Hanoi, Vietnam – November 13-15, 2010

Our flight from Hue arrived in Hanoi about 5:30 p.m. where we met our new local guide and driver and took off for the city. Before going to the hotel we went to the Press Club for dinner. The Press Club is in the French Quarter, which is very nice with large French buildings and villas along the streets. Years ago, there was a Press Club in every Asian city to accommodate members of the press as they covered the war. This restaurant is not an original but is modeled after one. The building was beautiful with separated rooms for dining. The meal was western style and very good. From there we went to the Melia Hanoi, our home away from home for two nights.

On the 14th we left the hotel at 8:30 and went off on our tour of Hanoi. Our first stop was the Temple of Literature which was built in the 11th century. It has five main gates with five courtyards before you get to the main temple. The main statue is of Confucius and there are other lesser statues around as well. The whole area was a school for many years from the 15th to 18th century. Males would have to pass three sets of exams to get into the school and the exams were only offered every four years. Very few students were admitted each year so there are only about 1,100 graduates. Currently only 82 of these are commemorated in this complex. Some were destroyed during the war and some were also destroyed by the king. The graduates were Doctors of Literature and they were supposed to be wise individuals. If a king did not think that a graduate was living according to his learning, then the king could remove the graduate from the list. Each student has an inscribed stone that sits on top of a turtle. The turtle is chosen because it symbolizes longevity and learning that is to carry on in the future and benefit the country. On the stone are the student’s name, their parent’s names, and their answer to the examination question. The questions were always applied and dealt with current issues (i.e. flooding, famine, water supply, etc.). The best answer was then put into effect to improve the country. If it was a good year for the country, the turtle’s head would be raised very high. If it was a bad year for the country then the turtle’s head was very low. There were rows and rows of turtles with slabs on their backs. Many Vietnamese were rushing around rubbing the heads of all the turtles asking for knowledge and long life.

The entire complex was crowded with people and many of them had bouquets of flowers. It turns out that it was the graduation ceremony for several professors and their family, friends and students all come out to honour their professors and take pictures. The graduates in this case were all in uniform and they were all teachers at the army and navy university. They looked very handsome and yes, they were all males. The au dais (?) the ladies were wearing were absolutely beautiful and so colourful. It really is a lovely national dress. On another note, November 20th is a special national day when all teachers are recognized and flowers and gifts are given to teachers at all levels. Isn’t that a nice idea?

Our second stop was the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. Despite the fact that he wanted to be cremated and have his ashes spread on the mountain tops of the country, the government decided that Ho Chi Minh’s body should be preserved for all to see and remember. The mausoleum is a very secure and proper location. No cameras are allowed. You cannot wear hats or sunglasses. You must be quiet, and you just file through slowly and walk around the memorial where his body is in a glass case. He looks just like his pictures and I’m sure the people feel comfort when they see him. However, it does seem rather strange in other respects and you have to wonder how long they will continue the practice before just substituting a wax figure. Who knows? Maybe they have already. Anyway the building is very large and impressive with many solid levels and steps and then a high columned central area much like the Lincoln Memorial but enclosed. It is on a huge square which becomes a gathering place when needed.

Behind this area you find other buildings relating to Ho Chi Minh. The house he lived in from 1954 to 1958 was under construction so we couldn’t go in that one. We did go through the house he lived in from 1958 to 1969, the house-on stilts like the ones used by people in the mountains, which is where he preferred to live. It was very plain and simple and that is the way he wanted it. There was a plain bedroom and an office upstairs and a meeting room for guests downstairs. He had his meals at the main house even after he moved out. We also saw three of the cares given to him by foreign governments. They were in great condition because he seldom used them and preferred instead to ride his bike if he was going out. The complex also had a beautiful pond and walkway, orchards and gardens, which made it very peaceful and relaxing.

Not far away is the one-pillar pagoda, which is a very small lotus shaped pagoda standing on one pillar in a small pond so we had a quick stop there. As we left the area we drove by the Presidential Palace, which is a beautiful yellow (almost gold looking) four storey building that looks like it’s right out of Europe. The other buildings were all much smaller and plainer. This Palace was formerly Indochina’s General Governor’s Palace. We also drove past the lake where John McCain’s plane crashed during the war. The Vietnamese have a marker up on the location because McCain was later so helpful in mending relations between the US and Vietnam and for helping with the open door policy in their country. And yes, that was another whole lecture on history, which I’m afraid I did not even try to write down.

Lunch was at the Seasons of Hanoi and it was delicious. Every part of it was good and we had a fish soup, deep-fried spring roles, rice, pork and onions, beef and vegetables, sautéed eggplant (which I didn’t enjoy) and fried bananas for dessert. From there we went for a CYCLO ride. They capitalize that every time I see it but I don’t really think it’s an abbreviation for anything. You just sit in a nice comfortable seat and someone on a bicycle behind you peddles you around the streets. I found it very relaxing and enjoyable and I really don’t know why I wasn’t scared to death. At times you would have cars and motorbikes going past you in every direction all at once. I took a video at one intersection so hopefully it will show the real effect. We went through some of the French Quarter and the old town and around the lake and it was all very nice. Because it was a weekend there were many wedding couples out having their pictures taken. It was fun to see what they consider logical wedding photos. The poses were the same as you might see in Canada but they were all taken on busy street sidewalks with traffic all around. Perhaps the photographers photoshop the pictures to clear the backgrounds.

Our last stop of the day tour was another historical place commonly referred to as the Hanoi Hilton. The name over the door was the Maison Central but originally it was Hoa Lo Prison. Captured American pilots, including John McCain, were prisoners here during the war and they nicknamed it the Hanoi Hilton. It was built in the 19th century by the French to control the Vietnamese. After the North was liberated in 1954, the prison was taken over by the Vietnamese and used to house POWs during the Vietnam War. The conditions were definitely not nice. The cells were small and held many people. The food was scarce. The torture was brutal in some cases. It was definitely not a fun visit but at least they have saved the prison and some pictures and artifacts as part of their history and there were many Vietnamese touring through the facility while we were there. The Americans felt it was a very biased perspective and a lot of propaganda but I expected that. The Vietnamese would probably say the same thing if they visited an American museum on the Vietnam War.

At the end of the afternoon we came back to the hotel. If you wanted you could go to the old town to walk around or shop but I figured I’d seen all I wanted to see on my CYCLO tour. Two hours later we were out the door again and on our way to the Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre. This form of theatre was started by the farmers in the rice paddies and gradually it became an art form of its own. We had second-row seats and the show was great. The first three numbers were just the orchestra. They were playing traditional instruments and the songs were very melodic and beautiful. Then they played almost a dozen numbers to accompany the water puppets. The stage was set at the beginning with the orchestra on the left hand side, a large pagoda-style structure at the back of the stage and a pool of water out front. Beneath the pagoda there were bamboo blinds and they would open as the puppets came in or exited the pool.

We had a session of drummers, a dragon dance, some buffalos fighting and their owners trying to separate them, ordinary farm scenes, village harvest ceremonies, horse raising, coconut picking and last but not least, a carp transformed into a dragon. They were all cute and very colourful. Sometimes they had props such as fire batons and in the end it turned into a black light show with a dragon rising out of the pool and going skyward. The puppets are all on long sticks that are controlled by people behind the bamboo blinds. That may sound easy but it looked very tricky as puppets were crossing back and forth and mixing with other puppets so someone had to be directing traffic behind the scenes. It was fun to watch and it was interesting to see another piece of Vietnamese history. And as I said at the end, I could just see some rice farmer out in his rice paddy doing something simple just for fun and having his children enjoy it so much that he had to create a whole set of characters and make up stories as he went. Now it is an entire theatre form, which has been recognized by UNESCO “as immaterial cultural heritage of humanity.” That’s the quote from their program and I thought it was cute. I’m sure they meant material not immaterial but who am I to correct them.

Following the show, Sylvia and I walked back to the hotel along Hoan Kiem Lake. It was lovely evening and the lights were beautiful reflected on the lake. I don’t think either of us managed to get a non-blurry picture but it was great to see anyway. Back at the hotel we joined some of the others in the Latino bar to finish the evening. Tomorrow we are off to another location for more adventures so that is it for touring around Hanoi.

My impression of Hanoi is that it’s a varied city. There are parts that look very old and the buildings are very small. Then there are totally new sections with high rises. Many of the buildings have a French or European style to them but the rest are the typical Vietnamese style. There are many small lakes within the city and the Red River flows through it. There are also many gardens and parks and a lot of trees on the streets. The stores range from the totally modern to very old style and many of the purchases are just made on the street as the vendors just seem to park themselves and their wares anywhere that works. They carry their goods in two baskets balanced on a long bamboo pole over their shoulders so often they just set the baskets down on the sidewalk and start selling. I even saw one many having a hair cut out on the sidewalk today. It didn’t seem to bother him that cars and motorbikes were whizzing by. Hanoi has 6 million people and 3 million motorbikes, which are the most popular means of transportation because they are cheaper than cars and smaller. People do not have garages for their bikes so they simply take them into the house and park them in the living room for protection. And the motorbikes seem to have the right of way so that everyone else must avoid hitting them.

Vietnam in total has a population of 86.5 million. The country has a family planning policy and couples are allowed only two children and they must be five years apart. You can have more than two children but you might lose your job or have to your pay cut and/or be subject to public shame. Couples are encouraged to use IUDs and have vasectomies to limit pregnancies. Most families still prefer boys to carry on the family name. Our local tour guide has two girls (8 and 3) and he is perfectly happy with them and doesn’t feel the pressure to carry on the family name. Years ago women were treated as less important than men but now they have more equal rights and sometimes the women work outside the home while the men stay home and cook and clean. This happens more so in the cities than in the rural areas. In some of the rural areas the men still try to control the women but the women are being more proactive and the divorce rate, although still very low, is rising. With more promiscuity among the younger people they are getting more abandoned children but there are orphanages to help feed and provide shelter for them and help them with their education.

Education is considered very important in Vietnam and parents want their children to be educated. They system is based on Confucianism and the teacher talks while the students listen and take notes. There is little discussion and the students and parents all respect the teachers and hold them in high esteem. There are five levels of public education: kindergarten from ages 3 to 5 and sometimes even age 2, primary for ages 6 to 11 (grades 1-5), junior high for ages 12-15 (grades 6-9) and high school for ages 16-18 (grades 10-12). The parents must pay for education at all levels, kindergarten to university, as there are no government subsidies for education. In the third grade all students start learning English as they recognize how important it is to be able to speak English. To get into university a student must pass an exam. However, the Vietnamese universities are not well respected even by the Vietnamese so parents like to send their sons and daughters to universities in other countries such as the US and Australia.

Despite the level of respect felt for teachers, they still only earn about $80 US per month. Doctors earn about $100 US per month. If that seems low, it really is. Yes, things cost less over here but that really is a low wage. Most teachers tutor students and hold special classes after school and in the evening at their own homes. As the students have to pay for such as service, this gives the teacher an added income that could likely be more than the salary. Moving from education to health, Vietnam has a health care system which people can pay into. However, most prefer to use a private system instead of the public system because the private system is much faster and more convenient. Sound familiar?

There is only one political party today, the Communist or Power Party. The country holds elections but with only one party to vote for, the elections are quite useless. You can be arrested for making political jokes or comments so politics is never discussed in public. When our local guide was learning English he liked to talk to English-speaking travelers so he could practice his English. The government at the time phoned his parents and told them to stop him from attending any further meetings.

Most of the above information is coming from our local guide who was just excellent in his explanations. And his English was fantastic. He had better pronunciation than most of us! His father served the southern army during the war. He was sent to one of the camps and brainwashed with continual propaganda and lectures on how great communism is. Our guide was telling us how hard it was to tell who the VC were in the south. During the day they would carry out their normal jobs and then at night they would lead a different life. He told us about his father’s friend who came to stay at their place on occasion. The friend later told the farther that he was sent to blow up the station but he was afraid to do so for fear of what might happen to the family. After the war the friend was recognized as being a VC hero and received lots of awards and press. The guide’s father was so surprised as he had no idea, and when his father was in the re-education camp his friend came to visit him.

This guide’s father had the same problem finding a job after the war as our first guide. All the good jobs went to the government supporters. Even though he was well educated, a doctor I think, he could not work in his profession. Instead he worked menial jobs leaving home at 3:30 every morning and returning at 9 p.m. each night and working for little pay. The guide told the same story of having nothing but cassava, rice and potatoes to eat and sometimes very little of those. Since moving to a market economy in 1986 and allowing foreign investment, the standard of living is improving and people can now own their own businesses. Rice exports have become very important for the economy. However, despite all these pluses, living costs have also risen sharply.

Okay, time for bed. Hopefully I’ll have some time soon to finish and post more of these blogs!!!