Ho Guom continued
Getting around to the southeastern corner of the lake there is a different view of the Turtle Pagoda. I'm not sure how much of the blue stuff is remnants of the turtle hospital and how much belongs to the cleaning up operation. But it's either or both.
The green space on this side of the lake is narrower, but still popular (particularly with Lonely Planet touts). I was quite amazed by the old guy in this photo. He's wearing a silk suit of the type I would call pyjamas (but it's not, it's a traditional kind of mandarin costume) and is obviously not cutting his hair or beard at all. I wonder what age you have to be to get away with that kind of costume. Then there's the woman wandering in the foreground. She was obviously deep in thought about something - maybe a conversation she just had on the phone she's holding.
Souvenir shop near the northern end. Close by is a brand new public toilet - obviously part of the effort to stop people pissing directly into the lake, for the sake of the turtle. About time too!
One of the streets running off from the northern end of the lake is Hang Dau (Oil St), but as you can see it is in fact Shoe St. There is virtually nothing but shoe shops in this street now.
From there it was just a short trip back to my hotel. On the way, I stopped at an Old Propaganda Poster shop in Hang Be and bought four reproductions. I went back to the hotel, had a cold shower to cool down, checked out and took my stuff next door to L's place. There I had to show her family my propaganda purchases. They loved them - it reminded them all of a bygone era that we'd all lived through long ago. They certainly had a lot more harship back then than I did, but they're not at all bitter about it. On the contrary, I think they are proud of having survived. I'm trying to flatten them out at the moment and will post photos later (why is it so hard, once paper has been rolled up, to get it to go flat again?).
The green space on this side of the lake is narrower, but still popular (particularly with Lonely Planet touts). I was quite amazed by the old guy in this photo. He's wearing a silk suit of the type I would call pyjamas (but it's not, it's a traditional kind of mandarin costume) and is obviously not cutting his hair or beard at all. I wonder what age you have to be to get away with that kind of costume. Then there's the woman wandering in the foreground. She was obviously deep in thought about something - maybe a conversation she just had on the phone she's holding.
Souvenir shop near the northern end. Close by is a brand new public toilet - obviously part of the effort to stop people pissing directly into the lake, for the sake of the turtle. About time too!
One of the streets running off from the northern end of the lake is Hang Dau (Oil St), but as you can see it is in fact Shoe St. There is virtually nothing but shoe shops in this street now.
From there it was just a short trip back to my hotel. On the way, I stopped at an Old Propaganda Poster shop in Hang Be and bought four reproductions. I went back to the hotel, had a cold shower to cool down, checked out and took my stuff next door to L's place. There I had to show her family my propaganda purchases. They loved them - it reminded them all of a bygone era that we'd all lived through long ago. They certainly had a lot more harship back then than I did, but they're not at all bitter about it. On the contrary, I think they are proud of having survived. I'm trying to flatten them out at the moment and will post photos later (why is it so hard, once paper has been rolled up, to get it to go flat again?).