Hanoi - Perfumed Pagoda trip

A short bus trip from Hanoi through rural Vietnam, followed by a boat ride (courtesy of an indefatigable peasant woman) is the Perfumed Pagoda - a working Buddhist temple in a huge limestone cave. The scale of the dark cave, the rhythmic chanting and the incense is hypnotic and reminiscent of an Indiana Jones movie. For more and better photos see http://planetjannet.blogspot.com/

The last photo is the view from our room of the Win Hotel in Hanoi - highly recommended and only US$30 per night.

Hanoi - Harvest Moon Festival

Hanoi is full of young people and on the night of the Harvest Moon Festival they all came out on their motor scooters and did loops of the lake. It was raining, but no one was deterred. Some wore masks, angel wings, devil horns or carried balloons ('click' the icon to play the video).

Hanoi -day 1

I had my handphone pinched on my first day in Vietnam by this young 'Artful Dodger' (right). I wouldn't have known but a passerby saw it happen. This tourist trap is the entrance to the 'Turtle Temple' in Hoam Kiem Lake in the centre of Hanoi. Legend has it that a turtle returned the King's sword from the bottom of the lake (I think).

More from the Aw Boon bro's

The only part of the Garden's that requires an entrance fee is the 'Ten Courts of Hell' depicting the fate of 'nare-do-wells' for such crimes as 'lack of filial piety (which seems to have been the most serious sin). Good taste prevents publication of those tableaus here, but you'll see the punishment for 'cheating' in the Eighth Court of Hell'. This was accompanied by figurines having their intestines pulled out! Not sure why Sumo's and Koala are also included in these Chinese gardens.

Tiger Balm Gardens

Many older visitors to Singapore remember 'Tiger Balm Gardens' aka 'Haw Par Villa', named after the Aw Boon brothers, Haw and Par who made a fortune from Tiger Balm in the 1930's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haw_Par_Villa). The brothers Aw Boon were not conventional men and made these grotesque cement figures for the garden of their mansion. Some of the tableaus impart a moral message on such vices as gambling, cheating on exams (see post above) and being lazy. Some of them have a hidden eroticism, possibly reflecting life at the mansion?

More fruit-salad for ANZAC Day

Last weekend was the Interfaculty Swimming Carnival. Competition was not fierce in the Staff Category and I won a bronze medal for the 100 m freestyle (in 1:28), 4th in the 50 m free (in 37 s) and our Science relay team came first to win the Gold medal on the right. The silver medal in the centre is for participating in the inaugural 'Singapore 70.3' half ironman on 3 Sept (6hr and 39 min!).

There's lunch ..... and then there's eating disorder

I'm currently obsessed with 'Bibimbap' - a Korean concoction of rice, egg, beef (or chicken) and salad greens (with kim chi on the side). My first experience of this staple was on Korean Airlines and now I look out for it everywhere. Thankfully, many food courts have a Korean stall. By comparison, this is what sells for a 'lunch pack' at the Cold Storage checkout. The ingredients indicate that lunch consists of 2.2g of coffee! And it only costs $7.08!! Yes, you would certainly get thin eating a tea-spoon of coffee at mealtimes. I think, however, I'll stick to bibimbap.