What's this?  I thought you were blogging your recent visit to Vietnam!

I was.  But, Linda and I were discussing Brussels and the massive government buildings there and we were wondering if we had pictures from our visit there some time ago.  I wondered, in particular, if we didn't have a picture of the Atomium - a leftover item from the 1958 World's Fair.

Linda went to our Photoshop Organizer lasts night and left me a surprise for this morning - our picture of the Atomium.  I browsed the Belgium photos and selected four more that I liked.

Now, it turns out that my Investment Club is having a meeting Friday with some discussion of Artificial Intelligence.  I thought, "why not give those five photos to ChatGPT and see if it could build a decent blog post around them?" 

The title of this post and what follows is what ChatGPT gave me after I gave it the five photos and this simple instruction:

Linda and Tom visited Belgium in September 2004. here are five photos from the visit. Write a blog post describing what we saw.

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Rain, Cobblestones, and Chocolate: Our September 2004 Visit to Belgium

In September 2004, Tom and I spent several memorable days exploring Belgium — a country filled with medieval architecture, grand public squares, quiet canals, and wonderful food. Even the rainy weather seemed to add to the atmosphere. Everywhere we walked felt like stepping into a painting.

Bruges in the Rain 

Our trip began in the beautiful city of Bruges, where narrow streets and centuries-old buildings surrounded us at every turn. One rainy afternoon we crossed one of the old stone bridges while the towering bell tower rose above the rooftops behind us. The wet cobblestones, red tile roofs, and gray skies gave the city an almost storybook appearance. I carried a bright pink umbrella that seemed to light up the gloomy afternoon.

 

 

We also spent time in the heart of Bruges at the magnificent Market Square. The square was surrounded by ornate Gothic buildings decorated with flags from around Europe. Despite the drizzle, people wandered through the plaza taking photos, riding bicycles, and enjoying the lively atmosphere. Belgium’s architecture has a way of making even an ordinary day feel historic.

 

Brussels and the Atomium 

From Bruges we traveled to Brussels, where old and new Europe seemed to exist side by side. One of the most striking sights was the famous Atomium. Its enormous silver spheres connected by tubes looked futuristic against the bright sky and green park surrounding it. Seeing it in person was unforgettable — both a monument to science and a symbol of postwar optimism    .

 

The Grand Place 

Later we visited the breathtaking Grand Place, one of the most beautiful public squares we had ever seen. The square was crowded with visitors from all over the world admiring the elaborate guild houses covered in gold trim and carved stonework. Cafés spilled out into the streets, artists displayed paintings, and every direction offered another incredible building to admire.

 

 

One of our favorite memories was stopping at a small sidewalk restaurant tucked into a narrow street nearby. After hours of sightseeing, it was the perfect place to sit down, relax, and enjoy Belgian food and wine while watching people pass by. The cozy cafés and restaurants became just as memorable as the landmarks themselves.

 

Belgium surprised us with how much beauty and history could fit into such a small country. From rainy medieval streets to grand city squares and modern landmarks, every day brought something different. Looking back at these photos now, we can still remember the sound of church bells, the smell of fresh waffles and coffee, and the feeling of wandering through streets that had existed for hundreds of years.

It was a wonderful trip — one we still talk about more than twenty years later.

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You have to give ChatGPT credit for identifying the locations in Belgium - and the nice flourish about the rain and Linda's pink umbrella.

Were these descriptions plagiarized from someone else's work?  Would I get a good grade if I submitted this in my English Composition class?  It is quite likely that the blog post title was stolen from the title of a novel - especially since chocolate never appears again.  I do have a photo of a Chocolaterie but didn't include it for ChatGPT but you can see it in the Flickr album associated with this post.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Visit to Vietnam, Part 5 - We Visit Ninh Binh

On our second day in Hanoi we got an early start heading south about sixty miles to the Ninh Binh area.  Our primary destination was the river trip via small sampan on the Ngo Dong river at Tam Coc.  Guide Mike and our driver arrived a bit before 8 A.M. and we headed out of town on the expressway CT101.  About two thirds of the way to our destination, we left the freeway and moved over to the "old highway," QL1A that runs the entire length of the country. It was interesting to me to see that the "tombstone style" of kilometer posts that I recalled from Vietnam in 1970 have survived for fifty-five years, even though they had to be slightly modernized.

  

 

The route gave the illusion of taking us through a vast urban corridor as the highway is lined with shops and residences, but most of the route passes through lush farmland with just a thin urban veil of buildings on one or both sides of the route.

 

Here, as on other excursions, we noted the strongly vertical character of many residences.  Our guides attribute this to the high cost of land for home-sites which may be part of the explanation but another factor is the tendency for homes to be multi-generational.  As in Egypt, "filial piety" has a strong cultural influence on family location.  This appears to be a result of Confucian influence in the case of Vietnam in contrast to Islamic influence in the Middle East.

  

We also noticed a strong Catholic influence in several of the communities we passed with both church steeples and homes displaying prominent statues, recalling the years of French missionary work in the sixteenth and seventeenth and extending into the colonial times of French Indochina.

  

 

Our first stop along the way was at a rest-stop and souvenir shop at Mỹ Nghệ Phương Anh.  Linda and I independently photographed the signs inside the restroom stalls suggesting proper etiquette.

  

 

Out in the souvenir merchandise area, we were impressed with the overall use of color to entice buyers.

 

The most unusual local artwork available here and at other rest stops is Vietnamese silk embroidery, where unbelievably detailed scenes are created from multiple vivid colors of silk thread. (Some examples here - photos in the shop are not permitted.  Instagram video here.)

Some of the works are created by disabled workers, part of the continuing legacy of Agent Orange use by the U.S. military as a defoliant during the war.

 

Back on the road,we continued just a few kilometers farther south before crossing a bridge over the Sông Đáy river.  Off to the west, I could see the steep limestone mounds (geologists call them karsts) that mark the edge of the Red River's delta and were the destination for the day.  And is that a cement plant nestled at the edge of the area? I believe it might be.

 

Soon a towering domed building appeared on the east side of the highway just behind a gas station.  "Is that a church?" I asked.  "No, its a house.  A man built it for himself and his two sons," was the reply. (image courtesy of Google StreetView) "It's the size of a European cathedral!" we marveled.

It seems that the facility seen previously at the first appearance of the mountainous karsts probably is a cement plant and the construction and cement business has been quite profitable since the Vietnamese financial reforms of the 1990s. An article on the expansion of the Thanh Thang cement plant with a third production line can be found here. 

The most definitive information that I was able to find about the owner, Đỗ Văn Tiến, and his mansion turned up at a Vietnamese Language Blog which helpfully defines a Vietnamese phrase: "the term đại gia is used to indicate a rich person in general."

CUNG ĐIỆN THÀNH THẮNG (THANH THANG PALACE)

“Cung điện Thành Thắng” situated in Ninh Bình city, built in 2016 and completed in 2019 by the businessman Mr. Đỗ Văn Tiến. The construction site was around 3.6 acres on an approximately 7 acres lot. The building has 5 floors, around 27,000 sq ft of living space, with its height equivalent to eleven storeys. The cost was in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

With this mega size, it’s the biggest and tallest private home in Vietnam at the time of completion, as well as in Southeast Asia. It appears ... that Cung điện Thành Thắng’s architecture and design emulate the European Rococo style. 

It is hard to capture very much of the main house since the two "smaller" houses block the view. The entry arch is pretty impressive as well. The two photos are actually those smaller houses.

  

 

A much better view of the mansion, frequently described as the largest private residence in Southeast Asia can be seen on this YouTube video.  The mansion is also featured at Oddity Central, sort of a Roadside America for the rest of the world.

Since we were still within the ten day Tet New Year's Holiday, the sampan launch site at Tam Coc was crowded with Vietnamese tourists and several police were managing the traffic flow.  

  

 

We dropped Mike off to purchase tickets while we waited just outside of town (we were not allowed to stop the car near the ticket office).  It may have been a half-hour before Mike gave the driver a "thumbs up" on Whatsapp and we headed back to the dock.  A long line of tourists was waiting to board their small sampan for the trip; fortunately, there is a separate line for "foreigners" and we were soon on board and in the capable hands of our oarswoman, Mai. 

  

 

Or, perhaps I should say "feet" rather than "hands."  Mai, like almost all of the oarswomen (there are only a few oarsmen in this line of work) skillfully worked the oars with her feet.  They do not use any kind of strap or special shoe - give it a try the next time you are out on the lake! It won't be as easy for you. 

 

As we joined the flotilla heading into the Ngo Dong channel, we were amazed at the number of boats simultaneously underway. There are as many as twelve hundred of these boats on the river.

 

As we approached the first of the three caves on the journey downstream, Linda began video recording the trip. 

  

Join the voyage for two minutes:

 

Besides the water and rock formations, there was an abundance of birds and plants along the way. The lotus is considered the symbolic flower of Vietnam. Being avid bird watchers, we were excited to see this bird, which is an Asian openbill, a relatively small stork species. They inhabit wetlands, including shallow marshes, flooded agricultural fields and lakes, which is exactly the environment where we saw them. 

  

 

Later in the year, the rice turns golden, creating a spectacular view and an artistic pattern is shaped to provide an attractive view from above.

 

There are viewpoints from elevated points along the route with a 500 step climb at Mua Cave being the best known.  Google "climb at mua cave video" for varying opinions of how difficult this walk is. We did not try it this time. 

 

The round trip down the Ngo Dong and back takes about an hour and a half.  We disembarked at lunchtime and headed for another culinary treat at a local restaurant.  Once again we enjoyed a fixed menu with a wide variety of local specialties.

  

 

I took great care to make sure I got a picture of the restaurant as we were pulling away in our SUV but neglected to notice that there was no visible restaurant name - so five stars go the no-name spot in Tam Coc.

 

After lunch we headed back north for about ten miles to reach the site of Hoa Lư that was the capital of Vietnam at its founding from 968 to 1009.  Our route followed a very narrow winding road as we left the Tam Coc site.

 

Nestled in a valley among the limestone mountains this site was selected for the first capital because it was very defensible following the initial founding of Vietnam's early government after the successful expulsion of the Chinese warlords from the area.  After a fairly short existence, the government was relocated to what we now recognize as Hanoi.

While there are no remnants of the buildings remaining from the early era beyond some foundation stones, a pair of nice memorial temples to honor the site and a very entry lovely gate is a popular spot for photographs.  The surrounding garden area and pond is also very attractive.

 

 

The combination of Tet holiday and Saturday evening produced an enormous amount of traffic out of Hanoi that resulted in a two-plus hour drive to cover the last twenty miles back to our hotel.     

 Many more pictures at this Flickr album, of course.

 

A Visit to Vietnam, Part 4 - The Sidewalks of Old Town in Hanoi

At the end of our first day in Hanoi, we headed out to explore a bit of the Old Town neighborhood where we were staying at the Silk Path Hotel.  We turned right and headed up Hang Bong Street toward Hoan Kiem Lake.

 

We hadn't gone very far when we noticed a Circle K convenience store.  If you forgot to bring something along on the trip like shaving cream, toothpaste, etc., the Circle K stores here are just like home.  There are over 500 of them in Vietnam including three on Hang Bong Street near our hotel - and they all seemed busy.

  

 

There are lots of  "travel stores" on the street selling the same tours along with telephone sim cards, changing money and some even offer laundry service.

  

 

We soon came to a few fast food and restaurant operations.  Dee offers the popular Banh Mi sandwich.  This is the equivalent of a Philly Cheesecake in Philadelphia - you must eat one while you're here.  The ones we bought came from Lila, not Dee, but that's a story for another day.

 

There are plenty of street food vendors anywhere you venture in Vietnam.  This barbecue operation was the most elaborate one we encountered.  You choose the meat or fish you want and while the chef grills it for you (shown on the left photo) you pick out the vegetables or other sides for your meal.

 

A food operation doesn't need much space because tables and chairs can be set out on the sidewalk or around the corner in the alley.

  

 

Sidewalks along the narrow streets of Old Town serve multiple purposes.  They are parking places for the motorcycles, serve as display areas for the local merchants and, of course, provide seating for the food patrons.  With some difficulty, a pedestrian can also walk on them.

 

We had noticed earlier in the day the large number of sidewalk restaurants, coffee shops and food stall operations that line much of the middle of the city. Large and small groups gather on tiny stools for coffee, breakfast, lunch and dinner.  The variety of offerings is large.  (Ten minute video on small stools and street vendors here.) 

 

Hang Bong Street eventually reaches Hoan Kiem Lake.  A large square there is surrounded by shops on three sides with the lake offering a nice view of city lights in the distance.  The square had a large video display playing a New Years greeting on this night.

  

 

The Coffee Club Cafe on one side of the square looked like a nice spot for desert which was all we were looking for so we ventured up to the 4th floor.

 

This is a modern up to date operation with menus and service available via QR code scans from your mobile phone.  We ordered beverages, ice cream and cashews; we were surprised when the cashews came in a shrink wrapped package - Vietnam is the leading exporter of cashews.

 

  

We didn't discover our favorite Vietnamese street food until late in our trip: Chuoi Chien - fried banannas!  While we were on the road with one of guides near Saigon, she pointed these out to Linda;  they are delicious.  Recipe and instructions on YouTube here.

  

 

On the way back to the hotel after our dessert by the lake, we came upon a store selling pottery.  Walking inside I couldn't believe my luck at finding so many choices for a Vietnam souvenir for my basement mug wall.  We soon discovered that Bat Trang pottery is the top of the line in ceramics in Vietnam.

  

 

More photos at this Flickr album.