Monday Blogcrawl - Buddhism

Some Buddhist stuff from around the www this past week:

Stories of the Buddha in art

• Some random Buddhist links
• Boundless gives us a beautifully simple explanation of Thai Buddhist art
• Thich Nhat Hanh visits North America in 2013, and the Shambhala Sun Space has the details. To get you into the mood, here is an audio file of a talk by Thay. And another one here. And Sumeru gives us the dates of his Canada tour. Sweeping Zen wants to nominate Thich Nhat Hanh for the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize
• Thai Buddhist art exhibtion opens - details from artdaily.org
• 94 year old monk is Burma is considered lucky, or so says The Irawaddy
• Ajahn Brahm is touring Hong Kong in 2013

Monday Blogcrawl

Vietnamese access to Facebook remains a mystery to me. Occasionally I will receive a flood of likes and comments from friends in Vietnam, and then nothing. Someone tells me Facebook is blocked, someone tells me it isn't. Anyway, this week I had a heap of posts from my VN friends, including lots of pics which made me so happy and so  homesick. Here are some stories about Vietnam that I stumbled upon over the past week:

 

The temple on Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi, from Buried in Cliches blog.

• Vinh Nghiem Pagoda (the obsucre small one in the North, not the huge one in Saigon) has had its ancient woodblocks recognised by UNESCO. I seem to have posted about this story a million times - has it been an incredibly long and drawn-out process?
• The Bangkok Post tells Thai business people to start taking Vietnam seriously.
• An ultra-cool hotel in Dalat. I love Vietnamese architecture.
• They grew too much coffee in Vietnam. Again.
• The turtle found in Hoan Kiem Lake is one of the world's 100 most endangered species.
• Vietnamese sculpture enjoys a renaissance. And Pham Thai Binh looks kinda hunky.
• A great retro recording of David Halberstam, chronicler of the Vietnam War.
• Vietnamese authorities tell people not to trust Chinese fruit & veg.
• Some crazy was keeping children hostage at a kindergarten in my neighbourhood at Ho Chi Minh City!

Monday Blogcrawl

Yesterday we celebrated the Moon Festival in Cabramatta. Sure, it was a little early, but it was lots of fun, and was just about the closest I was going to get to Vietnam without getting on a plane. Here are some items from the net that will help bring you that one step closer:

 The Friendship Village in Hanoi trains youth at risk

• An excellent video showing you how to make Pho at home
• PBS has a nice piece about Vietnamese priests serving in rural America
• It seems that the Vietnamese government is really cracking down on press freedom, and Committee to Protect Journalists investigates why
• Hanoi street food from the Medical Observer
• If you're in Australia, here is a handy list of suggestions of what wine to have with Vietnamese food
• Quinn Ryan Mattingly has a beautiful photo of backstage at the circus in Saigon
• There's a Luxe City Guide to Ho Chi Minh City. And while you're there, check out the beautiful Giac Lam Pagoda
• Some people seem to think taking the hard seat on the train to Hanoi is a romantic thing to do, and The Age brings us one such story
• MGM Grand is building a casino in Vietnam
• There was a gay-themed drama performed live in Ho Chi Minh City, according to Gay Star News

Monday Blogcrawl

Always yearning for Vietnam, with half my heart constantly there. Here are some things that caught my eye over the past week:

Vietnamese fishermen arrested for illegally fishing Thai waters

• I'm always mystified by the empty real-estate in Hanoi, and the trend continues. Nhan Dan tells us that some developers have been suspended over improper actions in Hanoi's Old Quarter
• Michael Jackson's dad is no longer building a tourist park in Vietnam
• Vietnam's ruling elite is still deeply troubled by any criticism, and Voice of America explains why three political blogs have been singled out for condemnation by Vietnam's Prime Minister
• Arts Expo Malaysia will feature some works from Vietnam this year - from Vietnam.net Bridge
• Thieu Tran is a Vietnamese-American who has created a one-man show about his experiences. Bring it to Australia, Thieu!
• Thanh Nhien tells us about a leather tanning firm that has been poisoning the Saigon River for years

Monday Blogcrawl

It must have been the phase of the moon, but for some reason all of my friends in Vietnam decided to contact me last week, and I was overcome with nostalgia and longing. Especially exciting was to hear that Kien has welcomed his baby son into the world - welcome to the Universe baby Khang! So now, let's look at some of the more interesting news from Vietnam, or about things Vietnamese, this past week:

A view of Saigon's Bitexco Tower from the blog SaigonNezumi.com

• Jenni Young has created a beautiful poster using the words of Vietnamese Zen Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh. On further matters Buddhist, the University of Hawaii Press has released a new book on Buddhism and gender in Vietnam. And the Supreme Patriarch of Cambodia visited Vietnam last week.
• Hanoi is angry at Lonely Planet again - over the naming of a sea! In that same vein, Vietnam seems to be wanting to play off India against China to gain a little bit of leverage.Continuing matters nautical, there was a mutiny on a Vietnamese ship anchored off India
• The Phnom Penh Post says that all is not going so well economically in Vietnam
• A group of Vietnamese tourists experienced a horror bus smash while touring Cambodia - many injured, one died
• I missed this riot by parents at a primary school in Hanoi last month
• Voice of Vietnam tells us that Serbia has given some previously unseen photographs of Ho Chi Minh to the Vietnamese people

Monday Blogcrawl

Oh I am missing Vietnam.
I was there about 7 weeks ago, and now the longing has set in. It doesn't help that this week  three friends from Saigon spontaneously sent me messages, leaving me even more desperate to get back.
Here is some Vietnam-related stuff from the net this week:

• The costs of international education in Vietnam
• Why Vietnam doesn't like to call it China Beach any more
• A review of G. B. Tran's wonderful graphic novel Vietnamerica - and an interview with him here. Yes, he is gorgeous.
• Buddhist temples in Vietnam teach foreign languages for free to local poor kids
• Vietnam and Cambodia celebrate an official border being established at last. My guess is on-one's happy. 
• Gordon Ramsay visits Vietnam