The cities of Vietnam are some of the best people-watching places I have ever visited. Camp out at one of the numerous coffee shops in town and the traffic flowing past will entertain you for hours.
When I arrived in Hanoi, it was clear that the traffic was unlike anything I had experienced before. It’s not cars, buses or bicycles that rule the narrow avenues…it’s scooters. Over 90% of all registered vehicles in the country are these two cycle Xe Tay Ga’s. Go to any downtown area of Hanoi and you’ll see endless streams of them waltzing through the streets, ignoring every traffic regulation yet never colliding. It’s as if you are watching graceful ballet dancers in a grand concert hall in Vienna!
Some use their scooters to transport goods from one location to another, and we’re not talking Pho noodle deliveries here. One afternoon while perched at a Hanoi Cafe watching the people go by, I observed a scooter carrying ten large screen televisions tied together with a single strand of twine. It is not uncommon to see them stack bales, boxes, and sacks on the back of their bikes. Surrounding their riders like an Emperor moth’s cocoon.
While in the prefecture of Nancy in the Lorraine Valley of France, we noticed an elaborate wedding ceremony spilling out into a park nestled against the shore of la Meurthe water way. I was able to capture this photograph without disturbing the festivities.
The beading on her wedding gown mirrored into his coat and the shadow cast by his face onto hers, are symbolic reflections of the promises they made to each other this day.
There was once a grandpa who wanted to run with his grandson. He said, “I’m going to defeat you!” The boy said, “Grandpa, you can’t.” Grandpa said, “Come on, get set, ready, go!” The child dashed and ran. The grandpa just stood there running in place.
The grandson came back and said, “Grandpa, you never ran.” He said, “I ran.” The boy said, “Where? You are here!” The grandpa said, “I ran with my sight, and I was ahead of you.”
The boy said, “What about with the body?” He said, “Son, this body is just a wreck, but my eyesight is still good, so I ran with my eyes!”
There was joy. There was love. There was inverted balance.
“Woo-woo! The wind blew in the trees. Squeak-squeak! Went the lanterns. And the dark was all around.”
The book, The Dark, Dark Night by M. Christina Butler follows a frog heading home to his pond after a long winter’s nap. Along the way, he stops to frolic with his friends Hedgehog, Badger, Rabbit and Mouse. As darkness falls, Frog borrows a lantern from his friend, Mouse, to light his way home.
As Frog approaches the reeds at the edge of the pond, he finds himself face to face with an enormous pond monster with huge claws. Terrified, Frog hightails it back to his friends. Each friend returns to the pond with Frog—only to flee when the monster reappears.
In the end, Frog and friends are all amused when Mouse accidentally reveals the true identity of the pond monster. It is not a monster after all—just the shadows created by the lanterns light.
“The four friends laughed and laughed and laughed. Hurray cried Frog! There’s no monster after all! And with a huge happy splash he leapt into the lovely pond at last.”
Succession: a number of things sharing a specific characteristic, following one right after the other.
A wishing well is a term derived from European folklore that describe wells where it was thought that any spoken wish would be granted. The idea that a wish would be granted came from the notion that water housed deities or had been placed there as a gift from the gods. This practice is thought to have arisen because water is a source of life.
I wonder what this couple wished for on this day…If the wished at all!
At night they wash down the streets. In the morning, the sidewalk businesses reappear. Food, drink, clothing, trinkets and even lottery tickets are traded. In this case, shoe repair.
In Europe, North America and parts of Asia, this young lad would be in school. Here, he is learning the family business…and by the number of shoes strewed about, it looks like it is a successful one.
A mark made by pressing an object onto a softer substance so that its outline is reproduced.
When you remember someone, it means that you have carried something of who they are with you, that they have left some mark of who they are on who you are. It means that you can summon them back to your mind even though countless years, miles and even death may stand between you.
