Tuesday

As predicted, I felt much better this morning. After coffee, Bet and I headed out into the city to wander around (Stud* update in comments). I appreciate this method of tourism since it aligns with my own style. Rather than spend furiously scheduled days navigating the pitched itinerary of the beaten track, she roams around developing deeper interests while, incidentally, learning the way around town. This is one advantage to having two weeks and a centrally located camp. We wandered up Lê Duẩn Street from the Palace today, past the US Consulate and the British Council, and turned north from the botanical gardens at the history museum to walk along the canal between Districts One and Bình Thạnh, returning to my neighborhood slightly north of the apartment building. Then we had lunch at Le's coffee shop before striking off down Điện Biên Phủ Street looking for the Xá Lợi Temple, a nineteen fifties yellow brick structure on a leafy side street in District Three. It was difficult to miss, owing to its towering and fluted pagoda spire which can be seen from my dining room window. It was shady and quiet at the temple, almost deserted except for one young girl selling sticks of prayer incense by gesture. I was shy about invading that peaceful space because I'm unfamiliar with Buddhist protocols, so we rounded-out the walk by wandering up to the main street and heading home. Bet wanted to watch Ms. Hương cook tonight, anyway. Looking it up later, we discovered that Xá Lợi Temple is where the remains of Buddhist martyr Thích Quảng Ðức were taken after his world-changing act of self-immolation in defiance of the Ngô Đình Diệm administration in June nineteen sixty-three, the award-winning photographs of which shocked the world, but remain unlinked here. [Cavin]