Hanoi

Rice Fields Skirting Hanoi (Just After Dawn)...
see all photos »

February 15, 2006

Early morning Hanoi presented a dizzyingly busy tumult of motos and cyclos.  Battling our way through the clingy tourist agency agents, moto drivers, and extortionist double-charging taxis, we wandered about in the Old Quarter, just north of the central lake.  We strolled past an endless array of goods, starting with what looked like a street full of Christmas stocking stuffers, past the garment district, through the hardware stores for machetes and toasters, and ending at a guesthouse in the shoe area, after having just passed the food markets, flower street, and fakish-real watch sector.

Capital of the Vietnamese Socialist Republic

...
see all photos »

The rest of our first day we spent organizing tours to the regions surrounding Hanoi and purchasing our onward travel tickets.  In the evening we attended the Water Puppet Theater's traditional performance.  The skillful, dazzling display was both beautiful to experience and historically enlightening.  This art form, combining live traditional music and storytelling acted out by floating puppets, dates back to the 11th century AD and originated as entertainment during the rainy season in the flooded rice fields of northern Vietnam.

...
see all photos »

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

February 16, 2006

We spent the morning exploring the fascinating Temple of Literature, which was founded in 1070 AD and became a school for advanced study in 1076.  It was still a well respected university, housing students, until 1919.  The names of all of its graduating doctor laureates are engraved in stone stelae mounted on the backs of 82 giant stone tortoises.  We were awed by the tradition of learning that seemed to emanate from this place and its enormous trees that have been witness to the teachings of Confucius for many generations.

...
see all photos »

We were also lucky enough to happen upon a brief performance of some traditional music in the temple.  This informal show provided the much desired opportunity to inspect the instruments up close, which we had heard the previous night at the Water Puppet Theater.

If you are interested in seeing a nice pictorial breakdown of the temples and grounds, you can check out the following website: http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/vietnam/hanoi/templelit/templeoflit.html

...
see all photos »

Continuing our Vietnamese cultural submersion, we headed for the Museum of Ethnology for the remainder of the afternoon.  The impressive displays of both current and historic ethnic minorities extended well beyond the normal informative dioramas and spilled out onto the surrounding grounds.  We were able to explore inside a number of actual homes, community houses, and tombs built in the traditional fashion by members of the different minority groups.  This visit should also help to give us a good background knowledge for our trek to the hilltribe villages around Sapa.

Beautiful Vegetable Fields
see all photos »

Another good page of images from Bluffton University for the Museum of Ethnology: http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/vietnam/hanoi/ethnology/ethnology.html