Post by Aly on Jan 5, 2006 4:35:11 GMT -5
I have been in Saigon for three days and you would not believe how many things we have done.
Today alone we visited four galleries, the Fina Arts Assocition of Ho Chi Minh City, the Design studio of a former MassArt grad in fashion, Ate lunch with three prominant Vietnamese Artists, and visited the studio of Nyugen Duy, one of the most famous poets in all Indochine.
Whew.
yesterday we crawled through the Co Chi tunnels, where I unfortunatly had an encounter with a bat, outside of the city and visitied the memorial temple.
We then went to lunch on the saigon river wehre i actually ATE a cricket. yeah, I have pictures to prove it too.
The food is okay but everywhere that we go we have 20 course meals as we are "honored foreign guests". I am having a Ao Dai made, traditional Vietnamese dress, and intend to wear it all the time back in the states with jeans.
Although it is very hot, I am drinking massiva amounts of water and many galleries we visit are air conditioned.
This evening, aas it is only 5PM we will be riding on motorcycles to a rock club for dinner and dancing.
There is a woman visiting from Myanmar (Burma) (the current capital of which IS IN FACT Rangoon). She and i are talking politics and economics of being an artist in an authoritarian country and what life is like there. Contrary to everyon'e belief that the HIV rate is 25%, ladies and gentlemen it is in fact only 15%. She tells me that in Burma the government must inspect all pieces of art before display and if they do not like it you might end up spending some time in jail. She told me she is never allowed to use the color red as it is associated with revolution. She was released from prison 6 months ago after 3 weeks for use of red in a painting of a red friut bowl.
The streets here are so busy and full of life, and so many shops and stores givew the city streets lots of color and motion.
Its a hot 80 degrees and this is winter for them, so you can only imagine Summer in a smog filled equatorial city.
So many shapes and design are so inspiring i am thinking of redesigning my project.
Going to Hoi An tomorrow morning. More from there.
Love
Aly
Today alone we visited four galleries, the Fina Arts Assocition of Ho Chi Minh City, the Design studio of a former MassArt grad in fashion, Ate lunch with three prominant Vietnamese Artists, and visited the studio of Nyugen Duy, one of the most famous poets in all Indochine.
Whew.
yesterday we crawled through the Co Chi tunnels, where I unfortunatly had an encounter with a bat, outside of the city and visitied the memorial temple.
We then went to lunch on the saigon river wehre i actually ATE a cricket. yeah, I have pictures to prove it too.
The food is okay but everywhere that we go we have 20 course meals as we are "honored foreign guests". I am having a Ao Dai made, traditional Vietnamese dress, and intend to wear it all the time back in the states with jeans.
Although it is very hot, I am drinking massiva amounts of water and many galleries we visit are air conditioned.
This evening, aas it is only 5PM we will be riding on motorcycles to a rock club for dinner and dancing.
There is a woman visiting from Myanmar (Burma) (the current capital of which IS IN FACT Rangoon). She and i are talking politics and economics of being an artist in an authoritarian country and what life is like there. Contrary to everyon'e belief that the HIV rate is 25%, ladies and gentlemen it is in fact only 15%. She tells me that in Burma the government must inspect all pieces of art before display and if they do not like it you might end up spending some time in jail. She told me she is never allowed to use the color red as it is associated with revolution. She was released from prison 6 months ago after 3 weeks for use of red in a painting of a red friut bowl.
The streets here are so busy and full of life, and so many shops and stores givew the city streets lots of color and motion.
Its a hot 80 degrees and this is winter for them, so you can only imagine Summer in a smog filled equatorial city.
So many shapes and design are so inspiring i am thinking of redesigning my project.
Going to Hoi An tomorrow morning. More from there.
Love
Aly
