13 February, 2006
Sounds from last years trip to Vietnam
Part of the process of preparing for my journey is going through all of the input from last year's trip to Vietnam. I have gone through every single email contact I've got jotted down, and sent that person a quick note telling them of my good news. I've already received a couple of replies, from Jay in Australia, and William - who's from Italy, but currently travelling in New Zealand - and they are doing well. We apparently met quite a few "career" travelers during our 2 week stint.
Besides the over 800 photos I took (many of which can be seen here) I also recorded over 12 hours of high quality stereo field recordings during various times of the trip. I am currently going through all of the recordings to come up with a "best of" set of clips, but for now I've finished working on what I consider the most important recording of the trip.
While my friends Dave, Chad and I were in the city of Hue, we opted to take a "motorbike" sightseeing tour offered by Cafe on Thu Wheels. This tour is highly recommended if you don't have the fear of riding on the back of or piloting a scooter. For our tour, Dave rode as a passenger with the guide, Dat, piloting in the lead, while Chad and I followed, piloting our own (rented) scooters. It was a complete blast. We visited several pagodas and three of the Emperor's tombs during our day-long tour.
One of the pagodas that we visited was the Tu Hieu temple. It was originally built as a small hut by Nhat Dinh in 1843, and then restored by the monk Cung Ky with the help of the King in 1848. Since then, it has been rebuilt and renovated several times, now encompassing a rather large number of structures, including a beautiful crescent half moon lake. The visit to this temple was mainly for the purpose of witnessing the morning prayer chanting by the monks. It occurs daily at about 11am, right after their last meal of the day. Part of the tenets of being a monk is that you should not eat after 12 noon.
Witnessing the morning prayer chanting of monks is a very rare sight, as it is considered a solemn ritual. The tour guides have arranged permission with the monks to allow foreigners witness and take photographs of this event on a daily basis. It's likely that the frequent visitors bring more opportunities for needed donations, though I did not confirm this with our tour guide.
I was ill prepared for making an audio recording that morning, as my batteries were completely dead. On the following day, I rented a scooter and rode to the temple on my own, some 2+ miles outside of Hue. I secured permission to make an audio recording on the basis that I would never sell it for money. So it is with great pleasure that I present to you this most special recording. I should mention that this recording is even more extraordinary as there was a much larger turnout than normal of monks for that morning's prayer, with numerous additional drums, bells and percussion instruments.
Please note that this recording is very large, weighing in at almost 21MB. This is because it is roughly 25 minutes long. A fast internet connection is highly recommended. If you prefer to download the file to your hard drive, either control-click (on a Mac) or right mouse-click (in Windows) and select "Download link..." Otherwise, the mp3 will open up in another window to play there.
Click here to hear the recording of the monks' morning prayer chant at the Tu Hieu temple..
And here are a couple of photos from the first day at the Tu Hieu pagoda (courtesy Dave & Chad):
Besides the over 800 photos I took (many of which can be seen here) I also recorded over 12 hours of high quality stereo field recordings during various times of the trip. I am currently going through all of the recordings to come up with a "best of" set of clips, but for now I've finished working on what I consider the most important recording of the trip.
While my friends Dave, Chad and I were in the city of Hue, we opted to take a "motorbike" sightseeing tour offered by Cafe on Thu Wheels. This tour is highly recommended if you don't have the fear of riding on the back of or piloting a scooter. For our tour, Dave rode as a passenger with the guide, Dat, piloting in the lead, while Chad and I followed, piloting our own (rented) scooters. It was a complete blast. We visited several pagodas and three of the Emperor's tombs during our day-long tour.
One of the pagodas that we visited was the Tu Hieu temple. It was originally built as a small hut by Nhat Dinh in 1843, and then restored by the monk Cung Ky with the help of the King in 1848. Since then, it has been rebuilt and renovated several times, now encompassing a rather large number of structures, including a beautiful crescent half moon lake. The visit to this temple was mainly for the purpose of witnessing the morning prayer chanting by the monks. It occurs daily at about 11am, right after their last meal of the day. Part of the tenets of being a monk is that you should not eat after 12 noon.
Witnessing the morning prayer chanting of monks is a very rare sight, as it is considered a solemn ritual. The tour guides have arranged permission with the monks to allow foreigners witness and take photographs of this event on a daily basis. It's likely that the frequent visitors bring more opportunities for needed donations, though I did not confirm this with our tour guide.
I was ill prepared for making an audio recording that morning, as my batteries were completely dead. On the following day, I rented a scooter and rode to the temple on my own, some 2+ miles outside of Hue. I secured permission to make an audio recording on the basis that I would never sell it for money. So it is with great pleasure that I present to you this most special recording. I should mention that this recording is even more extraordinary as there was a much larger turnout than normal of monks for that morning's prayer, with numerous additional drums, bells and percussion instruments.
Please note that this recording is very large, weighing in at almost 21MB. This is because it is roughly 25 minutes long. A fast internet connection is highly recommended. If you prefer to download the file to your hard drive, either control-click (on a Mac) or right mouse-click (in Windows) and select "Download link..." Otherwise, the mp3 will open up in another window to play there.
Click here to hear the recording of the monks' morning prayer chant at the Tu Hieu temple..
And here are a couple of photos from the first day at the Tu Hieu pagoda (courtesy Dave & Chad):
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