BLISS!

I'm having a nap in the middle room with Soly, the Abby named after Chanda's little brother. He loves to snuggle and stick his nose in my ear.

Oh yes. And I nap with Penster too...



And Misha...



And P2...



The four of them all run downstairs to greet me when I come home. I have to pet a different one with each hand, rub a third with my chin, and either use a foot or rotate hands so the 4th doesn't feel left out.

Who needs a psychiatrist with so much love? :)

LIFE ABOVE ALL (CHANDA'S SECRETS) S.A.'S OFFICIAL OSCAR ENTRY

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SOUTH AFRICA HAS NAMED "LIFE ABOVE ALL", THE FILM OF MY NOVEL "CHANDA'S SECRETS" AS ITS OFFICIAL ENTRY FOR THE 2011 OSCARS!!!

(Photo of me with the kids who play Iris and Soly. They're amazing!)

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/tiff/story/2010/09/10/tiff-life-above-all-oscars-toronto.html

http://www.toronto.com/tiff/article/658952--south-africa-picks-life-above-all-as-oscar-entry

VIETNAM WAR REMAINS: CHINA BEACH AND THE HILLS

China Beach is where US soldiers did their R&R during the war. Across from the beach the old abandoned US airforce hangars disintegrate slowly.



Soon they'll be demolished. The old bases are being turned into waterfront condos. Oh, and tourist hotels.

In the hills overlooking the beach, en route to Hue, we came across some old fortifications. Imagine being holed up here with the enemy watching you from anywhere and everywhere. Imagine being here at night.





Now, instead of war, a quieter way of life...

LIFE ABOVE ALL (CHANDA'S SECRETS) at Toronto International Film Festival!

The Toronto Film Festival is almost here! Tomorrow tickets go on sale for LIFE, ABOVE ALL, the film version of my novel CHANDA'S SECRETS. Hope to see you there. Description, times, and blah blah blah at the link:

http://tiff.net/filmsandschedules/tiff/2010/lifeaboveall

Cheers,

Allan

GOING BUGGY or SILK WORMS: YOU ARE WHAT YOU WEAR

Normally I've posted scenic shots from my travels. These aren't them. They come from a silk factory in Hoi An, Vietnam, where I got to see how silk is made. First, of course, come the silk worms. A closer look:



The caterpillars spin cocoons and prepare for metamorphosis in leafy beds like this.



Since the beetles that would emerge would break/chew through the threads, the silk makers boil the cocoons. (Note some of the almost-read-for-prime-time beetles.) Kind of grisly when you think about it. Like lobsters -- only bugs.



And then the cocoons get processed, the clothes get made, and it's off to shops and onto people's backs.(Note the 'eyes' over the shop doors on this Hoi An business. They're to ward off evil spirits.

Vietnam: Hoi An Waterway

Another lazy post... like the lazy waterway through Hoi An, boats slipping through water like silk. These shots are from the second floor of Cargo, a fantastic restaurant with Vietnamese fusion cuisine.

BUDDHIST INCENSE SPIRAL

Yeah I know, this looks like apiece of pop art from the sixties. What it really is is the inside of an incense spiral hanging from the ceiling. They sell these at Buddhist shrines like votive candles are sold in Catholic churches. Buy it, light it, and pray for the deceased. Here's the shrine with a ceiling full of spirals, priced according to size:



This shrine is in Hoi An, Vietnam, which has the finest food in the country -- and some of the finest lantern shows too. Last post I showed you some of the lanterns by night. Here are a few by day.







I'm thinking of making shorter posts through summer. Sound good? Next post will be water shots of fishermen in Hoi An's river, from the window of a seafood restaurant.

Cheers,

Allan

VIETNAM: LANTERN CELEBRATIONS

Hanoi is celebrating its millennium as a capital city this year. There are festivities all over the country. This week was Hoi An's turn which accounts for the floats among the lanterns. Enjoy the night lights, and the lanterns both festive and commercial. Next post, I'll show you the city by day. It's one of the few old cities in Vietnam that didn't get obliterated and is well worth a look. also a taste! Its restaurants have the best cuisine in the entire country!





























See ya next post,

Allan

VIETNAM: THE MARBLE MOUNTAINS

Like our own Niagara Falls, Vietnam has allowed a lot of crappy souvenir shops to glom onto some astonishing geological formations. The Marble Mountains are a case in point. They're known as the source for Vietnam's marble carvings, as they are literally made of marble. However, to avoid decimating a tourist mecca, the Vietnamese have halted excavations and now import all the marble that's carved here.

Walking up the mountain you pass through as ancient entrance pocked with mortar shells from the war.





Look up. Look way up...



At the peak, we descend into a cave as magestic as any cathedral. It's been a natural Buddhist shrine for centuries. The Viet Cong (National Liberation Front) used it as a fortified field hospital.



It's filled with monuments: Some garish to Western eyes, like a lot of the art here, that go back a hundred years; others carved into the walls the better part of a millennia ago. Note the shrine INSIDE the cave...







We left the mountain and drove through the rain to Hoi An.



Hoi An is an amazing Unesco World Heritage sight, and I'll show it to you in depth with photos from a sunnier day. But next post is going to be all about LANTERNS! Especially BRIGHTLY LIT LANTERNS!

Cheers,

Allan

VIETNAM: FISHING AND FROLIC

Squid. They're incredibly smart creatures, like pigs, so I always feel bad whenever I eat them. (Unlike cows, which are essentially walking carrots with a gas problem.) But sadly for squid, they don't have the "Bunny Factor" and I'm a hypocrite, and we were at a fishing village at the outskirts of Nha Trang, so...



But on to sunnier matters. Today was the day we said goodbye to our first guide -- see earlier posts about the Texting King: He had more attitude than a Beverley Hills prom queen -- so needless to say it was a day of celebration. And what better way to celebrate than to walk along a gorgeous beach. Avid readers will know the photo is cribbed from two posts ago, sigh, but hey, it's from our hotel window and from this high up you don't see the garbage.




Note this closeup of the building in the panorama shot. It's designed to look like a lotus bud.



And note the palapas. Unlike those throughout the Carribean, they're designed like the traditional Vietnamese conical hats.



And of course, Edward Scissorhands has, once more, been here before us. On the second photo note the white paint at the base of the trees. It's not just for bugs. Instead it's to act as a reflector so motorbikes don't plow into them.





As always, too, there are trees decorated with night lights. Which reminds me, it's time for bed. Have to be up early tomorrow to fly to Danang and the Marble Mountains then drive to Hoi An -- a city well worth seeing!



Sweet dreams,

Me