I wonder if the spirits and the universe align with your thoughts or maybe, you just become more in tune with the specific things going on around you. I am wondering because as I think about trip to Cambodia and Vietnam,which is coming up in 5 days, there was an article in WSJ about Angkor Wat (see picture), another WSJ article about eating rats and a NPR piece on real estate in Vietnam. Angkor Wat in Cambodia is a world heritage site that was built in the 12th century built for King King Suryavarman II as his state temple and capital city. This is considered to be the reserved temple at the site, it was first Hindu (dedicated to Vishnu) and then Buddhist (no one is completely sure what happened to the Hindu idols). This temple has become a symbol of Cambodia, appearing on its national flag.
Another article (which was forwarded to me by my traveling buddy)in the in WSJ was about the Year of the Rat in the WSJ: "According to the Chinese calendar, the Year of the Rat begins tomorrow. But here it may have started sooner: Unexpected changes in Vietnam's food chain and diet have sparked a rodent-eating bonanza." As the article states, the flare-ups of bird flu claimed many lives and rat eating became more popular! Other items seen on menus are snakes, cats (known as little tigers on the menu)and the rats that end up on menus are actually field rats not the ones in the sewers which is what I think of when I think of a rat... What was great about this article is that not only did it describe the situation but it also provided some tasty recipes for those of us interested in trying this out!
On a completely different note, NPR did a piece about real estate in Vietnam, predominantly the larger cities such as Hanoi and Saigon. A woman in Hanoi was interviewed and her story was that she bought her 2 bedroom / 2 bath condo for about $92K at the resistance of her husband 3 years ago...now, this is worth 3x as much, to which she remarked, "Now, my husband is happy that I insisted that we buy this place!" I am not sure what was more interesting for me, the economical growth in Vietnam or the dyanmics between this couple which seemed liked couples everywhere...where things are better off when you listen to the woman! JK.
Another article (which was forwarded to me by my traveling buddy)in the in WSJ was about the Year of the Rat in the WSJ: "According to the Chinese calendar, the Year of the Rat begins tomorrow. But here it may have started sooner: Unexpected changes in Vietnam's food chain and diet have sparked a rodent-eating bonanza." As the article states, the flare-ups of bird flu claimed many lives and rat eating became more popular! Other items seen on menus are snakes, cats (known as little tigers on the menu)and the rats that end up on menus are actually field rats not the ones in the sewers which is what I think of when I think of a rat... What was great about this article is that not only did it describe the situation but it also provided some tasty recipes for those of us interested in trying this out!
On a completely different note, NPR did a piece about real estate in Vietnam, predominantly the larger cities such as Hanoi and Saigon. A woman in Hanoi was interviewed and her story was that she bought her 2 bedroom / 2 bath condo for about $92K at the resistance of her husband 3 years ago...now, this is worth 3x as much, to which she remarked, "Now, my husband is happy that I insisted that we buy this place!" I am not sure what was more interesting for me, the economical growth in Vietnam or the dyanmics between this couple which seemed liked couples everywhere...where things are better off when you listen to the woman! JK.
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