Copyright 2005 -- Rachel Saunders
|
Hanoi--> Previous --> Next --> Home --> More Adventures --> vietnam Index |
|
|
April
27th, 2005: |
| Journal
Continued: This was once the French colonial capital and the influence of French Indochina has not gone away. There are beautiful colonial buildings, broad avenues and amazing walking parks. Hanoi is a very cool place and evidently this is THE time to be here since it is the 30th anniversary of the reunification of Vietnam. Ever since our arrival, they have been systematically posting celebratory propaganda posters all along the streets, on every tree, or many walls. Around the main lake in the old quarter, they have set up all of these installations, art shows, and bandstands for absolutely hilarious performances by various groups here. |
|
|
Journal
Continued: Since we had quite a bit of time in Hanoi, we decided to take things relatively slow. We took the little walking tour of the old quarter in Hanoi. Our hotel is nicely situated to have easy access to all of the critical sites and fun stuff in the town. In the old quarter, there are all of these old narrow shopping streets which are named for the stuff that was typically sold on the street. Now many of the streets should be renamed.. tourist stuff street... but some of the shops are true to their origins. There is a street for packing materials, a street for bamboo, a street for shoes, a street for masks and toys, a street for silk, a street for just about everything that you would need in 17th century Vietnam... or Indochina back then. |
| Above:
Buddha contemplating... Right: One of the ehtnic houses constructed at the museum of ethnology. This was one of my favorites. Below: A long hut with large jugs which are used for ceremonial purposes. Evidently, the tribal people get completely wasted as the drink from each of the jugs filled with some very strong alcohol. During these ceremonies, everyone drinks-- from children to dogs. It must be quite a scene. |
 |
Left: Contemplating life no doubt, two gentlemen sit outside of the tomb amongst the pleasant grounds. : |
| Journal
Continued: We later ate at one of our favorite restaurants thus far.. Bobby Chin's. Hilary Clinton ate there and the chef is a chinese-american/egyptian who married a girl from Hanoi and then started this wonderful culinary delight. For one of the first times since we arrived, Cristel and I treated ourselves to NON Vietnamese food. Thus far we have been surviving mainly on stirfry and pho... (a tasty soup spiced with cloves). Museum marathon. Cristel and I first went to the Vietnamese history museum which was just around the corner from our house and was pretty amazing. It had the history of the area starting with pre neo-lithic era. |
|
 |
Journal
Continued: There doesn't seem to be the same problem here with evolution as there is in the US. While we were there, a military academy had brought their students there to learn all about history I guess. These boys in the bright green uniforms listened intently to the museum guide and took notes as the listened about repeated chinese invasions, cultural influences from china, india, and others. Also, amusingly, they were so interested in all of the ancient relics ... they couldn't help but touch them. "IS THIS REALLY A STATUE?" I imagine one thinking as he reached over to touch a beautiful ganesh statue from about 1000 years ago. Of course, there were signs all over the museum saying... DON'T TOUCH. So, I did my part and called their attention to the sign. Yeah, of course it probably didn't help... but oh well, I tried. ce to grow up... |
| Right:
A funerary hut, typical of one of the hill tribes. You should see some
of the statues close up... they might even be considered obscene ;-) |
 |
Left: Contemplating life no doubt, two gentlemen sit outside of the tomb amongst the pleasant grounds. : |
| Journal
Continued: Then we went to the most amazing museum of ethnology, which discussed all the different minority cultures that are around Vietnam. The viets make up about 86% of the population, but there are over 56 hill and lowland tribes that retain their very unique, non-viet traditions and still live as they did 200+ years ago. They are somewhat aware of the options that they have in Saigon and Hanoi and the rest of Vietnam, but seem pretty content to continue as they are. It is amazing to find in such a small geographic space a place like Hanoi or Saigon... a modern, lively and relatively prosperous population ... and a place where people live so completely simply that I can't imagine it. |
|
|
Left: Soldiers training near the Ho Chi Minh complex. : |
| Journal
Continued: In addition to the normal exhibits, the museum had on its grounds, built samples of several very unique traditional houses. They not only made these houses with traditional materials, they brought in the traditional artisans to actually build them using traditional methods. Many of these houses were very rudimentary, but they were as organized and structured as Ikea with special places for the grain, the parents to sleep, the children to sleep, ritual areas, the alter for the ancestors... so on and so forth. Some were high off the ground with open bamboo flooring to let in a lot of breeze and avoid flooding, others were thick mud walls with few windows in the colder regions. Cristel and I spent a good deal of time wandering through these recreations in awe. |
 |
| Left:
Contemplating life no doubt, two gentlemen sit outside of the tomb amongst
the pleasant grounds. : |
 |
Left: Contemplating life no doubt, two gentlemen sit outside of the tomb amongst the pleasant grounds. : |
|
Journal
Continued: Our final stop for the day was the Temple of literature.. the old school and temple that was originally begun by followers of Confucian techniques. From this school 82 classes of doctors of the maderinate were passed during the 200+ years of existence. Each class has their names carved in a stone stelae which sits atop the holy animal.. the turtle to commend their accomplishment. These were not doctors in the sense that we think of doctors. They didn't specialize in a certain area... they were universal experts in a series of very different areas. We were told that their exams were sort of like mental decathlons. Near the temple and school were a series of gardens for greater reflection and contemplation I am sure. I found myself contemplating a great deal as I sat under a banyan tree, resting my weary feet. : |
| Right: A closeup
of a baby monkey who resides full time on the verdant grounds of Akbar's
tomb. Not a bad place to grow up... |
 |
 |
Journal
Continued: After our whirlwind of tourism, we met another friend of a friend, Phong. He works for the French embassy here doing something in film. A little about Phong. He was born in '66 and was here during the bombing of Hanoi. Under Communism, his father and mother were an athlete and an artist respectively, and therefore received more than the average amount of food stamps. Even then, though, they could only have meat once a week and there were often severe shortages of rice. He described life as quite difficult when he was growing up as during the 80s and early 90s the government allowed for some economic openness followed by greater restrictions. |
| Right: A closeup
of a baby monkey who resides full time on the verdant grounds of Akbar's
tomb. Not a bad place to grow up... |
 |
| Journal
Continued: As a child, he was taught to carve clocks, sell water, and make do with what they had. A great deal changed about ten years ago. He started working ... selling bottled water at first. After a while he could afford a cool German bike like he wanted. Then he sold that and with more raised money, bought a little motor scooter. A few years later, he upgraded to an old American jeep.. abandoned during the war. And finally, he upgraded to his Japanese motorbike. Ten years, and a lot of change. Meanwhile, his family has developed their trades and have done quite well for themselves. |
 : |
|
Left: Contemplating
life no doubt, two gentlemen sit outside of the tomb amongst the pleasant
grounds. : Journal Continued: Today we had to catch up on a few critical things that we missed. Namely, the Ho Chi Minh complex. In an about an hour, the oiled tourist machine that the Viets have created pushes you through the tomb where ho chi minh himself lays (embalmed and looking a lot like a wax figure), despite his express wishes to be simply cremated and to NOT have a big to do for him. Then you are rushed onto the presidential palace, his office buildings, the garage where are stored some of his favorite cars, his stilted house which is this amazing wood structure that would be the nicest tree house you could imagine filled with beautiful wood furniture. The machine then spits you out at the one pillar pagoda... an unimpressive little temple atop a single, yet gigantic pillar in the middle of a lake. There is some story about why there is but one pillar, but it left about as much an impression on me as the pagoda itself. |
| Journal Continued: I spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the old quarter, ducking into cool little shops, seeing a sight every now and then and haggling about the price of pillowcases and silk goods. I don't really need anything more, but there are some really unique and beautiful things here that I want to share with everyone. |
|
|
Journal
Continued: This evening, Cristel's beau Jon arrived and his first experience in Vietnam was the first of the 30th anniversary festivities, including a most hilarious series of performances and old reel footage from the war. There were ballet reenactments of bombardments, victories, anti-aircraft action, etc. Plus there was some seriously Russian sounding songs that groups in Military regalia were singing. Throngs of people sat in awe of the performance and we somehow fenagled great positions just in front of the stage with the dignataries. Essentially, we indicated that we just needed to cross the area to get to the other side, and then got distracted by the crazy goings on in front of us... so we had to stop. It wasn't till later that we realized that we were in a place... we probably shouldn't be in. But oh well. |
| :Right
& Above: The Dragon performers who entertained hundreds of onlookers
with military marches and drummers and footage on the screen in the
background. Truly a multi-media experience. : Contemplating life no doubt, two gentlemen sit outside of |
 |
 |
Left: Children
waiting to have their picture taken with a portrait of Ho Chi Minh. |
| Right: Morning
fan dancing lessons along the lake in the center of Hanoi. --> Previous --> Next --> Home --> More Adventures --> vietnam Index |
|