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A pair of fishermen set out to work just after sunset in the Saadani National Park in Tanzania. Saadani is a unique park in that it has a long coastline with excellent beaches, a river running into the interior, and not least a savanna with lots of animals. It is located just across from Zanzibar and north of Dar es Salaam.
This is the cut out city scape I've been working on for my solo show at Gallery 360 in Minneapolis, MN. Opens Nov 10. 2012. I plan to have them displayed around the perimeter of the gallery with paintings hung above. The stand up with slotted tabs like paper dolls. I have forty finished and plan on 100 for the show. I am excited to see them in the space at Gallery 360. (c) 2012 Barbara Gilhooly
From the autumn 2016 trip to Vietnam:
Upon waking up and checking out around 8:00 in the morning, we found a bright, sunny day; great for a road trip down to Hoi An. After a quick breakfast (also known as me watching Junebug drink coffee), we went back to the store where we’d met Mr. Trung on Monday night.
Mr. Trung & Mr. Trong were there, as they said they would be, and we were off for a quick stop at the Danang Cathedral a few blocks away. This particular cathedral, also called Con Ga Church (Rooster Church) by the locals is slightly peculiar. For starters, it’s a lovely pastel pink. Aside from that, it’s a rather nice looking cathedral, though we couldn’t go inside; it wasn’t open that early in the morning, I suppose. (Some of the windows were open, though, and it was dark inside, so we didn’t miss much.)
The other aspect of this church – that lends to its local name – is the weathercock on top of the steeple. This isn’t an old church (as far as churches go). It was buily for Danang’s French residents in 1923 and today serves a Catholic community of over 4000. (Thanks to LP for this information…)
After 5-10 minutes at the church, we headed off to the Museum of Cham Sculpture, which is a place I was quite interested in seeing. This museum was founded in 1915 and has the largest collection of Cham artefacts in the world. (Before you allow that to excite you, I doubt there are more than a handful of museums in the world that even have Cham art.)
A quick note about the Cham. This is an ancient empire that rivaled the neighboring Khmer empire at Angkor. The Champa empire was nowhere near as large in scope or size as the Khmer empire, though it persevered. The Chams controlled the region on the Vietnamese coast from central to southern Vietnam between the 2nd and the 19th century (before finally being assimilated into Vietnam).
The art from this museum comes from sites all over the country including Phu Quoc and My Son. I was quite impressed by the collection and spent about an hour slowly walking around. It’s not a huge museum, but what they have is excellent.
From the museum, we finally headed off from Danang and made our way south towards Hoi An. Thanks to the advice of Mr. Trung, we stopped at Marble Mountain on the way to Hoi An. (I kept thinking it sounds like an amusement park…) Instead, I’ll give an excerpt from LP Vietnam about the Marble Mountains as it’s fairly succinct and says most of what you need to know:
“Just off the China Beach coastal road, the Marble Mountains (Ngu Hanh Son) consist of five craggy marble outcrops topped with pagodas. Each mountain is named for the natural element it’s said to represent: Thuy Son (Water), Moc Son (Wood), Hoa Son (Fire), Kim Son (Metal or Gold) and Tho Son (Earth). The villages that have sprung up at the base of the mountains specialize in marble sculpture, though they now astutely use marble from China rather than hacking away at the mountains that bring the visitors (and buyers) in.”
When you say you’re going to the Marble Mountains, what you really mean to say is that you’re going to Thuy Son. For about $2-3, you take an elevator up to the top of the mountain. This is the “crowded” mountain in terms of sites and, therefore, people, though it didn’t feel crowded at all – especially by Chinese standards that I’m accustomed to.
The first thing you see upon exiting the elevator at the top of the mountain is a pavilion that affords a nice view of the sea. The Sea Watch Tower & Xa Loi Pagoda are a good introduction to this mountain.
After that, you come to the first temple & cave. The Linh Ung Pagoda is directly in front of the Tang Chon Cave. From there, it’s a short, and not too strenuous, walk upstairs towards the peak. En route, you pass Van Thong Cave (which we skipped), exiting a “gorge” through a masonry gate.
At this point, you come to an area that can go off in quite a few directions. Immediately to the right of the gate is a short walk up to Linh Nham Cave (which we skipped); a relaxation area with another walk off that to the peak (skipped…); a path to Tam Thai Pagoda, Tam Ton Pagoda, and Tu Tom Pagoda (visited all). In addition, the River Watch Tower is off in this direction with its views of the other 4 Marble Mountains and Danang in the distance.
After visiting the pagodas, we returned to the main junction and visited the last two caves (past the relaxation area). Hoa Nghiem Cave guards the entrance to Huyen Khong Cave, which is a somewhat large cavern with a natural oculus.
From there, we walked down to the village at the base, and I bought a little marble Buddha. We talked with Mr. Trong for a few minutes about getting from Hoi An to Hue on Thursday. With very little negotiation, we paid 1.35 million VND/person (~$60). For a point of comparison, the domestic flights in Vietnam all seem to be less than $50, so this was a bit pricy, but also worth it.
With “negotiating” done, we were off again to Hoi An, about 20 kilometers off to the south. The Hoang Trinh Hotel was – by far – the best customer service I’ve had at a hotel on this trip (and possibly anywhere). It felt like we were being welcomed on Fantasy Island. The only thing missing was Tattoo shouting, “De plane! De plane!”
Madam An’s hotel is a wonderful experience. Buffet breakfast; comfortable, trendy rooms; tour arrangements and other advice; and the friendliest demeanor you could wish for. They even gave me a free tie when we checked out. The cost for this? About $25/night.
The Hoang Trinh hotel is right across the street from the Confucian Temple (which was incredibly unappealing to me) and, more importantly, close to the Old Town, which is the reason most people come to Hoi An.
Every full moon, Hoi An has a lantern festival which is supposed to be quite lovely, though we weren’t here during a full moon. That, however, didn’t keep me from enjoying myself. The Old Town is just a section of town near the river where all the buildings appear as they did centuries ago. Inside the buildings now, though, are restaurants (Vietnamese & western), bars, souvenir shops, and the like.
The Old Town is photogenic during day or night, but I liked it best at dusk. On Tuesday, after a quick rest at the hotel, we went to the Old Town in the early afternoon after grabbing some banh mi on the street.
Admission to the Old Town is 120,000 VND (~$5-6 US) and covers a full week. We spent the afternoon watching the sun go by, wandering around shops, and drinking beer (or coffee) on the riverside opposite Old Town. As the sun got lower, we wandered around the Old Town again, eventually eating a less-than-satisfying pizza (thank God I wasn’t too hungry) at one of the restaurants next to the river before passing by the Japanese Bridge on the way back to the hotel.
When we got back to the hotel, we had the fellow at the front desk (whose English wasn’t nearly as fluent as Jean, the day girl, but he was just as helpful) arrange a day trip on Wednesday to My Son, which is “Vietnam’s version of Angkor Wat.” More on that in the next installation.
As always, thanks for dropping by and viewing these pictures. Please feel free to leave any questions or comments and I’ll answer as I have time.
Vorgestern beim Arzt. Ein einladender Teppich.
At the doctor's the day before yesterday. An inviting carpet.
We came across this barn along one of the Greenbrier County, West Virginia, back roads leading to the Hokes Mill covered bridge (preceding photos). I have another shot I like a little better than this because it includes more of the surroundings, but this won out because the barn is more of the picture area and thus can be seen better. While there were other well-weathered barns in the parts of the county we drove through, there also were a number of still-used barns in very good condition. (Map placement is approximate, as I have not been able to make positive identification of this barn on either the Flickr or Google maps.)
Catching up after our trip is taking longer than anticipated; yesterday, I was not able to get on line and stay there for more than a few seconds until about midnight.
Olle from Velvet Six and Ms Foster from Paradoxx making out backstage at Rockperry Festival, Vaasa, Finland.
It's always fun to head over to the local Zoo in the area where I live. With this shot I photographed this Flamingo just hanging out at the Gulf Breeze Zoo. The Zoo is located about 15 miles east of Gulf Breeze, Florida on US-98.
Alesha from Jamaica Out on the Town in Green Leather Mini Skirt and Purple Top The Blues Kitchen Shoreditch London
“I am going out to the shops, do you want me to bring you back anything”
thanks to Jeff Wharton for photo of re enactor lady
background photo generated by leonardo.ai flic.kr/p/2qwgoU1
Tugboat Marion Moran downbound on the Hudson River with a LaFarge Cement Barge near Peekskill, NY
Built in 1982, by McDermott Shipyard of Amelia, Louisiana (hull #270) as the Marion Moran for the Moran Towing Company of New York, New York.
She is a twin screw tug rated at 3,000 horsepower.
Vessel Name: MARION MORAN
USCG Doc. No.: 649807
Vessel Service: TOWING VESSEL
IMO Number: 8121812
Trade Indicator: Coastwise Unrestricted, Registry
Call Sign: WRS2924
Hull Material: STEEL
Hull Number: 270
Ship Builder: MCDERMOTT SHIPYARD
Year Built: 1982
Length: 118.2
Hailing Port: WILMINGTON, DE.
Hull Depth: 12.7
Hull Breadth: 34
Gross Tonnage: 283
Net Tonnage: 193
Owner:
MORAN TOWING CORPORATION
50 LOCUST AVENUE
NEW CANAAN, CT 06840-4737
... way out; this Chrysler Newport is big ! Sleek space age design and a last kick at the tail fin sure light my fire !
Staerk tank from the Weardrobe Closet
Reiss skirt
Pour la Victoire shoes
Lauren Merkin clutch
Hermes bangle