jasondorfman.net

It’s been quite some time since I’ve added a blog entry.   Now that I think about it, not since my trip to Asia have I updated it.  I think it’s because I generally don’t enjoy writing and would rather be taking pictures!

Last weekend I spent at Journey’s End Farm Camp where Beth-Ann was once a camper, counselor, and since last year one of their summer nurses.  JEFC is a working farm and summer camp where you instantly feel welcomed, at home, and safe.  The Curtis’s , who have been running JEFC since 1960, have and share a deep respect for the earth and humankind which is evident throughout the farm.  They also make the best maple syrup ever!

I decided for my visit this year I would participate and lead an activity period.  Recently, in an Alternative Printing class I am taking at MIT, we made a cyanotype mural on cotton which I knew would be a hit at JEFC.  For those not sure cyanotype is a photo process developed in 1842.  Without going into detail, it consists of two non-toxic chemicals which, when mixed together, produce a photosensitive emulsion.  After applying the emulsion to a surface (paper for example) an image can be produced when exposure to UV light and developed in plain water.  A perfect project for kids!

A 9 foot square piece of fabric is not easy to get an emulsion onto, so I bought one already sensitized through blueprintsonfabric.com. After explaining the process and project to the kids, the collected props and practiced the setup.   After a rainout Saturday, we got lucky Sunday and managed to get it in before the next storm.   We did the print on the playfield, developed it in the stream, and hung it to dry on the clothesline.  The kids creativity and patience paid out with a beautiful print which they will be hanging at this years Camp Fair!

 Here are some pictures from JEFC includuding the mural design.

I have finally finished sorting and editing my photos and created a web gallery. Please leave feedback!

http://www.jasondorfman.net/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=788

I arrived back home Wednesday after a 30 hour, 3 plane journey from China Mai, Thailand.  Towards the last third of the trip the blog entries faded out, however the experience did not.  Cave diving, Thai kick boxing, slow boating down the Mekong, helping monks build a New Years’ shrine, were just a few of the memorable events.

I am currently combing through my 5000+ photos and home to have a captioned slideshow put together soon and up on my web.

Stay tuned!

Hanoi Water Puppets for sale 

A political statement, or preparing a fire for tonights dinner?

A view of Halong Bay from a limestone cave

Diving off the boat in Halong Bay. 

Butcher on two wheels. 
(we have also seen on moterbikes:  5 mattresses, 6 people, doznens of live chickens, a motorbike, and on…)

Although I had now idea what the hell was going on, the ancient Water Puppet Show in Hanoi is simple art made beautiful. So much, in fact, I bought two original puppets used in the show! I wouldn’t say they are a collectors item as they are commonly sold around the theater, but they are damn cool and still work.

A trip to Hanoi is incomplete without an excursion to nearby Halong Bay. Our day was a bit overcast, but it only seemed to add mystique with the thousands of limestone karsts endlessly popping out of the mist while reflecting their grey silhouettes off the naturally green emerald waters. The beauty was short lived, however, as our dive in the water was accompanied by skin staining oil and hypodermic needles. Really.

The past two days have been mostly travel and today we arrived in the hilly, tropical Laos. In the coming days I hope to do some cave exploration and riding a bike into the rich, green countryside.

Short update, but tomorrow I hope to upload some cool shots!

Best to all!

Three days is Hoi An are just not enough to take in the city which was once Vietnam’s most important trading post.  Designated a world heritage site, old town Hoi An  has retained its old world charm and style.  Automobiles are prohibited from old town center making it perfect for walking  or renting a motorbike.  Many visitors come to have new clothes tailored (done,)

take a walking tour through old town (done,)

or maybe a boatride down the Bon river (done.) 

But by far the most memorable day was renting a motorbike and getting lost in the surrounding villages and country side where I met a wonderful family from Can Nam village

and later rode to the coutry side where an old rice farmer showed my his bountiful crop

Alas, we could not stay longer.  A four hour bus ride to the old North / South Vietnamese delineation city of Hue stopped at Marble Mountain.  Sometimes timing is pure luck, as when I walked into one of the mauntians’ cathedral caves to find few rays of sunlight swirling through incense smoke onto the marble platform below.

Vietnamese tourists love the beaches of the coastal town of Nha Trang.  It is also become very popular with foreign visitors as well and with good reason.  The beaches are long an beautiful, but the city (at least not yet - it is growing fast) has not fallen into the resort like tourist trap like Sihanoukville, Cambodia.

I enjoyed the Long Sun Pagoda, Tram Towers, and little side villages where I met local fisherman making lines and the stores selling pickled sea horses in mason jars - but my personal highlight was meeting a multiple award winning Vietnamese photographer in his  Nha Tran studio.  I spent an hour talking to him about the Vietnamese people, his approach to photography, and the small B&W dark room he works out of.  I can’t wait to frame and hang up the beautiful signed print of women working the salt fields of Ninh Diem for everyone to see.

Maybe the second best highlight is when I yelled at a kid in the Oceanographic Museum for hitting a sea turtle with his sandal.  The whole place went quiet and I believe he deuced his trousers.  Justice served.

Oh, speaking of sandals, I am currently in Hội An which has over three hundred custom tailors ready to make you any piece of clothing you can imagine.  I am having leather sandals with a Vietnam star stitched on the side and a new shirt.  Ready in 12 hours!

Saigon (Ho Chi Min City) is home to the War Remnants Museum, which although the exhibit is not terribly politically balanced, you cannot escape the terrible genocide of the Vietnamese people. Horrific images of napalm victims and the disfiguring effects of agent orange used by the “American Imperialists” dominate the main hall. A difficult sight for even the strongest hearts and stomachs.

Also just outside Saigon are the Cu Chi Tunnels which are a network of tunnels used by numerous Vietnamese guerrilla fighters. They served as a defensive and offensive stronghold as well as supply routes and living quarters during the Tet Offensive. Today, they serve as an exhibit and memorial park. Visitors have a chance to crawl through a portion of the tunnels which have been expanded to accommodate the “lager” westerners. Although they have been expanded 1.5 times, it is still very difficult to get through. I can’t even image living in there while being carpet bombed, suffering from malaria, and nearly starving to death.

An overnight train in the evening takes us to Nha Trang.

I finally have access to a computer which I can upload some photos on. I hope to have time to upload some more soon.

Grand Palace - Bangkok, Thailand

Old Market - Siem Reap, Cambodia

Bowl Paddling Girl in Tonle Sap Lake - Siem Reap, Cambodia

Sun Rise Over Ankor Wat

Local Rice Farmer - Takeo, Cambodia

Killing Fields Memorial - Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Scooters - Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

How many ways can a bowl of Pho be made?  I know of at least 8 because each one I have had has been as different as they were delicious.  The best place for a bowl is at Ben Thanh Market where hundreds of vendors flag you down or grope you to take a look at their knock-off Billibong, Vietnamese coffee, fresh produce, snakewine (Vietnamese Viagra) or local unrecognizable pickled objects.  Nestled among all these shops are the food stalls where you pull up a little plastic red stool and order yourself a hot bowl of Pho.  The Vietnamese speak surprisingly less english then Cambodians, so my strategy is to point to whatever the locals are eating.   Aside from the wicked diarrhea, it seems to be working!