Hanoi: Part One

After a whirlwind of finishing up projects, finals and saying a (temporary) goodbye to Can Tho, we were off to Hanoi. We went up to the North for a comparison of the Red River Delta to the Mekong Delta. It was a great trip and I will do my best to sum it up.

We flew in on a huge, gorgeous airplane, and landed in the airport, which was also huge and clean. Thank goodness on our way out of the airport we had to wait for a herd of cows to cross the road. “Yep, we’re still in Viet Nam,” we said to ourselves.

Driving through the countryside to get to Hanoi I was struck with some initial impressions. The fields are gorgeous, and very different than in the south. At first glance, it looks similar to the moors of England, with the addition of the odd banana tree and conical hat (nôn lả). We drove through the countryside for a bit before we reached the city.

Hanoi is a great city. There is such a different feeling there than in Ho Chi. I think the main reason is that the South’s influence comes more from the United States and big business, while the North’s influence is all French. The buildings, the food, the people all reflect this aspect in the history. The Lonely Planet sums it up really well when they say that Hanoi is a mixture of “a quixotic blend of Parisian grace and Asian pace…”. There are still the motor bikes zipping everywhere, and the street-side food stands, and it is the home of pho (the famous Vietnamese noodle soup) but the buildings are French, and croissants are not hard to find. It is also beautiful. There are several big lakes dotting the landscape, grand old trees, beautiful old buildings in faded yellows and greens, and the climate is much more manageable (I was able to wear jeans comfortably! I guess I get some semblance of fall after all…)

While in Hanoi, we had some classes, did lot of sight-seeing, and went on excursions. We were staying very close to the West Lake, which has many legends surrounding it, and because of that there is a huge pagoda on the far island and a tower in the middle of the lake. We visited many pagodas, including the one pillar pagoda and the literature pagoda, which was founded in 1070 and was spectacular. We did a lot of other sight seeing, including the presidential palace and Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum, which was closed so we couldn’t see his body, which they still have on display. Verdict’s still out whether it was a good thing that the building was closed. But it’s an impressive building. Almost as impressive as how much of an icon he is to the Vietnamese people. Another story for another time.

One of my favorite places in Hanoi was the fine art museum. This museum covered ancient art to modern day art, and it was representative of the periods in Vietnamese history. It started with a lot of “functional art”; things like woven fabric, baskets, and instruments. Then, the Chinese influence came into play and there were a lot of paintings with Chinese characters, and your ideas of Chinese paintings. Then there was a distinct branching off of the art when they started to make a different type of paper. Then the French influence, then paintings influenced by the years of wars, and then the modern art. Which was my favorite. There were beautiful lacquer pieces that were just spectacular. Scenes of the countryside and everyday scenes, all in stunning colors offset with gold… it was beautiful.

We also went to a porcelain village and a silk village. There are a lot of these type craft villages around cities in Viet Nam, and they are really cool to see. There are people manufacturing and selling the product, and it is awesome to see the looms just spinning away, and the porcelain being painted. We got to go through the villages, meet people and see how they make their products. And buy their products, after bargaining, of course.

Well, it just so happened that Viet Nam was playing in the warm-up tournament for the SEA (South East Asia) games and that tournament was in Hanoi. And, our academic director’s father was able to get us tickets to the sold-out Viet Nam vs Thailand game. Not knowing what to expect, we donned our red and yellow shirts, headbands, and went to the game. The stadium was so full, and the crowd was so into it, it was easy to just get swept up. After many rounds of the wave, and shouting leers like, “ooooo, Thailand, was that too much curry for you?” and other various Vietnamese sayings, Viet Nam won 2-1. The crowd was ecstatic, and paraded through the city honking and cheering. Viet Nam then went on to win the entire tournament by beating Malaysia and Japan. Good time to be in Hanoi. (picture of the stadium with Uncle Ho watching it all...)

Ok, I think it is about time to wrap this up, but there is still much more to tell about our excursions around the North... they will be up soon.

Hen Gap Lai!

Julia

(pictures from left: us at the soccer game; silk village; the one-pillar pagoda; Ho Chi Mihn Mausoleum)