Ha Noi

Well, I’ve finally got round to completing the record on our trip to Vietnam.

Being the capital, Ha Noi has many public buildings and parks. Jen was very keen to see the Temple of Literature. Here there are numerous stelae recording details of all successful graduates from the 15^th to 18^th centuries.

Each one sits on a tortoise which is one of the animals associated with the area.

I'm not sure what the significance of the birds is. They are very long legged and have a small sphere in their beak.

There are reputedly some tortoises in the Hoan Kiem lake.

They are rarely seen but they have a preserved specimen in the Temple of the Jade Mountain in the middle of the lake. 

This is the bridge leading to the island.

We made one trip out of Hanoi, to Ha Long Bay. It was a four hour bus trip each way so quite a long day. The countryside was interesting, seeing the widespread cultivation that is throughout the flat areas of the country.

The bay is full of small islands, limestone outcrops really, and has many different ecological zones. We saw a very small part of it and the views were a bit hampered by the perpetual haze we encountered in Vietnam. Not entirely sure whether it was pollution or natural – probably a mixture as it was much worse in the cities. 

Our boat trip included lunch and a chance to go kayaking. The pictures of this are on Jenny’s camera and there is no sign of her photos yet. I live in hope!

One of the best known landmarks is this double rock, variously called cocks fighting or cocks kissing.

It features on the 200,000 dong bank note (the currency trades at about 20,000 dong to the dollar, so this note is worth $10!).

Back in Hanoi we saw people playing badminton on a make shift court on the pavement.

Noreen and Jenny found a court marked on the ground so had a pretend game.

Noreen impersonated a local again (for 20,000 dong).

I was thrilled to discover that the railway line ran through the town. Houses had been built up on either side. There were few trains running – I saw none while I was there.

Finally, I have no pictures, but one of the highlights of Hanoi and the trip was going to a performance of Water Puppets. This is a uniquely Vietnamese entertainment rarely seen outside the country. Traditionally it was performed in flooded rice fields but we saw it in a purpose built theatre. The “stage” is a 4 metre square water tank. The puppeteers stand in waist high water behind a bamboo screen and manipulate the puppets on long rods. It was amazing the movement they could get and the brightly painted puppets looked very realistic. 

Hoi An

We flew in to Da Nang, site of a major American air base during the conflict in the 60s and 70s (what the Vietnamese call the “American War”). It is a large city but we didn’t spend much time there. We stayed at Hoi An a few kilometres to the south. We liked this area a lot. It was rural and a lot more peaceful than the big cities. For centuries the area was a stopping off point for traders plying between India and China so it has had cultural influences from both quarters.

The town is preserved largely as it was in the 18^th and 19^th centuries except that most of the houses are now shops.

This is the place where you can get clothes made in a couple of days. Noreen and Jenny availed themselves of this service and were very impressed with the results.

One of the more famous sights is the 17^th century Japanese bridge,

And an interior shot with our native guide.

Of course Noreen met a little person who was very interested in us strange westerners.

She also had to have a go carrying goods the way the locals do. She reports it is was very heavy and quite painful on the shoulders if you’re not used to the weight.

There are a number of important archaeological and historic site nearby. We visited the ancient ruins at My Son. These were constructed between the 4^th and 14^th centuries by the Cham people. They have survived years of neglect, half hearted restoration efforts by the French, use by local farmers and the Viet Cong and bombing by the Americans.

This apparently marked the centre of the Cham world.