Author Archives: Hoa

Have spent the first week on tour with Thay. It is like being with a rock star, photographers are everywhere and he is greeted by crowds wherever he goes. We visited Phap Van temple where sixteen monks and nuns whom were killed when part of the SYSS- the social workers movement that Thay started that took no sides in the war- and the remains of a nun whom immolated in front of the Virgin Mary and Avoliketera in the hope …

It is my last night in Hanoi before I go to Ho Chi Minh City to go on a three week journey with Thich Nhat Hanh- a famous Vietnamese Zen Monk whom is in exile from Vietnam (Because he supported ending the war). I will be in Saigon, Dalat and then hopefully Bao Loc depending on when I can change my flight out till. I will be blogging this trip on my other blog athttp://interbeinginvietnam.blogspot.com/ since it will have mostly …

A good start to the new year- returned to Hanoi and received notification that an on line journal Arabesques has published an article I wrote on Thich Nhat Hanhhttp://www.arabesquespress.org/journal/war-and-poetry-the-work-of-thich-nhat-hanh-by-hoa-pham-1354202for the link. So if the Chinese superstition holds true I will travel and publish this year.Last night went to the fireworks in Hue and ate ice cream by the river. Durian ice cream is not as potent as its namesake but I won’t seek it out much I’m afraid. Also had …

Went to Dong Xuan market today and ate buon (rice vermicelli noodles) and fried prawn cakes very cheaply indeed. A glass of tea was 1000 dong (ten cents) and buon was 5000 dong. This was way off the tourist track and we were the only foreigners there sitting on little plastic seats. Tomorrow am off to Hue and Hoi An where web access may be limited- so blogging may wait until I return to Hanoi. It is exciting being here …

Reading Thay’s book on anger- and about how doing other things mindfully creates writing. I totally agree- call it artistic dates a la Julia Cameron or a necessary gestation period- that’s my idea- it is fertiliser for works of art.I’m realising that I have a lot of anger and fear, and it will take me a while to overcome. I feel that buddhist practice like my writing is a life time practice and I’m happy with that.

mountain ranges shadowed by the mist, girls in indigo skirts large silver hoop earrings and bracelets hassling you to buy from them, terraced rice fields, water pumps pounding rice, colorful costumes, incredible scenic poverty. I was very conscious of being a tourist here- we found out that each woman only got one outfit a year- at Tet which is incredible. Our tour guide learnt English from tourists and was the only one whom graduated from high school in his village. …

Had dinner last night with Andrea Kauser a german anthropologist investigating spirituality in Hanoi and Doug Jardine an American academic teaching at Hanoi university. Andrea had some interesting things to say about ghosts and beliefs in spirits- she finds my belief that ghosts can appear during the 49 day transition period interesting- and she asked me if I had considered talking to my deceased grandparents by spirit medium. My first reaction was it was spooky, then that I hadn’t thought …

Just met with another established Vietnamese author whom was quite honest with me about what is allowed and what isn’t allowed for writers to write about. In Vietnam you cannot write against the government, incite violence, have too much sex in your story and something about you cannot write against the unity of ethnic diversity (huh???) I think he means against ethnic minorities. He has waited six years for a book to be published- a very patient man methinks. He …

Just picked up Writing Down the Bones again- and the little tidbits I read started me thinking. First of all what I took away from my re reading was that I have the write to write badly. This helps me let go of the censor and the expectations of my work. The second thing which I have been mulling over is that both she and Julia Cameron say that writing is therepeutic but not therapy. I can see where they …

I met up with Y Ban and her translator yesterday. She commented that my work was good and could get published here, and that what I wrote would have me thrown in jail 30 years ago (lol)! She also offered to get Vixen translated for $3000 US which upon consideration I don’t think it’s worth it unless I get a grant to do so. We had an interesting conversation about ghosts, she said that ghosts are living with us every …