Long ago when I was a young man my then Vietnamese girlfriend asked me to go with her to see a then new buddhist site,

I was only 21 then, and I had no interest in anything Budhist, but she insisted so I went.

That was in 1967

I eventually married that Vietnamese woman, but she has been dead many for years now ... that's another story however.

Now I am 66 years old and call myself a Buddhist,

I just made the journey again to that same site last week and revisited that Buddhist site.

here;s a WikiPedia link to the URL describing the site.

http://en.wikipedia....Ca_Phật_Äà i

It was difficult for this old man to climb all the way up there, but with some help from some people i made it

A personal journey for me.

P.S. I consider myself a Zen practioner in case you;re wobdering.

How is Vung Tau these days? 13 years since I visited the place. Congrats on making the climb!

I would like to go visit this site sometime.. I haven't been back to Vietnam since 1969. I wear a different uniform today..

I live in a Thai Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Phoenix Arizona for now, we are friends and brothers of a Vietnamese Buddhist temple in Central Phoenix. We visit them about once a month. They are always asking me to go visit Vietnam. Great people..

I didn't mention it in my original post but this comment from that URL I posted in my oprinal post is true

The site has become a major tourist location in the city as well as a tourist lookout.

The Vietnamese try to portray the site as a "tourist attraction" and seemed to me to be slightly hesitant to talk about it as a religious site.

But the site is also definately a nice place to visit ... even for non Buddhists .... and well worth the trip.

Just be prepared for a long climb.

I went to Vung Tau as a not-yet-20 year old in 1966 as a communications technician with the U.S. Army

Great to go back in more peaceful times, IMA. It's good to be in our 60s and able to revisit places and people we used to know, especially those that were most formative.

How freely is Zen (Thien) practised in Vietnam? I know monks and nuns of Thich Nhat Hanh's lineage have been harrassed quite badly, but I assume that's due more to their connection to him (and his support for the Dalai Lama) than their beliefs and practices.