We spent the first day on arrival at 8:30 am taking a Hanoi orientation walking tour. We learned about all the many ethnics minorities and how they live at the Hanoi Ethnology Museum. In the museum we walked through traditional style houses. We saw different colors, patterns, and textiles and handicrafts of different ethnic groups. And we learned how they farmed and hunted. Pretty interesting that the land that is now Vietnam has so much diversity in its people and its geographic regions. We also learned about the traffic laws in Vietnamese or lack thereof... (more about this to follow.)
The Temple of Literature was our next stop. Home to the first university of academics in Vietnam, it was found under Confucious teaching of working hard to earn honor for your family. Top scoring students would work directly under the king and become his advisors or governors. The drum below was built to commemorate 1000 years of Hanoi's history.
Tran Quoc Pagoda is the oldest pagoda in Vietnam constructed in the 6th century and is surrounded by the west lake. There was a Buddhist funeral ceremony going on when we visited. Unfortunately we couldn't get a clear view of the hierarchy of the different Buddhas in the temple. The gold buddhas were beautiful from what I can see. There is a lot of similarity in the way Vietnamese and Chinese Buddhists practice and believe.
Ho Chi Minh mausoleum is set on a huge plot of land near the presidential palace built during French occupation. The French installed a dummy government that they could control to export goods out of Indochina. When Ho Chi Minh gained power he refused to live in the palace and instead wanted to live more like is people without all the opulence. He actually built a traditional teak house on stilts that became his residence until he died. This house was small efficient and practical. Below the house was a large meeting table at which his fellow communists wrote laws and created the government which they now live with. He invited young children to sit around the table while his advisors and him met. He wanted the children to see how he worked and to understand that his government was for his own people. It's sunny because the mausoleum is nothing like the modest way he lived, but the people of northern Vietnam really cherish him as a national hero.
The craziness of Hanoi's traffic is impossible to explain. All I can say is that it's chaos. There seems to be no order to it. Cars, trucks, motorbikes, bicycles, and pedestrians seem to get buy in a basket weave of swarming noise and horns. It seems to work for them but watching tourists trying to cross the street is quite entertaining. 
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MAN oh man- great way to start your trip! I am so happy for you guys and your adventures in VN. :) And for me- now I will start the day with a smile on my face! If you are staying near the old quarter and want some damn good fish, go to Cha Ca La Vong! Or, if you feel adventurous, seek out the one place where you can find banh xeo! It's a hole in the wall near the start of Hang Bo St. with a street number between the 20s-40s! Good luck!
ReplyDeleteThe Temple of Literature staircase looks pretty cool! It's made out of real trees that were actually planted there or were they put there after being carved?
ReplyDeleteAlso, nice shot of the guy with the orange tree! :D
The staircase we are climbing in the first pic is a community house of one of the ethnic minorities at the ethnology museum. It's a storehouse and community center. The roof helps to keep the room dry and cool for storing rice
DeleteAnd put there after carving as a ladder
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