The Zen House in Hue City, Vietnam

So what is meditation? In the practical 'what and how' realm of reality, it means a lot of things to a lot of people but essentially whatever we do where ever we do and however we do it, the aim is to connect with spirit, to connect with the part of us that connects to the spiritual energies that exist in our belief systems.

Prayer is a type of meditation. Some people talk about communing with nature in all forms as being their path to meditation. 

Others honor their deity with ceremony, acknowledgement and gifts, others use complicated journeys to unlock doors and imaginary people to guide us into understanding more about ourselves and our lives. No-one way is solely right or wrong. How can anything be wrong when people receive the joy and peace that is so connected with the art of meditation.

For me, the most impactful and probably the most challenging form of meditation is the art of Zen.

Zen uses no imagery, no ceremony, no 'props'. Zen is about sitting in silence and through that silence reaching a connection with the universal energies to learn more about ourselves and about spirit in its purest form. So why is it so challenging? The aim is to sit quietly allowing any thoughts to pass through unhindered .....that is why it is challenging. The aim is to still the mind, to become at one with pure energy. Hmm..... doing nothing with no connection with thoughts!! Not something that we are used to doing in the 21st Century of action and pro action, technology and worldwide communications. Which is precisely why it is so important and so relevant to modern living, it helps to reconnect us with what is important....the sense of love and peace. 

Doing such meditation alone in one's one space is refreshing, calming, at times disturbing but ultimately very holistic and healing. But as anyone who has done meditation in a group will know, whatever you can achieve (or rather NOT achieve) is multiplied exponentially when meditating in a group regardless of the surroundings. Take that group energy and place it in an environment designed for purpose and the experience takes on a whole new dimension.

Which brings me to the Zen House in Hue. Just looking at the pictures makes me smile and relax.

The Zen House is situated just outside of Hue in Central Vietnam and is actually a complex with a number of buildings, gardens for beauty as well as for cultivating the organic ingredients that are used in cooking the vegetarian meals that are served. Locally it is called Cat Tuong Quan. Cat Tuong means 'to bring joy or pleasure'. Quan means 'gentleman'. So Cat Tuong Quan means 'the gentleman who brings joy or pleasure'. It is the term used to describe the host of the House and is also the name given to the house itself.

So what can you expect when visiting Cat Tuong Quan? 

That depends largely on how long you choose to stay for but the one thing that is always guaranteed whether you choose a half day visit or decide to stay over for 2 nights or longer is that you will have a warm and friendly greeting from the Quan, the gentleman host.

This is a spiritual center and any visitors are expected to respect the fact. People are asked to dress respectfully, speak softly, treat everything and everything with the gentle spirit of Buddhism. Meals are taken in the spirit of honoring the food and the gift that it affords us. And what do we get it return? 

As a visitor experience that wonderful deep sense of calm and peace that abounds in such an environment. We get to allow ourselves to slow down and to connect with our sense of being in the present and embracing what that means. We get to step out of the hustle and bustle of daily life as we know it and to reconnect with the gentle manners and ways of those who embrace the Buddhist way of being. 

It is relaxing and invigorating at the same time. People staying at the house often report that they sleep better, enjoy their food and indeed, become more aware of themselves, others, their food, nature and everything around them.

If you are travelling to Vietnam and heading for Hue, this is something not to miss. You will need to book your visit in advance. For more information, you can email me at uk@hghue.com or call 0792 5300320. Or you can email Hue directly for information and to book a visit.....info@hghtravel.com

 www.HGHTravel.com

The Sensory Experience of Ha Noi

Well, the first thing to say is that Ha Noi is one huge sensory overload.

You walk down any street and you have the sound of traffic, more specifically, the sound of motorbikes. The only way to describe the larger roads is to imagine yourself in the middle of a beehive and being surrounded by the intense, close quarter buzzing of hundreds of bees. Imagine that and then add into the picture that each bee has access to a horn that he/she has an inherent need to press on an irregular yet frequent basis. On some of the wider streets in the middle of rush hour, you can see 8-10 motorbikes side by side across the road (and that's going one way). And when the road becomes too congested, the bikes simple take to the pavements. But that's only during the busy times. 

The interesting thing about the horns is that NOBODY takes any notice. You just become immune to it. You know that particular sound is aimed at you and you simply carry on walking across the road or riding your bike as you would with or without the horns. During the two years that I lived in Hanoi, I stopped hearing the cacophony.

And then there are the dogs and the cockrels and the birds. I am woken up every morning to the sound of one of the other or a symphony of all of them. Not that I am complaning about the sound of birds especially as in my case, they are wild birds. However, the Vietnamese do like their caged birds and having one or three hanging outside your bedroom window can be a little disturbing at times. The worst at the cockrels. In my first apartment, I was woken every morning by a notoriously active cockrel at about 5.00am and, unlike an alarm clock, there was no off switch. 

And then there are the locals. Where there are people, there are noises. They talk, they shout at each other.

Not in an aggressive way but just as a way of making contact across an open expanse of a few feet or inches. And when they are not eating or talking, they are doing something .......mending a table, building a wall, preparing food, feeding the toddler...all accompanied by a continuous stream of chatter. In the centre of town, you also have the shops that explode their wares into the streets which can, at times, get a little challenging when you are balancing whether it is more dangerous to stay on the pavement and deal with the parked bikes, the people and the shop overload or simply step into the stream of traffic in the road. The road is often the easier option.

Feeding the toddlers is intriguing, it never failed to fascinate me. You see women following the toddler round the streets with a bowl of food. The toddler plays or just wanders and Mother or Grandmother offers a spoonful of food whenever the child stops. The process can last the length of time as dicatated by the child, in some cases a couple of hours.

The other thing you notice is a lot of laughter and smiles. Even if there is no smile evident, a greeting and a smile offered invariably elicits a response. For me, it was probably the most evident of all the differences and I have to say that I was never overwhelmed by it....bring it on! One last thing that is a little intimidating at first is their tendancy to stare. I learnt that, again, a smile and acknowledgment usually turned the stare into a huge toothy grin.

Smells? Well, food has to be at the top of the list. Walk down any road in Ha Noi and some-one is cooking on the street....a cafe or a street vendor. And if its not a commercial venture, its a local family especially on Sunday evening. They all gather around a cooking pot that simmers away with all sorts of goodies and talk and laugh and say hello to the passing ex pat as they maneuvor their way into the road, around the obstacle and back onto the pavement. 

And there are the less pleasant smells of the dead fish that gather on the edge of the lakes to rot away. And sometimes the rubblish bags that have been left out in the street can be rather unpleasant. The winter does not pose much of an issue for either but in the summer, it can be rather pungent. 

And to finish on a more pleasant note, there are always the flowers...not to forget the flowers. People love cut flowers in Viet Nam. Every family has an alter dedicated to the ancestors to which they offer flowers and fruit gifts every 1st and 15th of the lunar month with special gifts during Tet (the New Year celebrations) and so flowers are a very important part of life for everyone. You see women on cycles balancing huge bunches of flowers for sale. They collect them at the market in the morning and spend the day doing their best to sell their wares.

So while there are some less than pleasant sensory experiences, on the whole, the balance is pretty good!! 

Holiday, Travel or Adventure?

Before booking any flights, hotels or tours, its important to consider what you really want from a break from work, the routine, regular life. Over the years of holidays, travel and adventure, I have come to realise that they are quite different in charactor and in nature. 

Holiday 

 The average working person has X amount of days leave to take from their workplace and, again, the majority of people want to have a change of scenery and time to relax and chill out. For some that might be spending 2 weeks sitting by the pool, soaking up the sun and drinking margeritas and spending the evenings eating and drinking with friends new or old. For others, they might choose the security of the hotel and enjoy the pool at the end of an organised tours to one place of local interest or another. 

Its a safe, organised, risk aversive, 'don't have to think to much', relaxing period designed to re charge the batteries and indulge. It can also be a way of enjoying the sun without being thrown into the center of a totally different culture. 

OK so let's take this need for a holiday to somewhere different, let's head for Vietnam. Vietnam offers the whole range of possibilities. You could go to stay in a hotel on the beautiful beaches of Da Nang. There is a wide range of hotels in this area where you can enjoy the very best of the best in Vietnam. And you can take a short trip to the delightful ancient town of Hoi An that has numerous restaurants and cafes. Everyone speaks excellent English. It is a beautifully preserved town that has a lot of architecture and history to share. It is on the river so trips are available after which you can relax with a drink at a bar by the river's edge. And if shopping is your thing, it is Vietnam's answer to your prayers. There is a wide array of tailors and dress makers who will put your ideas into reality. You can choose a pattern from a book or simply take a picture for them to work from. 24 hours later, you have your item created especially for you. And don't forget the shoes. Cobblers will also create individually designed sandles, shoes or boots for you. 

If culture is what you would like, you are very near the ancient Kymar ruins in the mountains overlooking Da Nang. And then there is the old city of Hue where you can visit the Citadel, take a boat trip along the Perfume River, visit the many Pagodas and Temples along the river side or enjoy the gentle buzz of this lovely little town. 

Example of a Holiday Tour with HGH Travel (www.HGHTravel.com)

Holiday-Travel

Taking us from that option to the idea of Travel is a sliding scale of detials. I have certainly done holidays where I have had a package in a hotel with pool and flight. I have also booked organised tours from the hotel for the day and thoroughly enjoyed them. I then started organising my own tours to visit places that I wanted to see in the area. My next step was to book hotels and flights seperately to allow for more flexibility so I could do a two places trip moving from one area to another under my own steam. 

So here I am beginning to move on that sliding scale from Holiday to Travel. It has the same purpose and outcome but it involves more planning, a more pro active and involved focus that taps into the independant nature. I started going to places on my own. While this is not in any way a pre-requisite to either Holiday or Travel, it certainly brings in the need for more decision making on the hoof and adds an element of the unknown, excitement and, at times, fear that tends to became more into focus as you move along the sliding scale to being the full out Traveller. 

So being a Traveller is about independance, it is about making choices that are not pre ordained by someone else. It is about taking risks, about a balance of planning and winging it with an overview of where you need to be when. It is about meeting people along the way who are doing the same sort of thing and taking advantage of maximum flexibility in your way of thinking, your plans and even your destination. Or you might map out your preset time more accurately moving from spot to spot as per plan but each time arriving at a new unknown place that is your territory to explore for the next 1, 2 or 5 days. But largely, being a traveler is about taking risks, about being independent, about going off grid (even if only a little bit) to see and experience life that is totally foreign (literally) and unwanted by the average Holiday maker. 

So let's stay in Vietnam and look at what the Traveler might do. 

Starting earlier on the Holidaymaker-Traveler scale, someone who wants more than the comfort of staying in one place might opt for an organized tour that takes them to all of the hot spots in the country. That might take them from the capital city of Hanoi in the north to the magnificent Ha Long Bay down to Hue and Hoi An in the central area and then to Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta in the south. In this option, there is variety, there is an element of travel but it is all organized by the tour guide who is

Being every great man is a great woman!

also available for sorting out any issues that might arise. Hotels are booked, transport is taken care of, food is organized or restaurants will be suggested, tours are included. But it certainly brings in the adventure and the buzz of being on the move and having the opportunity of seeing and experiencing more places.  You might even want to add in a second country to the itinerary..... Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar are all easily accessible from Vietnam and can be included in a similar package. 

OK so let's move onto the Advernturer. 

Let's take the scenario above of travelling from north to south in Vietnam but now you are doing it alone. You are planning your own step by step progress. Accomodation might be anything from a room in a hotel to bunks in a hostel. Transport might be anything from flights to local trains to local buses or some combination of the three. Some people might arrive and hire a motorbike as their mode of transport. That is definitely at the top end of Adventure especially in Vietnam where the roads can be rather chaotic at times. 

Example of a Holiday-Traveler Tour with HGH Travel (www.HGHTravel.com)

Traveler-Adventure

The Traveler-Adventurer might search out the means to go to the less travelled parts of the country. Language barriers are seen as being less of a barrier, more of another aspect of the adventure to communicate effectively...or at all.... with someone from a completely different culture speaking a totally undecipherable language. 

 The deeper into Adventure you go, the more risk is involved with the associated excitement and opportunities for things not going quite as planned and the more need there is for being able to go with the flow and simply dealing with stuff when it evolves. It's often about meeting some really intriguing and interesting people who you would just never meet in an everyday world. You get to have experiences that would not be in your frame of understanding as you just have no concept of them even existing. On one of my Traveler-Adventures in SE Asia, I went to Laos and decided to stay in a homestay for a few days. I was on my own and decided that my little bit of security was to pre book a car to pick me up at the airport and take me to the homestay. After that, I was on my own. I booked into the dorm and headed down to the 'restaurant' which was basically a rather delicate looking raft floating on the river. The fading lights had the advantage of hiding the less glamorous aspects of the raft but proved rather a challenge when it came to finding one's way OFF the raft and back to the dorm. As a 60 year old woman, I was from a different world to the 20 something groups who were staying at the same place. But three charming young men were delightful and sort of accepted me into the brood for the few days that we were there. They did tentatively invite me (the sort of invitation where someone offers but obviously does not want you to say yes) to go out with them into town one evening which I declined with thanks. It was the start of a great visit to Laos which sadly ended with me losing my passport......but that's another story! 

And then of course you have the far end of the sliding scale where people go away to climb mountains, absail into caves, cycle 500 miles or something else equally exhausting to even write about. 

Options for  Travel-Adventure with HGH Travel  (www.HGHTravel.com). For information on tailor made tours such as caving, email info@hghue.com.

Summary

And at the end of the day, this is a relatively short period into which you are putting a significant amount of hard earned cash and so it is important that you do your level best to get what YOU want from this time. There are no right or wrong ways of doing this. If risk sends your stress levels off the chart, it is important to take that into consideration. If risk=stress but you want more than a Holiday, then consider how to get the elements of Travel and Adventure that you want while staying within your comfort zone enough to get the buzz without the fear. Always remembering that excitement and fear are close buddies and it is only a short distance from one to the other. 

If you are traveling alone, the decision is less complex as you only have to keep yourself happy. If you traveling with a companion or companions it is important to ask questions to clarify what you ALL want to get from time away from home. Maybe there is a need for a compromise of some sort to maximize comfort, relaxation, excitement and thrill for everyone. And remember, what is exciting for one is horror for another. If you need some help in deciding what sort of trip will suit your needs, feel free to talk to one of the consultants at HGH Travel in Vietnam. Alternatively, you can contact myself in the UK. I lived in Vietnam and now am based in the UK. I support HGH in their marketing and would be delighted to offer any insights and support that I can. 

Have a great Holiday/Traveling/Adventure

Pat Sawyer

uk@hghue.com.