Hello friends. We may have a few days of silence from Ann while the Travel Pursuits group drifts down the Mekong — not a lot of Internet along the way. So as we all wait for the next post, I thought I would share this clip that I stumbled across […]
Tag: Vietnam
ON THE ROAD WITH ANN – Saigon’s Yin to Hanoi’s Yang
(click on photos to see full size images) We tend to toss around the terms ‘yin’ and ‘yang’ with some hazy notion that they represent something to do with balance. What we read before we came and what has been confirmed by all we have seen and been told, is […]
ON THE ROAD WITH ANN – Confused by Communism in Vietnam
On flight from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly, and often still, known as Saigon). First, I want to say how the hearts of all of us on this trip are concerned for those who have borne the wrath of the benign-sounding Sandy. I hope you are all safe […]
ON THE ROAD WITH ANN – You put your right foot in, you take your right foot out …
HANOI, Oct 28 2012. I am both in and not in Vietnam. After a long journey from Madrid and through Moscow, I landed at 8am local time in Hanoi. I flew on Aeroflot, the Russian airline, from Madrid. I had wondered who my fellow passengers would be. Since the fall […]
ON THE ROAD WITH ANN – Encountering censorship
I leave for the airport in a couple hours, en route to Spain, for the Camino trip. I go directly from there to Vietnam. In selecting literature to discuss in Vietnam, I consulted a professor of Vietnamese literature who teaches in California. We soon discovered, from our tour operator in […]
GUEST BLOG: TRAVEL DINNER: A Classical Potpourri
submitted by Bobbi Speck, Toronto [singlepic id=160 w=320 h=240 float=right] On Wednesday night the Vic foyer was a hive of festivity as Classical Pursuers, our hands and minds freed of weighty texts, buzzed about sampling beverages and appetizers. Along the room’s perimeter a smorgasbord of flag festooned tables beckoned us […]
TRAVEL PURSUITS – Vietnamese and Cambodians – what’s really in their hearts and on their minds?
The term “hearts and minds” was buried somewhere in me and sprang to mind as I was thinking about a title for this blog post. Hearts and Minds refers to a short lived campaign by the United States military during the Vietnam War intended to win the popular support of […]
ANN’S MUSINGS – Survival of the kindest
Much as I wish it were otherwise, our human world often appears to operate according to the laws of the jungle, where might and power prevail over kindness and compassion. My spirits were, therefore, lifted high by a piece in the Toronto Star this past Saturday. It was is a […]
TRAVEL PURSUITS – A gentleman on the Mekong River
A chance encounter (at a local meeting of Camino aficianados) resulted in an extended conversation about the ways and means and the whys of travel. David Levin has been a serious and life-long traveller. When he learned that Classical Pursuits will be going to Vietnam and Cambodia this fall, his […]
TRAVEL PURSUITS – So why don’t the Vietnamese hate the Americans?
Just last night, during intermission at a concert, I overheard a conversation between two people, one asking the other if she planned to join the fall Classical Pursuits trip Vietnam Voices: A Balanced Opposition. Over the din, I heard her response: “Oh, no, I could never go to Vietnam. I […]