Images of Punishment

Interesting day; those moments when you get into the car and just drive into any direction and see where the wheels take you.

Gia Lai is a region of Vietnam only opened to foreigners 10 years or so ago - this is mostly due to the high presence of military activities in the area and the strategic location of the city of Pleiku - at crossroads and the closest to the borders with Laos and Cambodia - played a key role in the war. So the presence of any foreigners is still considered a local attraction (stat: Pleiku has a population of 150'000, of which 7 foreigners, all of them working in commodities :0)

Images of Punishment refers to the set of pictures which were located in the hallways of the Minh Thanh Pagoda, no need to understand Vietnamese to understand that hell exists in all religions - but the vividness of the images was indeed quite expressive.

Than drove towards the Cambodian border, drove into some government owned coffee and rubber plantations - to only arrive at a dead end, where a very deserted lake awaited us. An image out of Mars Attack - the area is has very red soils and due it being the dry season - dead looking trees and trees growing out of the middle of the lake. A necessary side stop to enjoy some fresh coconut juice served to us by a lady which knows how to use her machete!!

It was a great day as usual in the adventurous lands of Vietnam.

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Location: Minh Thanh Pagoda, Pleiku, Gia Lai, Vietnam