#travel

Dec 17, 2018
3 min

Vietnam's Mekong Delta (I) - Hot, Wet, Green

"Ceaselessly the river flows, and yet the water is never the same, while in the still pools the shifting foam gathers and is gone, never staying for a moment. Even so is man and his habitation." -- Kamo no Chomei (poet, 1155-1216) The Mekong Delta’s tributaries in southern Vietnam, between Ho Chi Minh City and the Cambodian border (Kampuchea), transfer huge volumes of water drained from the Himalayas and passing almost 5,000 kilometers (2.5 thousand miles) through China, My

31 views0 comments

edgardavidboshart

Dec 10, 2018
4 min

Vietnam Redo: Emperors and Gods

(Hue, Vietnam, part 2) Emperors and gods are sometimes (usually!) indistinguishable. In Asia, and especially looming China, central authority assumes the mantle of power that speaks of earth and heaven at the same time. People outside the palaces and forts in past political cycles hustled like serfs to fulfill the divine goals, but little was publicly disclosed about how the ruler(s) objectives are developed or executed. Vietnam’s governments before colonization and into th

30 views0 comments

edgardavidboshart

Dec 5, 2018
3 min

Vietnam Redo: The Way to Hue ("way")

The Perfume River (Sông Hương or Hương Giang; 香江) crosses the city of Huế, in the central Vietnamese province of Thừa Thiên-Huế Province. The Pagoda of the Celestial Lady, a seven-story temple constructed by the Nguyễn Dynasty, is situated on the northern bank of the river. Hue is my destination; the former imperial capital of central Vietnam. Flying from Hanoi to Hue is normally an easy transaction and a relatively short one. My arrival in Hue in 2018 got roughed up thoug

35 views0 comments

Vietnam Redo (part 7): Sailin' Ha Long (on the Bay)

edgardavidboshart

Nov 30, 2018
3 min

Vietnam Redo (part 7): Sailin' Ha Long (on the Bay)

I’ve spent a night on Halong Bay, on the coast of North Vietnam, twice. Both times, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience — (1) hauling butt up the many steps to visit Hang Sun Sot Cave (Cave of Surprises), full of rocky wonders that look like candy stuck to the ceiling and floor; (2) watching boats steer questionably close to neighboring bobbing vessels that are too numerous for purists seeking a genuine meditation on nature’s best offering; and (3) lazily watching the loomin

30 views0 comments

Vietnam Redo: Water and Buffalo in the North Country

edgardavidboshart

Nov 23, 2018
3 min

Vietnam Redo: Water and Buffalo in the North Country

It is finally time to leave Hanoi, the city, for a gambit in the countryside. But it takes time, as the metropolis is far-flung, hanging on like a biting gnat, dousing the air with vague pollutants, funneling vehicles through multiplying passageways and asphalt lures. “Development” is everywhere, much more so than I remember 10 years ago during my first visit to Vietnam. Where there was a rice field years ago, today there are apartments and western-style manufacturing facil

31 views0 comments

Vietnam Redo: Post-War Flowers, Fruit and Rice

edgardavidboshart

Nov 6, 2018
2 min

Vietnam Redo: Post-War Flowers, Fruit and Rice

Vietnam today is, of course, a different place than in the previous century. Changes have been significant in government, infrastructure, morale and population assimilation. Wealth is available and products that wealthy people want is visible in the shops. Urbanization is underway up and down the country. But many people are still poor. Nevertheless, they labor, mostly with a smile. Evidence of their work is everywhere. Every area of Hanoi is packed with sellers of good

54 views0 comments

edgardavidboshart

Nov 2, 2018
5 min

Vietnam Redo (part 4): War Paint

At one time, in the last century, Americans dabbed charcoal-tinted war paint on their faces and attempted to subdue a combined imperial and civil conflict in Vietnam. The fight was ideological mostly, as wars usually are, and the Americans got lost in the jungle. With the help of helicopters and other devices, the US troops were found and returned home. A demilitarized zone (the DMZ) eventually dissolved and a north Vietnam combined with a south Vietnam. Peace A legacy of

45 views0 comments

edgardavidboshart

Oct 26, 2018
2 min

Vietnam Redo (part 3): Long and Tall

I have always wanted to ask a puppet, in private, what it is like to be enslaved and forced to do its master’s bidding, subject to being cast away when another more appealing stage star comes along. In Vietnam, and south Asia in general, the puppet population is denser than in most places, but my queries of them there only drew docile, blank stares. Given its vast “wet rice” producing history, Vietnam’s particularly unique art form of water puppetry originated as a form of e

36 views0 comments

edgardavidboshart

Oct 24, 2018
3 min

Vietnam Redo (part 2): Peace and Mayhem

Hanoi (Ha Noi, “river’s inner”) is a large sprawling beehive(s) of activity, spotted with large construction projects and relentless motion. With nearly 8 million people (approaching 9 million by 2030, est.), the urban scene is rather vast and can be overwhelming to a first-time visitor. On shorter visits, tourists probably will find themselves confined to the Old Quarter historical district and southern French Quarter (along Trang Tien street). A focal point of Old Hanoi i

37 views0 comments

edgardavidboshart

Oct 18, 2018
4 min

Vietnam Redo; 2018 (Intro)

I visited North Vietnam the first time roughly 10 years ago. The country then had already moved on from the previous century of imperialist wars and national angst. The wheels of prosperity and reconstruction were firmly in place. In September 2018, I returned to Vietnam, starting in Hanoi, and wandered in some of the same places I had visited earlier. However, this time I also was able to walk across the DMZ (demilitarized zone) that ceased to mean anything after the Ame

57 views0 comments

edgardavidboshart

Oct 12, 2018
3 min

Bight of Kennebunk: Travel Destination

“The swallow has set her six young on the rail, and looks seaward.” James Lee’s Wife (1864, pt 3 st.1), Robert Browning Before Autumn takes over the North American landscape, a quick look-back at one summertime highlight deserves mention. Ghosts abound in Maine, so if you are interested in observing one go to the Captain Lord Mansion in Kennebunkport, Maine, along the Atlantic sea shelf. Captain Nathaniel Lord, a shipbuilder, had the home built in 1812, and his family lived

36 views0 comments

edgardavidboshart

Aug 31, 2018
1 min

Off to Southeast Asia (Again)

Tomorrow I leave for another visit to Vietnam and Cambodia for a couple of weeks. It has been 10 years since I was in these two countries. This blog will remain silent until after I return. I will then inject some new facts and fantasy. #travel #Vietnam #fineartphotography #photography #AngkorWat #SoutheastAsia

14 views0 comments

The Cuba Connection: A complete travel summary

edgardavidboshart

Jul 11, 2018
20 min

The Cuba Connection: A complete travel summary

Cuba Connection — 2018 (*Photos have been selected at random) A Metaphor Walking the streets of Havana in March 2018, I spied a man in a white tee shirt watching a spontaneous soccer match below his crumbling apartment. Beneath him a pallid woman lies prone, staring perhaps in a trance; or maybe she is ill. The soccer ball occasionally bounces off her body without moving her. This woman is Cuba, subdued and motionless, but looking skyward and hopeful. She sees the failure

51 views0 comments

Columbus Sailed the Ocean Blue and Discovered Cuba Too (but not North America)

edgardavidboshart

Jun 1, 2018
6 min

Columbus Sailed the Ocean Blue and Discovered Cuba Too (but not North America)

Cristobal Colon (Christopher Columbus) never set foot or planted the flag for the Crown of Castille on North America. However, he found Cuba in 1492, thought this was perhaps China, and did not realize it was an island (the country is about 800 miles long). Spain’s Diego Velasquez founded Havana in 1511. The country was declared a Republic in its own right in 1902 with the help of Americans, including some who were advocating the country’s acquisition by the US (with an eye

41 views0 comments

edgardavidboshart

May 18, 2018
4 min

Cuba 2018, Still Embargoed

A Metaphor Walking the streets of Havana in March 2018, I spied a man in a white T-shirt watching a spontaneous soccer match below his crumbling apartment. Beneath him a pallid woman lies prone, staring perhaps in a trance; or maybe she is ill. The soccer ball occasionally bounces off her body without moving her. This woman is Cuba, subdued and motionless, but looking skyward and hopeful. She sees the failure of her effort to build a new social order. And yet, a new gener

13 views0 comments

edgardavidboshart

May 18, 2018
1 min

Cuba: Cars Imprisoned; Car Finds Jesus

Even before touring the city of Havana proper, I am enthralled by the alternating flow of shiny and rumpled, rusting metal objects on the streets. These are cars; vehicles like I remember them only vaguely in my distant pubescent past. Some look like my first love, a Plymouth Fury (I think 1960 model) that my parents let me buy while I was still in high school - previous century). Anyway, there is no end to the photo and game opportunities as I try over and over to guess

35 views0 comments

edgardavidboshart

Mar 19, 2018
4 min

Iran: 21rst Century Perspective

Before leaving Iran, it is only fitting in a way that I/we step away from the beauty and progressive qualities on display in the country to reflect on the reality that "all is not gold" and turquoise. The Near East, not unlike all the other geographical regions of our world, has been cauldron of war, atrocity, greed and incompetence from time to time. Iran’s governors and citizens are not blind to this fact. To the bad gets mixed with the good. While some countries like t

29 views0 comments

edgardavidboshart

Mar 17, 2018
3 min

Palaces of Isfahan

On the western side of Isfahan’s grand square looms the Ali Qapu, a towering pavilion topped by pillars, under reconstruction, and behind which was the shah’s palatial residence and royal gardens. Ali Qapu Palace To me, the structure at first appeared to be an extravagant warehouse. I was disabused of the false impression, however, shortly after entering the narrow halls, navigating past some of the crumbling plaster and fading tileworks, and entering into the partially refu

21 views0 comments

Between Earth and the Universe: Isfahan's Royal Mosque

edgardavidboshart

Mar 9, 2018
4 min

Between Earth and the Universe: Isfahan's Royal Mosque

It's early morning, late September. I stride across Meidan-e Shah Square (the massive Royal Square) in old town Esfahan (or Isfahan), Iran. I am struck by the soft morning sunlight ricocheting off the palace, mosques, madrasa, caravansarai, and entrance to the Imperial bazaar — all treasures created by architectural and artistic activities carried out from the 8th through the 20th centuries. A few tourists and clerics stroll alongside the sprouting fountains at this time

42 views0 comments

edgardavidboshart

Mar 2, 2018
3 min

Half of the World: Isfahan

In the wilderness about 200 miles south of Tehran is a place called “Half of the World.” Ishfahan, twice the capital of Persia, was the highlight of my journey to Iran in 2017. If Ishfahan is half the world, then Shiraz, even further south is the other half. But to get to these cities of over a million persons each, it is necessary to negotiate the Zagros mountains, a range of rocky cathedrals of stones and rocks spanning about 990 miles from the eastern edge of the Fertil

59 views0 comments

Button