This house in Vietnam is officially called Hang Nga Guesthouse. However all locals refer to this architecture masterpiece as Dalat crazy house. The base of this house is a tree resembling a giant banyan tree, incorporating sculptured design elements representing natural forms such as animals, mushrooms, spider webs and caves. Its architecture, consisting of complex, organic, non-rectilinear shapes, has been described as expressionist. Its creator, Vietnamese architect Dang Viet Nga (also known as Hằng Nga), who holds a PhD in architecture from Moscow State University, has acknowledged the inspiration of Catalan Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí in the building’s design. Visitors have variously drawn parallels between the guesthouse and the works of artists such as Salvador Dalí and Walt Disney. Since its opening in 1990, the building has gained recognition for its unique architecture, having been highlighted in numerous guidebooks and listed as one of the world’s ten most “bizarre” buildings in the Chinese People’s Daily.
We spent about 2 hours following the twisty-turning steps all over the house - hard to plan a route since many junctures provided options of up and down, left and right. We think we saw it all, but we're not sure - that is our story & we're sticking to it (ha ha). During our ascent to the highest reaches, Rodney & I were gripping the handrails as if our lives depended on it. (Neither of us like heights). I wanted to look down & see if there was a Kodak moment, but I couldn't.
We finished our tour at about 11:15 and started our walk to the Thuy Ta Restaurant perched on a small island on Lake . When we reached the main drag near the cathedral it seemed as if someone rang a bell at 11:30 and every possible human, bicycle, car & motor scooter poured out from the woodwork and onto the highway, creating an incredible traffic logjam. There had to easily be 5-6 schools within 2 blocks, and it seemed as if every student was heading home for lunch (very common in Vietnam since it's more affordable to eat at home instead of in a restaurant). Forget about trying to cross the street! We cracked up, photographing the madness like there was no tomorrow. It reminded me of bees in a hive - bumper to bumper, trying to squeeze it every imaginable spot. Now we understood why Vietnamese are in the habit of eating very quickly.
The They Ta Restaurant was excellent. We shared ostrich, fish, pork with crispy noodles and garlic spinach (with beers of course) for about $10 US each (Iris & I also had ice cream - we really like their ice cream - very creamy and tasty). We had a picturesque setting - no bad seats in the entire place - since we had water all around the perimeter.
Our free time ended when we met at 3:15 to visit Dalat University. We had a short Q & A with one of the professors about college education in Vietnam, and then were taken by students who wanted to practice their English conversational skills, on a campus tour. I think my 20-yr. old student was not the sharpest knife in the drawer, and I felt badly that he really struggled with English. After we reached the end of our tour at the Library, he asked me to help him with his English homework. So we sat on one of the benches outside the front entrance and started working on the dialogue assignment he had. Another young man, 22 yrs. old, was sitting across from us. His English was much better and pretty soon he was correcting my student just as well as I was. About 15 minutes later, we were ready to board the bus, so we had Sunny take a photo of the 3 of us, and promised to keep in touch via gmail and Facebook.
Cheung, Barb & Duy
The last activity before dinner was dancing & entertainment in one of the Dalat villages. It was a chilly evening (we were up in higher elevation) & our hosts had a beautiful, raging fire going in the center of the outdoor area. The fire was much appreciated, but the smoke had an almost chemical smell & taste that was not entirely pleasant, and our clothes reeked when we returned back to our rooms. The village MC spoke English very well -with a tinge of a Southern accent. He had a great radio voice, and we learned much later in the program that he actually had relatives in Charlotte, NC! The highlight of this event had to be when the villagers partnered with each of us and this poor, very small young lady was paired with 6'8" Richard. During the course of the dance, each partner was supposed to twirl the other then go under an arch formed by another company. Richard was OK twirling the young lady, but she definitely had difficulty twirling him - and forget about trying to build an arch high enough to accommodate him. Because this was supposed to be a celebration of rice, many folks took turns sipping rice wine through very long bamboo straws (looked like a major bong) ha ha!
Sipping rice wine to honor the spirits.
Great hotpot dinner to end the day.
No comments:
Post a Comment