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You are here: Home / Photo Blogging / On The Road / On the Road and In Your Backyard

On the Road and In Your Backyard

by Alain Chamot (1971-2020)|  February 12, 20185:00 am| 25 Comments

This post is in: On The Road, Open Threads, Readership Capture

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On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.

From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.

Submit Your Photos

Good Morning All,

This weekday feature is for Juicers who are are on the road, traveling, or just want to share a little bit of their world via stories and pictures. So many of us rise each morning, eager for something beautiful, inspiring, amazing, subtle, of note, and our community delivers – a view into their world, whether they’re far away or close to home – pictures with a story, with context, with meaning, sometimes just beauty. By concentrating travel updates and tips here, it’s easier for all of us to keep up or find them later.

So please, speak up and share some of your adventures and travel news here, and submit your pictures using our speedy, secure form. You can submit up to 7 pictures at a time, with an overall description and one for each picture.

You can, of course, send an email with pictures if the form gives you trouble, or if you are trying to submit something special, like a zipped archive or a movie. If your pictures are already hosted online, then please email the links with your descriptions.

For each picture, it’s best to provide your commenter screenname, description, where it was taken, and date. It’s tough to keep everyone’s email address and screenname straight, so don’t assume that I remember it “from last time”. More and more, the first photo before the fold will be from a commenter, so making it easy to locate the screenname when I’ve found a compelling photo is crucial.

Have a wonderful day, and enjoy the pictures!

 

Today, pictures from valued commenter Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes.

The Hoi An area was stunningly photogenic…

Market Day

Taken on 2018-01-11

Hoi An, Vietnam

There was a gorgeous street market

Home Shrine

Taken on 2018-01-11

South of Hoi An, Vietnam

We took a bicycle tour of the river villages a few miles south of Hoi An. We visited homes, artisan shops, basket boat weavers, sleeping mat weavers and an artisanal rice wine distiller.

The lady is in her 90s

Taken on 2018-01-11

South of Hoi An

She and her son are the last ones in the village making sleeping mats. Once they are gone, mats will have to come from other villages

Piggies

Taken on 2018-01-11

South of Hoi An

These piglets are still nursing. Mom and Dad are fed the rice mash left over from the making of rice wine, about 5% alcohol by volume.

They are all REALLY happy pigs that only have one bad day.

Finished Basket Boat

Taken on 2018-01-11

South of Hoi An

The voids are filled in with fibrous buffalo dung, and then protected with a tree resin for waterproofing. Later, I got to incompetently ride one in the river.

Boat Building

Taken on 2018-01-11

South of Hoi An

This was an awesome moment – these boats take about 6-8 weeks to build by hand. In the background, we heard monks chanting from across the river.

Night in Hoi An

Taken on 2018-01-11

Hoi An

The lanterns come out at night…

 

Thank you so much Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes, do send us more when you can.

There are many more submissions from this trip that we’ll run soon. I’ve even got a few old submissions from months ago we’ll save for a rainy day!

Travel safely everybody, and do share some stories in the comments, even if you’re joining the conversation late. Many folks confide that they go back and read old threads, one reason these are available on the Quick Links menu.

 

One again, to submit pictures: Use the Form or Send an Email

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Reader Interactions

25Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    February 12, 2018 at 5:21 am

    So that’s where the phrase “Ride the Dung” comes from.

    This is a cool set.

  2. 2.

    raven

    February 12, 2018 at 5:58 am

    Not surprisingly, the boat building process remains the same except for the thermos. My best recollection of the lanterns was from the top of Hon Tre Island looking into Nha Trang Bay at night. The fishing boats would come out and it was spectacular
    .

  3. 3.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    February 12, 2018 at 6:04 am

    Working on the mat.

  4. 4.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    February 12, 2018 at 6:11 am

    @raven:

    Nice!

    Here’s a little video of the boat build. You can hear a bit of the chants

    A finished boat. The chanting is a bit more discernible, too.

  5. 5.

    raven

    February 12, 2018 at 6:31 am

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Those vids are wonderful! Here’s a couple of shots of my boat and gong

    Number 2.

    If you look closely at the gong you can see traces of orange dayglo paint. When I got home I painted most of my stuff with that for some unknown reason!

  6. 6.

    raven

    February 12, 2018 at 6:34 am

    And here’s a shot of a basket boat in action. (Not my pic)

  7. 7.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    February 12, 2018 at 6:42 am

    @raven:

    You got a 404 “not found” on the link.

    I got to take a basket boat (with a copilot) into the river. It stayed dryer than I expected, and was far more stable than expected.

    I couldn’t work it the same way as my guide – I paddled it like a canoe, and not with the lazy “S” paddle that they use to go a lot faster than me.

  8. 8.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    February 12, 2018 at 6:43 am

    @raven:

    There’s just a little day-glow. Who knows what goes through our brains in our 20s?

  9. 9.

    raven

    February 12, 2018 at 6:47 am

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: It was organic mescaline, I bought 100 hits in San Francisco on my way home. Oh, I was 19 then! I’ve tried a number of times to get the paint off, I actually painted the frame too but I just repainted it. I’ve used bars on the gong and it’s better but not total.

  10. 10.

    OzarkHillbilly

    February 12, 2018 at 6:52 am

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Drugs?

    Pretty cool stuff.

  11. 11.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    February 12, 2018 at 7:17 am

    @raven:

    I wonder if mescaline is even still a thing? I haven’t seen or heard of it on an arrest slip in 25 yearsz

  12. 12.

    debbie

    February 12, 2018 at 7:24 am

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:

    If there’s acid, there’s mescaline, at least the chemical kind. Also, beautiful pictures!

  13. 13.

    Quinerly

    February 12, 2018 at 7:31 am

    ?

  14. 14.

    raven

    February 12, 2018 at 7:42 am

    @debbie: I bet what I had wasn’t really organic.

  15. 15.

    debbie

    February 12, 2018 at 7:45 am

    @raven:

    I only took it once. It was always hawked as organic, but disappointingly turned out to be chemical.

  16. 16.

    Steeplejack

    February 12, 2018 at 7:53 am

    @raven:

    Bad link fixed: basket boat.

  17. 17.

    Steeplejack

    February 12, 2018 at 8:00 am

    Have Quinerly and Poco dropped off the radar, or have I been missing comments?

  18. 18.

    Quinerly

    February 12, 2018 at 8:12 am

    @Steeplejack: Busy, on the move a lot. Fabulous time in NM. Starting our last two weeks. Mostly read this AM thread. Hit the highlights on other threads. Have a great day. Off for an morning hike with Poco.?

  19. 19.

    Steeplejack

    February 12, 2018 at 8:16 am

    @Steeplejack:

    Okay, just saw her in the thread downstairs.

    ETA: Page refresh!

  20. 20.

    Waratah

    February 12, 2018 at 8:39 am

    Fascinating photos, thank you Le Comte.

  21. 21.

    laura

    February 12, 2018 at 9:12 am

    These gorgeous photos need MOAR poco.

  22. 22.

    MomSense

    February 12, 2018 at 9:30 am

    Boat building and weaving are two of my favorite things. Great photos.

    I raised pigs when I was a kid. Cried for many days about that one bad day. They are the sweetest creatures.

  23. 23.

    Major Major Major Major

    February 12, 2018 at 9:55 am

    @debbie: Nah, mescaline is quite rare comparatively.

    When I was a youth your best bet was to boil/juice it down from legally-obtainable cactus.

  24. 24.

    laura

    February 12, 2018 at 10:23 am

    @Major Major Major Major: When I was a yoot, your friend Tina’s older brother had a fresh bucket of slimy cactus and you slurped a bit while holding your nose. Then you jumped in the giant sedan and headed to San Jose’s Spartan Stadium to see War and headliner Rod Stewart and the Small Faces.
    Once was plenty.

  25. 25.

    Gin & Tonic

    February 12, 2018 at 11:53 am

    @laura: Is psilocybin still a thing, too? Your slimy cactus reference reminded me of a baggie full of slimy mushrooms, one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever put in my mouth.

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