CLUB MASTER HOANG

Thursday, February 18, 2016

POST 239 – 14-21FEB2016 CUBA / VARADERO Pictures Letter Charles Phan Hoang

POST 239 – 14-21FEB2016

CUBA / VARADERO
Charles Phan Hoang Letter
Pictures

Blog www.clubmasterhoang.blogspot.com

POST 329 – 14-21FEB2016

CUBA/VARADERO

g.m phan hoang

I have been visiting six cities in Cuba: Varadero, La Havana, Matanzas, Santa Clara, Trinidad, and Cienfuegos. All are very different from each other.

Cuba is the biggest island of the Cuban Archipelago which is made up of over four thousand small keys and islands. According to the people here Cuba counts 288 beaches, most of them, with splendid white sand, are among the best in the world. With 110,860 km² (42,820 sqmi) Cuba is larger than Portugal (92,212 km²) or Autriche (83 871 km²⁾, and much larger than Taïwan (36 188 km²), Sicily (25 708 km²), or Israel (20,770 km²) as I can notice.

Before landing on Varadero airport my flight passed over Florida and Key West. It is absolutely impressive to see from the sky the long Overseas Highway US 1 connecting Miami to Key West -113-miles (181.9 km) - through a series of small islands and over the sea like an endless bridge. About ten years ago, with one of my elder brothers I have been driving on this special Overseas Highway in a day where the sea was not calm and the wind was strong. At some points, some high waves almost passed over the road and that made us feel this Overseas Highway much longer than we had expected. When we safely reached Key West we did not hesitate to go to the best restaurant in town, no matter we were very hungry or not, nor how our travel budget could be respected.

When I arrived to my hotel Puntarenas in Varadero it was around Friday noon (February 05, 2016). It is clear that this resort is exclusively for foreign tourists. At the beautiful beach, at the pools, or at the bars I did not meet a single local person except the staff, those who work for the hotel providing all kind of services, and some travel-agents who come every day to sell their tours. The majority of the guests in this place, as I can assume, are Canadians, Russians, and Spaniards. Among the rest I could count some German and some Japanese tourists. The downtown is about 5 or 6km away from Puntarenas; twice a day a free bus assure the connection, otherwise taking a taxi or a horse-drawn carriage (the calash two wheels or the barouche four wheels) cost about US$10.
VARADERO is a peninsula and is only 1.2 km wide at its widest point. This spit of land however extends more than 21-km (13-miles) and it is the largest and most popular beach resort in Cuba. Its pristine white sand beach is considered by many to be one of the most beautiful in the world. At the north-eastern end of the peninsula there is a nature reserve with virgin forests and beaches. The center of town is very interesting with many Cuban small shops, restaurants, bars and coffee shops; Cuban music everywhere. The most attractive things to the tourist could be seeing a lot of beautiful American old cars running up and down the main street mixing with horse-drawn carriages. This brings the visitor back to the 50s or 60s. So life is very romantic when turning to the past as a tourist; but this spectacle could make you think of the dark side of reality: during more than half a century this society has not changed much while the whole world is changing and the average of salaries provided from government seems to be about $30 a month and a liter of gas costs about $1.50. But in this country not much people could own a car, no traffic jam, not much gas pollution. What a paradise! I have taken numerous pictures of these beautiful old American cars and horse-drawn carriages to share with you in this Post 239. Most of them are taxis.
I liked to walk and hang around in the city center, a section stretched about three kilometers from where there is the only bank to exchange money (32 Street), up to the end of a very nice park (further the 55 Street) where I could quietly do my exercises. Inside this park a small lake, some trees, and a bridge make the place romantic but I did not see much local people come enjoy life here. Next to the lake, at the end of the bridge I found a quiet traditional Cuban restaurant. Menus vary from 13 to 19 Cuc, about 14 to 20$ US, I will talk about this mysterious Cuban Convertible Peso in my next Post. I opted for the 15 Cuc, a fabulous lobster with local beer, dessert and coffee included. When I get out of the restaurant, certainly a glass of Cuban beer could not turn my mind enough to believe in what I saw on the parking: four or five beautiful and giant motorcycles, Harley-Davidson or so, parked there! Who could ride such expensive monsters in this so poor island? I was curious to know. Minutes later I found the group of these impressive guys in a distance, they are tall and well equipped. I approached them and dared to ask my question in Spanish. Unfortunately no one understood my Spanish. They are German bikers! They are very well organized to bring their group travelling here.

Sometimes I crossed the main street to go to the beach. When I looked over the sea I know Florida is not that far away. I remember the time, for twelve years, I regularly came to Miami conducting seminars on Research Methodology and on these occasions I got a number of Cuban good friends in this city; sometimes we talked about the problems of Cuba. In Florida there is a very large community of Cuban American people. We know they have a dream. When will their dream come true? (to be continued)
g.m (18 February 2016)

Thursday, February 4, 2016

POST 238 06 FEB2016 SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA

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POST 238 06FEB2016

from

PHAN HOANG’S NOTEBOOK

The spontaneous writings presented in this collection are first drafts, not edited texts

SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA

It was Tuesday morning, October 30^th, 2007, when Filipe (Master Filipe Leite de Sousa) came to pick me up for a trip up north from Porto to Santiago de Compostela, the famous place of the Way of St James in Spain. By the highway from Porto in Portugal it would take about two hours or so to get there, but we spent more than three hours for the sake of enjoying the trip, stopping here and there. I did not come to Compostela as a devoted pilgrim nor as a researcher willing to discover more truth about the curious story on the relics of St. James. I came to this place, as I did for many other places, simply because I know sacred places are places with high energy, strong cosmic vibration, rich in history, and beautiful to contemplate. Visiting sacred places contributes significantly to personal growth; it enriches our individual experiences. Also at these places you have a good chance of meeting with extraordinary people and learn unexpected precious lessons.

At Compostela that afternoon I met a man, an ordinary man at first glance. As you can see on the picture I am attaching here, he was quietly sitting on a stone bench in front of the Cathedral. Although with grey hairs and a nice beard he looked like many normal men you can find on the street at any city in Western Europe. However in that moment, and at that place, I paid him high esteem, and I managed to stay for a long moment close to him without talking much.

Who was he? I don’t know. Probably he was not a Nobel Laureate nor a famous singer; and surely not a master of martial arts nor a champion of tennis. What did he do so that I get inspired in him? He had simply accomplished what you and I, almost anyone, can do: Walking. The difference is he had walked a thousand kilometres just to come and sit here, in front of this Cathedral of Compostela to admire it, and feel accomplished, happy, without any other ambition. What motivated him to do so had come from the inside, not from the outside. This makes a whole difference. We too, to reach our goal we often walked many extra miles. Our goal, in most cases, means winning benefit, promotion, power, prestige, admiration. The motivations which come to us are from outside and always put us under pressure. Don’t misunderstand me. I do say clearly that it is very good when in life we can accomplish all these achievements. However, we should consider that this is just one side of life, the outer award. For the inner award, we have much more challenges to overcome because the choice comes from our inner voice. We obtain inner peace and happiness when we really decide to walk a long way, alone, in deep meditation, honestly facing ourselves. This man has accomplished it. At that moment in Compostela, I saw the transcendental happiness reflected in his quiet eyes. In some way, he has contributed to make Compostela more famous, more meaningful. On the reverse, Compostela itself, did not give anything tangible to him, however he needed some place called Compostela to test himself, to make his life happier. This relationship without premeditated aim between an individual and an event is called in Buddhism the “duyen”. The duyen is not a random relationship which leads to somewhere, it is the consequence of thousands of habits and thoughts under what we daily act without much questioning the Why. Creating good duyen is living accordingly to what we find good. This wise man had met his good duyen with Compostela.

We all have the possibility to do great things, what we lack is the understanding that we also can accomplish great things as the others did. Walking the long Way of St. James of Compostela (Le Chemin de St Jacques de Compostelle) is not the unique way to set your inner challenge for making yourself a strong person. The path is wide open to you each morning when you wake up and do some Vietchi exercises if you understand that each exercise has its name, its own meaning,

its flow of energy, its beauty. They are not just mere physical exercises; they are thousand challenges to train you for not falling when you walk the long path of life. I know you know these VietChi exercises, but I am not sure if you know yourself, the one who possesses the miracle tool for gaining inner strength and happiness.

One day, if it happens to you to visit this place, please do me a favour by sending me a picture of you, taken at the same place. It would create some kind of complicity between us.

g.m phan hoang