I’ve spent much of the last week on the subject end of a camera as I’ve been involved in traditional Vietnamese ceremonies concerning my engagement to Tien, so I’ve been unable to get out and take photos the way I’d like to.  However, I did pick up an LX3 to pocket 24/7 for catching those candid moments and surprises that pop up from time to time.  Here are some shots from my first day with the camera while I was traveling to Kuala Lumpur.

Vientiane is a small, old city across the Mekong River from Thailand, so it makes sense that there would be several temples in its vicinity. I only spent a few days in Laos, not nearly enough time, but it was enough to get a feel for this mellow locale and see some of the sights. I think the most authentic part of my experience was at one hotel where I had monks for neighbors across the street. They burned leaves which left my room smelling like smoke, and they woke me up banging drums and chanting. It had never occurred to me that monks would make bad neighbors. The bright side is that they meticulously clean their houses so they’re never dirty.

If you’re planning a trip to SE Asia, there’s one thing you need to know which is that Buddhism is everywhere.  SE Asia has such a rich history of Buddhism tied in with its political history that you can’t go anywhere without there being a temple.  In Vietnam I saw something that I thought was a dog house but turned out to be a tiny shrine.  There are very involved and accessorized rituals too, usually involving donations.  You have to take off your shoes, light incense, light a candle, stick a gold square on a buddha, don’t step on the door frame, drop 108 coins into 108 separate buckets, etc..  Even when driving by a buddha or glimpsing one, people will bow quickly to acknowledge that they saw it.  There are forms for the stances, clothes to change at seasons and all sorts of complex stories and history about individual buddha statues as well as the whole religion.  But then, one the first things you learn in Phat Giao is that Buddhism isn’t a religion.  Whatever it is, its people are devout and it’s everywhere in SE Asia.

It’s the end of my first week in Vietnam, spent mostly in the An Giang province. I’d love to have a great story to tell about how I was shocked by the poverty and amazed that so many people could live in such dirty and worn down conditions and yet be such a happy nation. I don’t, though. It’s not shocking that these people find happiness in simplicity and lack of big media distraction. It makes sense that actually having to talk to your neighbors on a day to day basis, doing commerce with people rather than employees, cooking food with your family and eating together would lead to happiness. These people eat dinner while sitting on the kitchen floor, can see the dirt below the house through the cracks in the floor, bathe with a bucket of water, sleep under a mosquito net and have managed to find happiness.

I’ve spent this last month with increasing awareness that in a week I won’t be around the SF Bay Area, a place that has become very homely to me. It’s a large area with a huge variety of scene, from peaceful remote beaches to high forested mountains to dirty concrete alleys. I’ve spent several years traveling around photographing all the cool places I discover, and even still I’m discovering new places that are beautiful and interesting. This week I’ve been taking time to drink my fill of the places from my past, appreciating the beauty, and looking forward to new discoveries in new lands.