Hanoi-a hotchpotch of my feelings about Vietnam

This trip started out as "Vietnam or Chile". It then moved to "Vietnam and Chile" before we decided to fit as much as we can between UK and Chile and Vietnam.  So here we are at the end of a lovely month in one of the countries that got this ball rolling and with the actual end of this trip in sight (boo hiss).

Our last stop in Vietnam was the capital, Hanoi. A place with little connection to a Brit: we weren't involved in the Vietnam war after all and we weren't a colonial power here, but it’s a place with frequent mention in the various media we were exposed to, especially in our childhood (You will recall the crime the A-Team did not commit ).  It is therefore a place which remains associated with the "baddies" and I wonder if it it because of this it isn't as easy to accept the difficulties in the country as it is in, for example. Laos

Hanoi is heaving with mopeds and motorbikes, and although there are fewer instances of pavement driving than Saigon, in Saigon people will at least  drive around you, whereas in Hanoi they will beep their horn and keep on driving. One of the T-shirts being sold has traffic lights with the words "go" next to all colours, which is completely accurate. It's all quite amusing until you look at the statistics. Vietnam has one of the highest rates of road deaths in the world. 22,000 a year. In fact more children die in Vietnam then all road deaths in the UK.

The law says that adults wear helmets and children over 6 so I winced everytime I saw a cute little kid standing on the moped with no helmet. We saw a few road accidents in Vietnam ourselves. One of our guides told us of witnessing an accident with a parent holding a baby. He was clearly still traumatised by it. There are safety campaigns but no enforcement of anything. Police, when they are around, are in general self serving and we saw no evidence of them doing anything useful.

We did not meet a single Vietnamese person who had anything positive to say about the government or felt that they were supported in their lives by it. But you won't find many people saying it openly due to the harsh response of the government to criticism. The judiciary is not independent in Vietnam and those exercising freedom of expression to comment on issues (in the same vein as this) often find themselves incarcerated or under house arrest, their families harassed and suffering from abuse, torture or death.

Although it is a communist state, I found little evidence of any benefit to the people of this: no healthcare, no benefits for sick, no maternity pay, no subsidised nursery, and no food handouts. In effect nothing to help everyone to be equal. Despite the role of women in the wars (there were whole detachments of female commandos fighting the Americans and South Vietnamese) sexism is still rife: women do the cooking, cleaning etc. and they were absolutely amazed that I don't do the cooking. Women are often the ones doing the extra jobs to bring in the money on top of their caring responsibilities.

We visited the excellent Women's Museum in Hanoi which was nicely laid out, but just starkly brought home some the hard lot of your average Vietnamese woman, many of whom have sacrificed their home life or own ambitions in order to ensure their children have a better lot.

There was an interesting exhibit concerning marriage and birth which said that some ethnic groups give their child a temporary "ugly name" to stop the spirits coming to take him. In one naming ceremony, if the child cries when the name is announced this is deemed inauspicious so another name has to be selected. A couple of spoonful's of Calpol should sort that.

We went to the Hanoi Opera House where we watched their summer concert. One half was classical music; the other half was ballet.   The orchestra and choir of the first half was really good; but the ballet was a bit pedestrian. The Vietnamese also have different ideas about audience decorum:  the tourist half of the audience was hushing and shushing the local half.  We heard chatter behind us and, when we turned to glare, we saw a lady having a chat on her phone.  Gareth found a new trigger point for apoplexy and hissed at her in his very best ambassadorial English to “Turn that f**king thing off now!”.  She looked rather taken aback though still didn't immediately stop talking!

We visited the infamous Hỏa Lò prison, which was originally built by the French to deal with revolutionaries. They didn't have a great time there. It was also where the American P.O.Ws were kept. They didn't have a great time there either and as a result gave it the ironic nickname "the Hanoi Hilton". Of course the exhibition would have us believe that the nickname came about because their experience was almost as good as at a hotel.

One room is filled with propaganda detailing how well the American's were treated. Poor senator John McCain' picture is frequently trotted out to add credence to their claims (Though he has repeatedly talked about the abuse sustained there and still hasn't recovered full mobility in his arms).

The people in Vietnam have gone out of their way to be welcoming to us and are keen for us to enjoy their country, which itself has only really been open for business for two decades and tourism is a key source of revenue for the Vietnamese. However, there was a video being played in that room of the American P.O.Ws and a group of middle-aged Vietnamese visitors watching it made inappropriate gestures and words throughout, which made me question the face of tourism; what
is really going through the minds of a lot of the older population as we turn up in their country and trek around their cities. New friends? or just walking ATM's?

The Ho Chi Minh museum is an interesting place.  Ostensibly it details the life and times of the kindly-faced 'Uncle Ho' - which is does with surprisingly little embellishment- but it also features some rather abstract local and international art installations, representing the international socialist revolutionary struggle.  Apparently.

It was nicely presented, quite accessible and one or the more museum-like of the various excuses for propaganda we'd visited in the country.

We also visited the Museum of Fine Art. It was an interesting insight into the people. However, the art work displayed from the Vietnam war period was, not unexpectedly, only dealing with the bad experiences of those in the North and the atrocities of the Americans. 

We were continually told that Vietnam remains a divided country and we did witness the North/ South divide. But there was no art from those in the South who also suffered loss. We have read that when the North occupied Hué about 2000 people were killed within a few days, but there is no mention of anything like that anywhere in Vietnam. The missing part of the story within the art gallery brings home to me the ongoing wound of this country: the wrongs that were done by and to both sides but without acknowledgement and apology such that there can't possibly be any reconciliation or feeling of being one people. It is sufficient time since the war that the government could shift a little in it's stance, even if they did this by way of scapegoating a couple of people which might in itself allow the government to be more responsive to its people.

Many in the country earn less than $1000 per year. We spent way over that during our stay, and the majority was spent with locally-based companies. It is correct that the lot of your average Vietnamese citizen is better now than it was in the years following the revolution, but we still saw little evidence that state-raised money from tourism is being channelled into improving the welfare of citizens.

Vietnam is a vibrant and beautiful country, and Hanoi was an energetic city with lots to see and do, but I left Vietnam frustrated by the peoples' circumstances, but also with the hope that maybe the population will one day have the government or at least the way of life that they deserve.

Descending Dragons

What? I like titles with dragons.

Relatedly, I was told recently that Vietnamese dragons differ somewhat from our decent, British dragons in that they have the body of snakes, the heads of chameleons, the claws of eagles, the antlers of deer, the eyes of rabbits, the scales of fish and the ears of water buffalo - which is not an image I need to be presented with prior to a cup of coffee and a sit down.  Mind you, I think the guy who told me that might've been a bit shaky on heraldry, basic taxonomy and possibly the English language, so don't go citing me on Wiki.

You are a mess

Burbling to one side: this post is about our cruise around Hạ Long Bay (Ha long translates as "bay of descending dragons",  to explain the title) and Bai Tu Long Bay ("The dragon departs the offspring", in case you care) which is the nicer and less buggered by tourism of the two .  There are many outfits who run trips to the bays - it being a place of impressive natural beauty (UNESCO heritage site again, for those keeping count), with just shy of 2000 islands and islets scattered about- but a fair few of the companies are  irredeemably dodgy.  It's not unknown for boats to catch fire or sink.  We were to spend our three days/ two nights on a junk-type cruise boat run by one of the more reputable firms, Indochina Junk, who we'd had test-driven by two honeymooning friends of ours in January. They survived and were well-fed, so my two qualifying criteria were satisfied.

Having managed about four hours sleep in our hotel in Hanoi (owing to a delayed flight from Hué and a botched transfer from the airport), we were picked up by posh van to be driven the 3-4 hours to our boat. To no-one's surprise, we stopped on the way at another craft shop following the 'disabled people embroidering things and marble statues' theme.  M&Ms were about a fiver a bag.  

We stopped at a town near Ha Long to have lunch and watch a traditional water puppet show. It's like Punch and Judy in water, complete with squeaky voices but minus the domestic violence. The team of puppeteers - dressed in waders and hidden behind a screen - act out some scenarios from the life of our protagonist, described as 'an honest and hardworking farmer' via the medium of wooden figures.   It was certainly real.

We arrived soon after in Ha Long city - a grim-looking place with a foreboding Ferris Wheel peering down at you as you come and go.  Our guide on the cruise told us that overnight stays on the bay like ours will be banned from 2020, with only day-trips allowed. This is owing, he thinks, to the increased development of hotels and resorts in Ha Long City.    Yeah, I think I'd sooner drive from Hanoi, ta.

Seaside town or colliery?

Our boat was quite a small affair, with 11 cabins, some common areas, and a landing craft-type tender in tow.  They have a Junk ship-type style in that they have those odd corrugated sails that they can raise. We spent the time cruising around the bay area, occasionally taking out kayaks, and being generally overfed.  Meals came in no fewer  than 6 courses, and that was only if it was a short breakfast because lunch was going to be early.   The food was exceptional, consisting largely of seafood that had been caught in the locale that morning.

On our first night we tried fishing for squid.  This involves shining a light into the gloomy water and bobbing a lure off a bamboo rod.  I caught this monster:

Behold the Kraken

The boat cruised around the bays and parked up every so often for a kayak, swim or island sojourn.

On our second of the two nights, we were taken to an island for a barbecue in a natural cave complex on an island owned by the cruise company. Each of the many courses was accompanied by an elaborate fruit and vegetable sculpture made by the chef.

Our final morning was spent being taken around one of the local floating villages in a bamboo boat. These are towns where the locals have literally found it more economical to build homes on floating pontoon structures.  When kids grow up and move out and they can afford it, they build a new house and bolt it on the rest. Can't say it's for me.  It absolutely lashed down, which was very obliging of the weather, acclimatising us to home at this late part of our trip.  We also dropped by a pearl farm, which some megacorp has set up in the bay, to see pearl farming and perhaps buy pearls (hintity hint hint).

Then it was a case of cruising back to port.  The pilots of the tenders from the various vessels apparently drove their craft as they drive their motor vehicles, with three tenders attempting to fit in a mooring space big enough for about 2/3 of a tender.

Afterwards it was back to Hanoi, to wrap up Vietnam.

Huế

Next stop, after our driver from Hoi An invoked Chan's wrath by insisting we leave him a Trip Advisor review on the car WiFi prior to our arrival (another item off the Things One Does Not Do list.  She said "No." through a smile that promised dire consequences), was Huế - a name I'm going to have to copy & paste all through this post because of its queerly accented "ế".   We have been taking our time in Vietnam, as it's our last 'proper' stop, so unlike most tourists who normally just stop for a day, we had a couple of days to explore.  Which was for the best as, because it was still bloody hot and sticky, we maintained our usual half-day tourism, half-day drinking pattern. 

Back in Vietnam's Imperial days, Huế was the royal capital - which explains the monstrous fortress at its centre. The Citadel is a city-within-a-city, consisting of various temples, royal domiciles, harems, and the homes of mandarins and other imperial busybodies.  It took a bit of a beating during the French Indochina wars, and then again after shelling by the Viet Cong during the Tet offensive. Consequently bits of it are now nowt but rubble and grass.

Some parts are still impeccably presented, but then others are crumbling and being somewhat half-heartedly restored.

As we were exploring on our own and willing to use our own legs, most of the Citadel away from the main gates was pretty deserted. A lot of the staff in the occasional concession stand were often found lying on a nearby mattress or looking after their on-site young/old relatives.  Mind you, that's no different to anywhere else we've seen.

We were walking under this quite beautiful covered wooden walkway when we apparently invoked an ancient curse, because two garish centipedes fell from the rafters, narrowly missing our heads.  Ladies and Gentlemen, the Scolopendra subspinipes:

Where is your god now?

They are venomous and aggressive, with a "medically significant"bite that can ruin your next 5 days. Check out this picture I found of their fangs:

Dust off; nuke it from orbit.  It's the only way to be sure.

Anyhoo, taking our hint, we hustled on.  The exhibits here described the lives of the emperors and the various members of his court. The eunuchs, for example, looked after the Emperor's harem and presented a list of which concubines were available for the day.  The mandarins were the senior civil servants - selected from villages of over the country after a gruelling academic testing regime - who served as advisers and ministers.  The emperor himself had a fairly arduous time of it, serving as the human middleman to heaven and generally having a 14 hour working day.  My favourite quote:

Three monarchs continue work at night: Gia Long, because he hates the bickering in his harem; Gia Long, because he takes his duties very seriously; Tu Doc, because he is rather slow.

Outside of town there are a large number of royal tombs to be visited, if one is being a proper tourist. We organised a car to take us around, and then a boat back to town on the Perfume River.  So, the following day we were picked up by our driver and taken around the most significant tombs (There are quite a few more more but you'd need several days to see them all and my interest has narrower margins than that - Hat tip to Hamish again).  They were mostly built in the late 19th century, when the Emperors' powers were much curtailed by the colonial rule of the French, so they spent much of their working lives building monuments to themselves.

The tomb of Tu Duc (he of the late nights because he was a bit dim) is quite elaborate and was designed by himself. The vast cost and slave labour used in its construction -along with his monstrously lavish lifestyle- provoked an attempted coup.  He spent quite a long time here alive (granted, not as much time as he would spend there dead), as it is equipped with quarters for him and  his courtesans and it was a pleasant retreat from being a pampered dullard.

The tablet above is a Stele: an engraved essay -normally autobiographical- detailing the life of the tomb's occupant.  Apparently Tu Duc was quite critical of himself.

His tomb itself is comparatively modest, but then I'd make less effort on the bits I wouldn't get to see too.

And some of the dragons have doodle bobbers

Next up is Minh Mang, which is a lot more leafy and is filled with several hectares of trees and woodland.  It was built by his successor Thieu Tri, who was the most revered of the royals, especially for his frugality with the country's coffers during lean times - which must be a selling point compared to dumdum up the page.

Spot the photo bomber

 
Last was the tomb of Khai Dinh, which has a Gothic, European-inspired, blackened concrete exterior but a demented, Liberace's bathroom-inspired interior.

Then we caught our boat back to town.  The family on board spoke very little English, but accepted our receipt and gormless faces and beckoned us on board.  The boat was a rickety, wooden longboat thing. We sat on plastic patio chairs while a surly chap piloted the boat at the back, his elderly mother tried to sell us tat and a 5/6 year old girl (the driver's daughter?) watched us from her chair in silent bemusement.

We bought some truly awful postcards (which may well be older than us and unlikely to be bought by anyone else who isn't a fan of out-of-focus photographs of bridges) from granny, as some of you will soon attest, but otherwise I placated her mercantile advances by buying beer,which she kept in a nearby ice box.  It was no real hardship.

We stopped on the way back at the Thien Mu Pagoda.  It was built by Thieu Tri and its seven layers are dedicated to manushi-buddha - a Buddha who appeared in human form.  I will say now that I'm way, way past trying to keep track of Buddha's various manifestations and effigies at this point.

Oh, there were a couple of odd things here.  A couple of the statues had real hair:

And do you remember that monk named Thich Quang Duc, who famously (and publicly) set fire to himself in protest against the South Vietnamese government? (He's that bloke off the Rage Against The Machine album for the historically ignorant of my generation)
Well, they've got the car he used to drive himself to Saigon here as an odd relic.  It's an Austin.

I guess all the Best Burning Buddhists Buy British.  I'll show myself out.