Vietnam

MORE ON THE WEBFollowing 9 days in Vietnam, about half of the Swarthmore travellerscontinued to Cambodia, visiting Angkor Wat and Phnom Penh. JeffreyLott’s account of the Cambodia excursion—plus a more extensiveblog with additional photographs from Vietnam—can be found on theWeb at www.swarthmore.edu/alumni/vietnam.sion in Vietnam finds its zenith at theCao Dai Holy See in Tay Ninh (aboveleft), where a lidless eye gazes from agiant orb on the altar and the holiestsaints include Chinese nationalist SunYat Sen and French author VictorHugo. Vietnam “assails the senses,”said Anne Saisselin ’79, whose greatgreat-grandfatherwas a French officialin Hanoi. “It’s a wonderment—sopassionant. You see, hear, taste, andsmell different things.”“Buddhism, Catholicism, Cao Dai,Taoism, ancestor worship—all blendtogether in a society that celebratesTet [the lunar new year] with enthusiasmthat rivals our celebration ofChristmas,” Frances Brokaw ’76 said.“Spirit houses welcome good spiritsand keep ghosts out of peoples’homes (bottom left); a ‘kitchen god’reports on the doings of the family tothe Jade Emperor in heaven; and theirshrines are almost as likely to have tallstatues of Mary, Jesus, the Buddha,St. Joseph, or Quan Am— the femaleBuddha.”In Ho Chi Minh City, devotionalchapels in the French-built Catholiccathedral feature neon-enhanced statuesof saints (top left).At My Son, a United NationsWorld Heritage Site west of Danang,the former center of the Champa civilizationlies in a secluded mountainsetting (center far left). The HinduCham people dominated central Vietnamfrom the 4th to the 12th centuries,when they were conquered bythe Viets, who remain the dominantethnic group. Many artifacts from MySon, which was uncovered by Frencharcheologists in 1898 and twicebombed by American planes duringthe Vietnam War, are found at theCham Museum in Danang. A relief ofthe goddess Uma/Parvati (top far left)dates from the 10th century.june 2006 : 21