Final Post

We are actually home. Routine transit from Hanoi to Seoul to San Francisco.  A few parting thoughts:

Two Vietnam War vets were on the tour.  Both had good feelings about returning to the country.  One was a truck driver and the other was a 'courier', but after time, I think he was probably involved in intelligence gathering in the country.   Neither saw true combat, more the results of war.  They, of course, had family and friends who were traumatized by the war.  They both admitted that the country today was NOTHING like it was in the 60's.  Unrecognizable, really.

Further, as evidenced by the 1000 year commemoration of the founding of Hanoi, the US involvement in the country was just under 20 years.  Truly traumatic for this country, but a mear hiccup in the long, deep history of this part of the world.  Indeed, Vietnam was a colony of France for 67 years.  It ended with the Indo-China War which lasted almost 8 years, from the end of WWII until the French defeat in 1954.  BTW, the US's involvement in Vietnam commenced just 18 months later!

What resulted?  A communist country with relatively free capitalism.  The rich got richer, the poor got poorer and the Buddhists, Communists, and Catholics seem to be getting along pretty well just now.  We were told that 98% of children are in school and instead of pouring weapons into the country, we and other 'super-powers' are pouring money into the country so that we can take advantage of their cheap labor.

Finally, a great quote from Mark Twain:

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness.  

Day 10b Visiting a local village

Recycling in Vietnam.

Finally, we end up at a local village.  Wow!  We met two very old ladies, both with great stories.  The first, who is 88, is quite the entrepreneur and hostess.  The good, she welcomed us to her home with a gift of bananas and showed us how she makes fans from bamboo and brooms from rice stalks.  The bad, she chews betel nut.   (See my blog on Yap to refamiliarize yourself on betel nut).  Hint, we have pulled hundreds of teeth destroyed by betel nut.)

But, what a sweet lady.  I bought one of her brooms for a dollar.

Next, as we were walking by a very nice home, we got invited into the courtyard to look around.

Thinh told us this probably cost around $100,000 with a nice all mahogany area in front to assist you in worshiping your ancestors!  The gal is a widow, her husband was killed in the Vietnam/American war, but her two sons have been very successful.  One works for the government, the other 'works in Germany'.  They are taking good care of mom.  Both these very nice ladies have seen a lot of history.....

Finally, this village is known for their glass noodles!  Briefly, you take rice, pound it into sheets, mechanically turn it into microscopic threads, dry it on bamboo, chop it up and wallah, you get rice vermicelli!  A few pictures.

Rice drying all over town

Removing the rice noodles from the bamboo drying racks, rolling them up to
take them out to the restaurants where they chop them up.  The gals are paid
one dollar per kilo of feather-light noodles.

Day 10a A 1000 Year old pagoda

What is unique about the 1000-year-old Thay Pagoda?  It's got a ton of stuff inside!  A few pictures.

Not all of it is 1000 years old, but his one pillar is that
Thinh is pointing out to us.

This is an amazing bronze sculpture.  Plenty of stories here......

A few odds and ends:

This is interesting.  We were told that this shopkeeper was burning fake money to
put a hex on her new neighbor!

Not a lot of wireless here yet.  These are phone and cable TV wires!

All women, all cultures multi-task.  This gal is on the phone while she is
shelling beans to sell at her sidewalk vegetable stand.

Day 9b What are water puppets?

Well, you will find out.  We determined you either love them or hate them.  Our group was mixed.  Water puppetry is a tradition that dates back as far as the 11th century when it originated in the villages of the Red River Delta area of northern Vietnam. Today's Vietnamese water puppetry is a unique variation on the ancient Asian puppet tradition.

The puppets are made out of wood and then lacquered. The show is performed in a waist-deep pool with live music. A large bamboo rod supports the puppets under the water and is used by the puppeteers, who are hidden behind a screen, to control them. Thus the puppets appear to be moving over the water. In centuries past, when the rice fields would flood, the villagers would entertain each other using this form of puppet play.

History, 5 star.  Entertainment, 2 star.

Taking a bow after the show.

Of course we visited Uncle Ho's Mausoleum.  No, we did not cue up for 4 hours
to visit his heavily embalmed and waxed body in his glass sarcophagus.

Day 9a Hanoi Potpourri

We finish our adventure in Vietnam with two days in Hanoi.  Interesting city.  Heavy in French influence from the first half of the twentieth century, yet this the capital of Communist Vietnam circa 1974.  So, the panache of France with a 12 o'clock curfew lightly enforced by the Communist government.  What reins?  What else, capitalism, with the constant throbbing of bribes, either you are a receiver or giver.  The gears keep turning.....

First, a monument to commemorate John McCain!   What?!  Behind this monument is the lake

where Senator McCain parachuted into after his jet was shot down.  This is the only monument to an American in the country.   The Vietnamese have a lot of respect for him due to his attitude and behavior as a POW.  One American politician could take a lesson......

 

This is part of a 2.5 mile long mosaic!  The longest in the world.  It was completed in 2007 to commemorate the 1000 year history of Hanoi

This Worker's Monument is a throwback to the Communist Days.  These
'workers' don't look anything like Vietnamese.  More like the Soviet's that
created this visual embarrassment.

Staying hydrated while on the road is important.  The hotels and the tour bus know
this, so we are constantly given, drinking and saving bottles of water.  We are a day
from the finish with 12 extra bottles.  We leave them for the maids.

Hah, this is   Egg Coffee!  A specialty of Hanoi!  We
had to try this.  Without giving away the recipe, we'll be preparing this for
family Christmas Time.  Hint:  it is also known at Liquid Tiramisu. Amazing.


 

Day 8 Cruising Ha Long Bay

1,600 islands, amazing karst geology at its best.   A great cruise out to an amazing cave.  Pictures below.

Aqua-culture is huge out here.  Fish, clams, oysters, etc.  As far as the eye can see.

Finally, I didn't stay a vegetarian for long after our walk last night.  For our group dinner, we had this menu.  Sorry.

Day 7 Thinking about becoming a vegetarian or..........

In a bathroom.  I understood all of these except the lower left
and maybe the lower middle.

In transit today.  We flew from Hoi An to Hanoi, then a bus to Halong Bay.  But a few highlights.  First, last night after dinner at the DMZ Bar we did a bit of strolling in the shops.  One little gal came up to Gloria and wanted to 'practice her English'.

Very persistent but appropriate, she started on quite a list of questions for Gloria, name, age, where she lived, how many friends she had, favorite food.  She carefully documented all the answers on her spreadsheet.  She was legit, (no one tried to pick my pocket while this was going on).  Glad to help her.

I wasn't going to post anything today except after we arrived, Thinh wanted to take us to the local meat market.  Been there, done that, but we decide to go anyway.  Oh my.  This one took meat market strolling to a new level.  Plus you had motorbikes beeping their way down the isles the whole time.  Think Safeway with traffic in the isles!  A few pictures to share......

On the way to the market.

Ducks being readied for dinner

Choosing your food from your motorbike, sorta like a drive-up.

 Peaceful ducks below,
pieces of ducks above.

If it lived in the sea, you would find it here.  And alive.

OK, this bathroom scale is a bit judgemental.  My defense is that it is calibrated
for the average Vietnamese male.  I hope.