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 Photo
essay:
Vietnam Bicycle Tour: Cultural Collage of the South
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Buon Ma Thout – Lak Lake (55km, 34mi) We move from the “pepper capital” of
Vietnam to the “coffee capital”
Point of interest: minority community |
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If it looks like we are cycling
under gray skies you are correct. At this point we were unaware of exactly
how sever the rain has been. We only had to contend with no-dust
conditions through this road construction project area, and there was enough
drizzle that the camera didn't come out often. |
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The fact that there had been sever
storms in the area became apparent when we got to the Lak Lake area and roads
were flooded and the water lever was up to the eves of houses. The level
of a huge lake was probably at least eight feet above normal. |
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For about a mile stretch the main
road was up to four feet under water as well. Travelers were being ferried
through on high clearance military vehicles. As we crossed a water snake
came up and investigated the truck and slithered on. Vietnamese civil
defense authorities with rescue boats were also working in the area.
[Note: later we learned that 60 people had died across the country in a series
of storms at this time.] |
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By afternoon the drizzle had mostly
stopped and we shed the rain gear and got to cycle past some beautiful rainbows
arching over lush farm land. |
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Our destination for the day was an
ethnic minority area, where we slept in a traditional stilt house (complete with
foam mattresses and mosquito nets -- though I did see any mosquitoes.)
Several ethnic groups live in this area the come from the Mon-Khmer and Tai-Kadal
linguistic groups. The largest group is the Muong from the Mon-Khmer,
Viet-Muong family. |
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We also lucked into a performance of
local music and dance, including a rice wine drinking ritual (right.). The
totem pole has several symbolic figures on it: banana flower (fertility),
musical instrument, sunflower (beautiful life), bird of peace, canoes (welcoming
guest from all directions) |
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One of the
most fascinating aspects of the music is each musician has an instrument that
place one note. Their skill coordination and timing is so great that they
played rapid melodies and never missed a note. |
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