Log> Saigon, suddenly

Saigon. Shit. I'm still only in Saigon.*

But when I wake up I don't think I'm going to wake up in the jungle. Yet it's a movie worth making a pilgrimage for. Today I went to see the Chu Chi tunnels the Viet Cong inhabited for long years and tomorrow I'm taking a boat from Saigon (or Ho Chi Minh City as the Hanoi government renamed it) to Pnomh Phen. There are very capitals that you can easily traverse between by river, and it seems like a worthy alternative to yet another bus, and the Mekong River, featured in such important pieces as Sisters of Mercy's 'Doctor Jeep', is something I'm looking forwards to.

Another important pilgrimage for me in Saigon was the street corner of Nguyễn Đình Chiểu and Cách Mạng Tháng Tám, pictured here (the small shrine is in the background on the other side of the crossroads). 44 years ago, Thich Quang Duc burned himself to death in opposition of the persecution of Buddhism by the government then. It's a famous incident, and I remember learning about it at a quite early age, possibly from my maternal grandfather - he had a great collection of science and history books (well, aged current affairs books really) that I flipped through eagerly. The combination of suicide, possibly unbearable pain and devotion to an external cause was so puzzling to me that I thought of it often, and forms a part of my interest towards cultures influenced by Buddhism.

But have an early call tomorrow. Hopefully I'll have more things to post, especially now that I replaced my two broken cameras with a Nikon D40. Finally a real digital SLR, makes such a difference (well, not yet, let me practice with it a bit...).