Monday, August 17, 2009 at 4:35AM While running last minute errands in Hanoi on Dr. Ban's motorcycle, we got a flat tire on Pham Ngu Lao Street. Help was right around the corner. Took about five minute to change the tube (the old one was too ratty to patch) and cost about 40,000 VND, i.e. a little over two dollars.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009 at 10:35AM I got stuck in rush hour traffic in the Old Quarter of Hanoi this afternoon. So vibrant and we were moving so slowly. The driver was continually honking the horn. I was continually smiling and filming. Look closely. The girl with the ladder, the lady in the dress shop, the vegetable sellers, the kids running down the sidewalk, the variety of different helmets and face masks. There are a million stories here. [NOTE: Music by Esbjörn Svensson Trio].
Monday, July 20, 2009 at 11:00AM 
Sweeping up the courtyard at the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources in Hanoi, Vietnam. Some of the work on rattan in Vietnam (see Weaving a Trivet and An Unusual Rattan) was done in collaboration with IEBR.
Sunday, March 15, 2009 at 6:53AM Trip to the airport for flight to Da Nang. Cars, and bicycles, and motorcycles, and rickshas, and pedestrians and seriously dangerous wiring. [NOTE: Check out the loose bundles of cables strung along the left side of the street in the last part of the clip; music is by Phronesis].
Friday, March 13, 2009 at 12:26AM Spent a quiet, drizzly morning at Lake Hoan Kiem in the Old Quarter of Hanoi. Legend has it that the Vietnamese Emperor, Le Loi, defeated the Chinese in 1418 with a magic sword. After the victory, the sword was returned to the lake by a golden tortoise. Hence, the name "Lake of the Returned Sword" and the beautiful Turtle Pagoda in the middle of the lake (shown below). Lot of locals doing Tai Chi in the morning mist.
Am off to Da Nang this afternoon. Will spend a week or so in the region doing rattan inventories in several protected areas.
Hanoi, Jade Mountain temple, Lake Hoan Kiem in Science | Share Article | Email Article | Print Article Thursday, January 29, 2009 at 8:02PM 
A street vendor in Hanoi waters her basket of lotus flowers (Nelumbo nucifera) and roses. [NOTE: Taken during a wonderful afternoon of just wandering around town with my camera].