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  Ninh Binh, Vietnam
Tuesday, December 30, 2008

The fried eggs were nasty, so I had bread, cream cheese and coffee for breakfast. Ving first took me to the Bich Dong Pagoda. This Buddhist building was similar to its Confucian counterparts in architecture. In fact, the only difference was the Buddhist symbolism. So far, all the religious buildings that i have seen in Vietnam have been disappointing, especially after having seen the Japanese masterpieces. Bich Dong made me notice something interesting though... All three Asian countries that I have visited exhibit a convergence between at least 2 religions. This is the case with Shinto and Buddhism in Japan, Shamanism and Buddhism in Korea, and with Confucianism and Buddhism in Vietnam. These couplets have influenced each other's architectural style and rituals.

Our second stop was Tam Coc. I didn't want to do a boat trip through the limestone caves, because I had read terrible things about how sellers abuse you when you are on the boat and have no place to escape to

Collecting Soybeans

. Instead we biked through villages. The scenery was pretty much the same as in Kenh Ga, but more touristy.

Ving took me to a restaurant at the 10th Century Vietnamese capital of Hoa Lu. I had beef and noodle soup and Vietnamese yellow tea, which tasted exactly like the Japanese Brown tea, for 50,000 dongs. Went to both of the Confucian temples there, in addition to the Tomb of Dinh Tien Hoang. Nothing different from what I had seen before.

The highlight of the day was going into a random village to take some good photographs. Here, a dude who was passing by said hi to me; then, smelled my hand and cheek, before asking me to do the same. Perhaps he was teaching me a local custom?

To my surprise, the Vietnamese eat quite a bit of bread. They don't replace it with rice as Koreans and the Japanese do. The bread they eat is similar to the Turkish bread. Here, the loaf is smaller and the taste is not nearly as thick.

Gave Ving another 3 bucks and said goodbye. I really liked the guy and felt sorry that I would never see him again. Don't think he will ever remember me though =(

HAPPY NEW YEAR!..

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Confucian	Destiny	Granny	Granny 2
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