For the past four days, Justin and I have been participating in a meditation retreat. We were up before sunrise for meditation followed by a tai-chi type exercise, Qigong. We also had sessions of walking meditation. We learned a lot about Buddhism, Karma Law, chanting, the road to Enlightenment, how to behave when you visit a pagoda and we spent a lot of time in the rituals and practices that make up meditation. All of this was totally new to me. Justin attended a meditation seshin many years ago and while this was totally different, he still had a broader background than me. Huy was really good with us as he was so, so patient. He was sure to preface almost every response with "... in Vietnam..." and "... in Buddhism in Vietnam..." He was very knowledgeable and he fielded our questions with confidence. We told him that his bosses and his Master should be proud of him.
All of our meals were vegetarian and we didn't have any alcohol during this trip. we had a cooking class where we made vegetarian spring rolls. We "conquered" the mountain and, yes, we took the cable car part of the way up.
I can't say that I found inner peace but I also cant say that's what I was looking for. I did learn some things and I am interested in doing some more reading... later. For now, I've got the rest of our time on Vietnam to embrace!
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| Huy taught me how to tie a scarf in the Vietnamese fashion. Doesn't that look chic? |
Our driver picked us up about noon and we were on our way to Ninh Binh, about three hours away.
Ninh Binh is known as the "Ha Long" Bay on land. The sheer limestone mountains rise from the rice paddies. We checked into our C'Dau Hotel with time to explore before dinner.
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