I started off biking down a little lane behind the town of Ninh Binh, south of Hanoi, which turned onto a path along a dike and eventually, after I crossed a couple of bridges and biked down a cow path and through a watery cemetery, I ended up on a wide truck road that was nearly empty. The road twisted for six miles through a hazy landscape of karsts. My bike is below. Every few hundred meters, I passed a little pagoda set into the rocks; this one was surrounded by water and only accessible by a raised pathway.
There is something very haiku-ish about three white blossoms on a dying tree in front of a pagoda! 
The red flowers would make an inferior poem to the white blossoms, I think.
Little homes.
I am not sure why, but a shot of boats tied up together is the quintessential tourist photograph, no matter where in the world it is. It's like the universal symbol for touristhood.
The sun gets very full and heavy and red at dusk. And it sinks very fast.
Here's a miniature-pagoda grave in the cemetery I passed through. Maybe traditional architecture here mirrors the landscape a bit?
Disclaimer: I photoshopped these a bit because they were quite blown out in the haze! I'm sure there is a better setting for this kind of light.
If you are going to call your pictures haiku-worthy you really should write the haiku!
ReplyDeletehere is one on why tourists feel an affinity for tied up boats:
came here to wander
but huddled together still
and speaking english
I have been waiting for a white blossom haiku to spark but I think there might already be a famous haiku about white blossoms...or two.
ReplyDeleteyours is quite good, though!