Even
from the first day we knew it was going to be great. Driving in from the airport
in Hanoi through the flat outer areas of the city, we were surrounded by watery
rice paddies that reflected a big orange sun sinking low in the sky.
Though
it was a Saturday, the city roads were filled with hordes of people on bikes and
motor scooters.
Our
group was 21 strong. The core members came from the Museum Volunteers Study
Group on Vietnam and Cambodia that ran in 2000. Ursula led the study group and
when we said we all wanted to go to V & C she agreed to organize the tour--and
this she did very masterfully indeed.
Ursula
was accompanied by her husband Andreas and several
others came in pairs too – Ursula and Peter
Casaula, Sabine and Wulf
Riedell, Maria and Heribert
Dresbach, Claire Lise and Andres
Shumacher (and daughter Anais), Renate
and Klaus Wittmer and us Fitzpatricks.
The singles--though all are married--were Sony Ng, China
Lim Go, Rose Wehrli, Linda
Lupton, Consuelo Steley and Shigeko
Hamada.
On
that first night we were pedalled around old Hanoi in cyclos. What a hoot –
climbing into 21 rickshaws rather like prams that push the passenger face first
into the traffic! We had a marvelous journey through the streets that were still
so busy with locals out and about shopping or sitting in roadside cafes drinking
tea or beer.
Day
2.
We, the Fitzpatricks woke horribly early--the alarm was still on Manila
time and it was 4.30 am. We shared our first group buffet breakfast and set off
for Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum. There was an amazing number of Vietnamese queued
solemnly waiting to pass in front of his body. He looked so precious, with a
warm golden pink glow. It didn’t matter how important a person you might be in
there you were hurried through officiously!
Next
was the Ho Chi Minh Museum which was a quizzical arrangement of 20th
Century art and social history with a heavy suggestion of the power and might of
Russia.
From
the Museum we drove around some of the inner city streets to admire the lovely
French architecture. Hanoi is a city of warm yellow buildings with deep green
iron grills and gates. This French style combined with a traditional Asian
lifestyle is charming.
We
went to the One Pillar Pagoda and the Tran Quoc Temple near the West Lake. There
we saw rows of stupas with recesses for burning incense, and a large burner in
front of the temple itself. It was very dark inside and the embroideries that
hung low along the sides were very old and stained with the years of candle and
incense burning nearby. The altar was crammed with statues, flowers, fruits and
offerings.
Our
last visit for the day was to the Museum of Ethnology and it was an it was an
hour of rewarding discoveries. The museum was relatively new and very well
constructed and planned. It was good to see that the Vietnamese Government sees
fit to feature the lives and inventions of their ethnic peoples. Great attention
was focused on an amazing variety of artifacts constructed from simple material.
And with each study of an ethnic group the museum provided a TV monitor
and some simple stools so people could sit and watch the way something was
constructed or the way in which it was used.
The
most exciting artifacts in the museum (for me) were the paper decorations made
in different regions for ceremonial purposes and to be used as offerings to
Deities. They were such lovely constructions of coloured papers twisted and
formed into long clusters as long as 5 feet hanging from the ceiling. Others
enjoyed the beautiful textiles, weavings and beadworks.
After
a quick visit to the Temple of Literature we set off on the long journey to
Halong Bay. We travelled along the top of a dyke. In every direction the land
was flat and with many kilometers of rice fields. I was reminded of Bruegal’s
paintings with so many people working in the fields. We also passed a couple of
weddings. The bridal cars were marked with big red Chinese Characters for Double
Happiness. We stopped at a pottery village. Shop after shop - with workshops in
the rear…imagine being born into such a place, what choice would you have but
to be a pottery worker? We shopped there and at a silk shop along the way.
Eventually we arrived at Halong Bay late, ate early, and realized how tired we
were.
Day
3. It was pretty important that this day be sunny but it was not to
be. When we boarded the boat all was misty and gray. It was so gray that
photography was useless. The islands were just dark shadows in the distance but
up close we saw they were impressive – craggy and with foliage on the top
sides. We stopped at one island and made an exhausting climb up the hill to the
entry of some limestone caves. They were enormous – like cathedrals inside,
and we heard that Vietnamese soldiers hid in them during wartime.
Back
on the boat our marvelous guide Xe selected
seafood from fishing boats that
came alongside. Then the lunch was cooked on board and it was one of the best
meals we had on the trip. After lunch we set off back to Hanoi along the same
road. By then the day was dismal, gray and drizzling. As we passed back through
the rice fields the landscape took on a very different mood from the day before.
Life looked much harder. Later that night the tour went off to experience the
famous Hanoi Water Puppet show.
Day
4. This day was wet and rainy and we were quite happy to be leaving
as we set off for the airport. We passed a flower market on the way – a sea of
Vietnamese hats and raincoats punctuated with brilliant yellow chrysanthemums.
There
was much drama at the airport since the plane that had arrived to take us to
Danang was much smaller than expected. We couldn’t all fit in. Ursula was
magnificent in her negotiations – she kept her cool and devised a fair way to
decide who would go. We each draw a paper from her hand – then some were
numbered and some were blank. Having made our draws we could swap amongst
ourselves. The group was remarkably good-natured about this and the lucky 11
boarded. The rest of the group would follow later in the day.
As
we lifted through the clouds into the sky we cleared the rain and never saw rain
again on the trip.
Danang
was a small town and our first stop was to the famous Museum of Champa – where
we knew the statues of the ancient Champa kingdom were held. The museum was
rather like a temple itself with open walls. It was filled with marvelous
statuary – all the Gods and deities were there and such lively interpretations
– Ganesha (standing for a change), Garuda, Naga, the Guardians, Shiva and
Shiva Lingas. The mood was set here for Angkor!
We
went to Marble Mountain, and to China Beach where the Americans first landed.
Finally we arrived at the ancient town of Hoi An and went directly to the
silk factory. We were shown the silk worms dining in the dark on mulberry leaves.
After 24 days of dining they stop and begin to spin the cocoon. If one pulls at
the silk of the cocoon at this stage it comes off in clumps but if it is boiled
then it can be taken off in long strands – up to 500 metres off a single
cocoon. If it is taken off by traditional spinning it is raw silk if taken by
machine then it becomes fine silk. Those of us lucky enough to be there spent up
big.
Hoi
An was a delightful place with small streets and gorgeous worn and faded
coloured buildings. We went to lunch with Andres, our temporary leader, and Xe,
and we ate off masses of blue and white china. We knew the rest of the group was
winging and busing their way to us but nevertheless the day was strange without
them.
In
Hoi An we saw temples and shops and an
ancient covered bridge. Especially
charming were the people who prepared snack foods on the streets and many of us
tried their wares. Later in the day we retired to the hotel to wait for the rest
of the group and eventually the arrived having done a quick tour of the town
themselves. We returned to the same restaurant for dinner. Ursula was in need of
a gin and tonic so a special envoy was sent out on his bike to get some. It was
a rip-roaring night with everyone delighted to be together again and looking
forward to an easier day the next day. We climbed back into the bus a little
happier than usual and travelled back to Danang to sleep.
Day
5. Those members of the group who had missed the Champa Museum the
day before got up early on this morning to see it before we left for Hue.
The
drive to Hue took 3 hours and we stopped by the sea for a refresher on the way.
We passed some lovely scenery on that morning as we drove up and along craggy
cliffs overlooking the sea. All around there were gum trees and it seemed like
Australia. Later in the flat lands we stopped several times to take photos and
to look at one of the many cemeteries that are dotted throughout Vietnam. We
took photos of school children in their little red communist scarves. All along
the way the Vietnamese were charming and welcoming – even the postcard sellers
were almost tolerable.
In
Hue we rushed to the local market for some hurried food shopping before our boat
trip on the Perfumed River (so called for its flora). The market was a riot of
activity and the locals were very surprised indeed to see us. We gobbled down
our fruits and breads as we made our way in the bus to our very own Dragon Boat.
As we set off the space we had entered on the boat was transformed into a shop
and an absolute feeding frenzy ensued as we collected yet more bargain clothes.
Though
we were shopping we were also traveling down the Perfume River of Hue. On the
far bank we saw vast numbers of Vietnamese who live on tiny boats on the river.
Xe told us that UN organizations had been trying to relocate them onto land but
they refused to go. There were as many as a couple of hundred boats clustered
together. Some were moored together with linking planks, many had pot plants and
we even saw a pet dog or two.
Balanced
on the top of the boats we saw the traditional small ancestor spirit houses –
these were very simple but colourful structures and each was decorated with
flowers or incense. While these were impoverished living standards, in the sun
and on the day we saw them the people seemed happy. It looked a cleaner life
than it might have been had they lived on land. But, needless to say, the river
must be suffering bad pollution as a result.
The
trip continued downstream and finished at the Thien Mu
Pagoda. The grand
structure had seemed to beckon us towards it. The Pagoda and temple was home to
the famous monk who, in the 1960s, drove to Saigon, sat on the road in front of
the government buildings and self immolated. He was protesting the US
occupation. At the back of this peaceful and lovely temple we saw the area where
a second monk repeated the act. The quietness and calming effect of the temple
was heightened in the garden of magnificent old Bonsai.
We
were in a quiet and reflective mood by the time we left this Pagoda for the
Temple of Literature. This place was not so nearly impressive but interesting
enough with its rows of steles each resting on a turtle. Light was fading so we
then hurried on to the Citadel.
As
we rushed towards it, trying to dodge the roaring motor bikes of peak hour, the
Imperial Citadel looked very grand. Hue had been the capital during the Nguyen
Dynasty (around 16/17th Century) and the Imperial Citadel dates from
17C. Though it seemed a very magnificent structure (albeit after the style of
the Forbidden City Beijing) there were some very strange features about the
building. The decorated facades on the roofs and walls were mosaics constructed
from shards of broken Chinese porcelain.
There
were strong historical links with China and the reigning kings of Vietnam always
loved to own the best superior products from China. (I know this from Tita
Gamboa’s paper for our study group – “Blue de Hue: Porcelains for the
Vietnamese Court”. Some of these wonderful porcelains found their way to the
walls and structures of the Citadel. Though probably not as valued as carving or
paintings these were unusual and unexpected decorations and very beautiful with
wonderful colours and textures.
We
had a quick march through the Citadel and then down to the garden house at the
rear – it was then that we saw that the whole site had been shelled in the
war. We were shown into a temple that was still in tact but we were pretty
exhausted now and it was getting dark fast. As we headed for the doors Ursula
and I came upon the most glorious set of three arches with glowing orange and
pink faded paintwork. We both reached for our cameras and took what we knew
would be ordinary photos since the light was already all but gone.
Back
at the hotel that night we cleaned up and met for dinner and some of us were
ashamed that we needed to be driven some 200 metres for dinner -
we were so tired.
Day
6.
Ho Chi Minh City – or as most of us know it – Saigon! We saw
immediately that Saigon was everything that Hanoi was NOT. First impressions
were of a frantic but well organized, modern, clean and altogether m ore
sophisticated city.
Like
good MVPers we wasted no time getting to the History Museum where Xe walked us
through Vietnam history. Then we called at Saigon Notre Dame where Xe was keen
to point out that current restrictions still prohibit full free religious
Next
we toured the Reunification Palace – renamed, and re-assigned from the Royal
Palace. This was a building of the most ghastly communist variety. But the
history of the war was bought to life for us in this building and particularly
from the short film we saw about the US occupation, the withdrawal and finally
the Communist takeover. An excellent example of propaganda.
In
the afternoon we called to see lacquerware being produced at the Tay Son
Lacquerware factory. We saw the laborious process in the making of these works
and many of us left quite a lot of money behind. Last stop of the day was to the
Vinh Nghiem Pagoda. Some of us purchased little live birds so that we could set
them free and buy for ourselves some good karma. This is an old Vietnamese
tradition.
We
were free to find our own dinner that night but at least three separate groups
turned up at the same restaurant – reputed to be one of the best in town –
The Lemon Grass restaurant and it was very good indeed.
Day
7.
We celebrated a birthday at breakfast this day with songs and a gift of
chocolates for Martin Fitzpatrick then we set of for the Thien Hau
Temple. As
luck would have it it was the first day of the new moon so the temple was in
full celebration. We entered through a smoke haze from the hundreds of coils of
incense that were hung from above. Big burners were being fed with fake money
that had been formed into the shape of lotus flowers. It all created a wonderful
fiery ambience, which was enhanced by some occasional drumming from a monk at
the rear.
From
this compelling atmosphere we went to the War Museum which was fairly upsetting
for some with an array of weapons and graphic photos of war victims (like those
who suffered from agent orange). No-one wanted to stay too long – besides we
were keen to get to the Chinese market in the heart of
Chinatown. This was a
huge sprawling affair that sold everything imaginable – China Lim Go had a
field day here! Later we went to the Antique market and we found a marvelous old
Limepot for Ursula as our gift at the end of the tour.
In
the evening we dined on the Saigon River where we saw a dancing girl eat fire
and stroke her body with a flaming fire stick. That night we had to say goodbye
to Vietnam and to our guide Xe and his wife both of whom had been marvelous to
us.
Next month the story of our trip to Cambodia and the fabulous temples of Angkor Wat