Dalat is known for being a lovely mountain city with fresh air, trees, and all that crap. One of the main attractions in the city is Xuan Huong Lake, which is named after an eighteenth century lady-poet. I spent most of my time in Dalat on the shore of the lake, being totally feminist. Ho Xuan Huong was, in some ways, the Chaucer of her time and culture--she wrote in the venacular language, based her form on folk culture, and was really, really sexually explicit. The book of and about her poetry (oh, don't act like you didn't already guess that I researched this woman the moment I heard about her) points out that since Vietnamese is a tonal language, you can make really dirty stuff seem high-minded, which is what she does. A translation of least dirty poem is below:
Spring-Watching Pavilion
A gentle spring evening arrives
airily, unclouded by worldly dust.
Three times the bell echoes like a wave.
We see heaven upside down in sad puddles.
Love's vast sea cannot be emptied.
And springs of grace flow easily everywhere.
Where is nirvana?
Nirvana is here, nine times out of ten.
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