Sarus Exchange Program 2011

1. SarusExchange Program Vietnam Seminar 5 in Can Tho and Soc Trang. Learning about the Khmer Buddhism in the Mekong Delta.

2. Our first destination in the seminar, PhuocThien Southern medicine dispensary.

3. In the dispensary, the herbs …

4. … are dried on the ground.

5. We were very excited to smell, taste and guess what it is.

6. A woman was cutting the trunks into small pieces.

7. The man was talking about his daily work.

8. Next to the Southern oriental medicine clinic, a Khmer pagoda was under construction

9. A young Khmer monk was enthusiastically introducing us about the pagoda architecture.

10. We enjoyed dinner with Banhxeo- a very famous dish in Vietnamese cuisine…

11. Chao Ca-a delicious dish in South Western

12. These are vegetables and flowers put in the hot-pot. Some of them are only found in the Mekong Delta

13. And nothing left on the table. Then we moved to Can Tho university.

14. It was a very big holiday that day. Students were off, and they were having a big camp. We were lucky to join with them in their tent.

15. Take a look at the insight of their tent. You can see a picture of Uncle Ho.

16. In the next morning, we traveled to Soc Trang and visitedKleang pagoda.

17. A stupa in Kleang pagoda, the ashes of the deceased monk is put under this tower.

18. The beautiful outside look of the main hall.

19. The elevator leads to the main hall. It is decorated with animals and god to protect the hall.

20. NeakTà –the protective God of Khmers

21. In the middle of main hall, there are four statues of Buddha.

22. The wood pillar of the main hall is decorated with lively dragon. The abbot told us that this was influenced by the Chinese.

23. The windows are also decorated

24. The model of Siddhartha Gautama under a tree.

25. collection of Buddhism souvenirs.

26. The beautiful and mysterious scene when we look out the main hall.

27. The roof of the main hall is decorated with NeakTà and animals- to protect the temple.

28. Statue of an unknown kind of animal protects the temple.

29. The school for Khmer students. They teach the Khmer Khmer language, Vietnamese and English.

32. We took a group picture together. You can see the abbot of the pagoda in his daily costume

33. A very cute photo of Jenny, she helped us a lot in the research methodology.

34. The three-head snake in Khmer Buddhism.

35. A lying Buddha statue.

36. After leaving Kleang pagoda, we set feet on the gate of Bat Pagoda.

37. There were a lot of tourists coming to see the bats.

38. We were listening to the talk of a monk about the history of Bat pagoda.

39. A Khmer statue but Vietnamese style.

40. This pagoda is well-known for the bats.

41. They gather together, live in the pagoda’s campus.

42. They were hanging on the trees, ignoring the curious looks from tourists.

43. In the afternoon, we had group discussion on the topic we chose for our researchs.

44. Jenni, Mary were giving us advices on how to choose the best topic.

45. Another group was discussing their research’s topic with Lizs help. Then we came back to Can Tho city and the interesting journey ended.