there's this black thing at the bottom, not sure why.

Kz, so dinner. Focus on THE FOOD. A very very warm family who specially prepared this for me despite having to close their shop soon since it was damn late. Very tall (random?) family, mother & daughters. & gave me lotsa rice noodles cos the mother said I looked thin. Hell, it must be the light (or lack thereof). It was quite disturbing though that while I ate, they sat there watching & smiling at me.. So I stopped & smiled back at them occasionally. LOL. Nvm that, I finished all my food. 12k dong! Cheap or what?! Seriously! & this'd be the shop where I'd return to for breakfast the next morning. Yea, partly because Vinh Moc is so lacking in the number of eateries around. But of course, to visit them again before I moved on.