Building a Building

They have been working on this night and day outside of where I live.  They are, I believe, building a new dormitory for students.  I'm not sure when it will be done, but it seems to be going rather fast.  We have an empty building next to me that no one has ever used.  The way construction projects work here is that some of the workers first construct a shanty like building and live on site while the work is underway.  Then they begin digging and pouring concrete.  Most days I just walk by and like to watch them work.  Occasionally the construction reminds of the scenes in Raiders of the Lost Ark where they are digging for the ark of the covenant in Egypt, especially when they are digging at night.  I'm not sure why.  Mostly the construction amounts to a lot of unusual noises during day that I can faintly hear from my room.

Lawnmower

 Occasionally there are horses just wandering around the campus at Dalat.  They kind of just meander around not really paying attention to anything, until a student or two tries to touch them.  I hate to admit it, but I always imagine an annoyed horse punting one of them across campus like a football.  Normally they are tied to a post and moved about the campus.  They're our lawnmowers, they keep everything trim.

Dam, Buffalo, Electric Plant

Most tourists never get to see the little hidden gems nestled into the mountains surrounding Dalat.  They miss out on much of the beauty of Dalat, because they never dare to a rent a motorbike and just take off in any direction.  I've spent the last few months exploring the back roads that line the mountains here.  I've rode through minority villages, explored dirt paths that lead to nowhere, examined old French remnants of colonialism, seen remote waterfalls, and circled amazing lakes and reservoirs.  One such ride was last weekend.  We started off for an area called Golden Valley where they have a flower garden.  We bypassed the flowers and rode further on up the road.  I saw a sign and we followed it even though we didn't know what it meant.  We drove down a narrow paved path covered in downed pine needles.  The path followed a river that ran low because of the dry season.  At the end is where we found and old French hydro-electric plant from the 1940's.  Unlike many things in Dalat, this electric plant had been well maintained.  The only ruins there were the old on-site housing for the workers, which were left to the elements.  The plant provided a serene hideaway buried at a notch in the valley along a river.  It made New York and everything else seem a million miles away.  After leaving we decided to find the lake or reservoir that supplied the plant, and did so some 3 or 4 kilometers down the road.  From there we rode on, and stopped when, while riding along the reservoir, I noticed a herd of water buffalo wading along the bank.  We just stopped the bikes and watched them watching us for a little while.  We continued farther still.  We journeyed far from Dalat up and down mountainsides until we reached the end of the paved road.  If we were to go any farther it would be over dirt and rocks.  We decided that this would be the time to return and did so.  As we ventured back to Dalat the skies turned black and the rains began to fall, terrible heavy rain, until we had to stop.  We took shelter in the gateway to a small garden in the mountains, and stood there shivering.  We waited for the rain to slow and then we rode on and home.

New Hat

I'm going to look good in this.  All of the old men in Dalat wear these style hats with suit jackets and waistcoats.  I'm thinking of stealing the look from them.

Cafe Moc

There isn't much to do in Dalat.  There isn't much nightlife.  One thing they do have is coffee, and with it, cafes.  Cafe Moc is situated in the cellar of an old French style villa.  On Fridays they have live music, and of particular note is the guitarist.  It's mostly traditional Vietnamese love songs, or more accurately songs of unrequited love.  They will also do instrumentals of old Spanish music or Mediterranean music.  In Dalat, on occasion, it is hard to remember that I'm in Asia and not somewhere in the northern Basque region.

Rodney Dangerfield of English Teachers

I was looking through my class pics and then I noticed this one.

Tiger Falls

While we may not have beaches in Dalat, we do have many secluded and sometimes hidden waterfalls.  One such waterfall is Tiger Falls.  It is located about 20K east of the city with only a minor street sign marking the turn off along a narrow mountain road.  It is worth the trip and the ride, if one wants to find themselves alone in the woods surrounded by the sound of falling water.  Just be careful crossing the rickety rope bridge.

Back to School

These are the four classes I teach.  This semester I'm teaching four sections of Speaking 4, public speaking.  Just about no one likes speaking in public, so this should be interesting.  

I'm in some of these pictures.  You can probably spot me.

AVK 32A

AVK 32B

AVK 32C

AVK 32D

The Philippines

I'm not going to say much about my trip.  I was nervous about returning home to the Philippines after twenty something years.  It ended up being just about the perfect trip.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Ta Keo

Ta Keo is what is called a "temple mountain," it represents Mount Meru in the Hindu religion.  It's only about 140ft to the top, but it's really steep and this is the only temple they tell you is dangerous.  I really wish I didn't climb to the top, because you have to climb back down.

Angkor Tom

Angkor Thom means "great city" in the Khmer language.  It not only refers to the Bayon temple pictured below and most recently brought to popular culture by the movie Tomb Raider.  It actually refers to the entire city complex of palaces, terraces, temples, libraries, etc.  The Bayon at Angkor Thom was massive, yet not nearly as large as Angkor Wat.  What it lacked in sixe when compared to Angkor Wat, I felt it made up for in its unique design.  The large countenances built in to the temple towers gives you the awkward feeling of being watched the entire time you climb through the temple.  Not to mention I was able to get good pictures of the wall reliefs since many of them were outside.

Before the Sun Rises

I awoke at five. I showered and eagerly ate the stale pastry I bought the day before. My tuk-tuk driver was waiting outside to take me on my morning tour of the Angkor temples. I was dressed with the heat of the late morning in mind, and felt chills in the air from the cold wind. We arrived and in the dark distance some shadows of the temples loomed. I crossed the long stone bridge out to Angkor Wat careful as not to twist an ankle. I was early even for most tourists. I climbed through the temples gates and walked towards the main part of the temple complex. There were some vendors selling drinks and breakfast and some other tourists. I found a seat on the some stones by the edge of a shallow reflecting pool. I sat and waited. As the sun began to rise the temples came more and more into view and the colors of the sky changed from purples to reds. The only annoyance was three male college age tourists behind me complaining about how early it was. I found some irony in their annoyance. I didn't wait until the sun was late in the sky to enter the temples. I took advantage of the patience and sleepiness and toured the temples while most were still sitting in their comfortable chairs waiting for the sun to be full in the sky. I was nearly alone in the massive temple complex of Angkor Wat. I ventured through it and was to photograph relief after relief in peace. A temple guard asked me if I wanted to go up to top of the complex before it opened and while I normally might not do so, I paid him five dollars to take me to the top illicitly. So while most were watching the end of the sun rise from outside the temple, I was able to view it from the very top of the temple with full views of the surrounding plains. The temple was eerily quiet and peaceful considering this is the very reason many had come to Cambodia.  Check out the FLICKR photostream for more pictures of Angkor.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Before the Sun Sets

Phnom Bakheng is an eleven hundred year old temple which sits atop a hill.  It has become a favorite place for visitors to watch the sunset from.  Despite being one of the older temples at Angkor it is in surprisingly good condition.  So I joined the throngs of visitors and climbed the mountain temple to enjoy the views of the surrounding valley and all that once was Angkor in its glory.  When climbing the steps here I thought they were steep and rather dangerous for the older tourists and at this time I had no idea what lay in store at other temples.  Even though I was surrounded by tourists I felt this place had not lost its mysticism.  I could feel all the history and the sense of accomplishment the Khmer must have felt standing atop their mountain temple.  I suppose it's the weight of history and humanity that we feel at these sort of places.

The Wire

Someone asked me the other day why Baltimore was so violent.  My guess is that they have been watching The Wire as I have the last month.  I didn't think of this at the time.  I told them that Baltimore was like most places, good and bad.  I have cable television here and they have been showing season 3 of show.  Season 3 is probably my favorite.  The Wire for all its grittiness is just beautiful in its honesty.  This show and The Simpsons are the two greatest shows in the history of television.

Click on me- Ending Montage Season 3