Hello all,

Sam and I have just returned from a ten day trip to Vietnam.
The photographs, above and to the right, were taken in Halong Bay. There are more than 1,600 limestone islets in the bay. It is exquisitely
beautiful and there are hundreds of boats full of tourists travelling there every day. But the authorities manage to avoid excessive traffic in any one place by spreading the boats all over the bay. Also, the various types of cruise boats have silent motors making the experience of gliding through the rock formations most enjoyable. I highly recommend a visit to Halong Bay. It has been recognized by UNESCO as World Natural Heritage.

A picture tells a thousand words

The cities, however, are a different story. Hanoi, the capital, for example has a population of almost 8 million and, according to our tour guide, has about 6 million motorbikes. All of these motorbikes seem to be out on the streets at any one time and, those that are not, are parked on the foot path. Walking in the city streets is extremely difficult and one has to watch one's step to avoid tripping on the uneven footpaths and to avoid all the parked motorbikes as well as people cooking and selling food.

Crossing the street is quite an adventure. Our tour guide forbade us from crossing on our own. Eventually we got the hang of simply walking into the traffic with cars and motorbikes zooming past us. Pedestrian crossings might as well not be there. Traffic lights are a little bit safer but the turning vehicles are still a danger.

Electricity cables. Very different standards on Health and safety

One of our tours in Hanoi was The Pottery Village. Almost all of the Vietnamese pottery is too ornate for use in ikebana but I was able to find some usable items. There is a kiln there, which is over 100 years old but is no longer in use because it was fueled by wood and now all the kilns use gas.

The 100 year old kiln

I enjoyed trying my hand at the wheel. It's not as easy as it looks

I was quite impressed by these large bonsais, mostly of ficus benjamina, which we
saw in many places in Vietnam

And now back to ikebana. In my absence, Lucy took the class and she set the theme for the senior students of 'Disassembling and Rearranging the Materials'.

Lucy used ginkgo biloba branches

Nicole used eucalyptus branches

Vicky used aspidistra leaves

Last Sunday was Orthox Easter and, due to our absence I was not able to prepare all the traditional fare. However, I simply had to make a couple of arrangements to mark the occasion. I used last year's Easter eggs, which are much lighter, having dried up in the past year. Oh, and imagine my delight at finding three flowers on my Kamo Hon Ami camellia in a garden that is drought affected and neglected.

The marbling effect on these eggs is achieved by covering them in
brown onion leaves held tight by old stockings and then died in
blue die.

Bye for now,
Emily