Two Weeks in Vietnam, November 2006
Hootoksi Tyabji
Paddy fields and buffaloes, farmers in conical hats, beautiful women in elegant Ao Dais, pagodas, citadels and ruins of a time long past, hordes of motorcycles and scooters, good jazz, wonderful food and fantastic shopping are some of the vivid memories of our recent visit to Vietnam.
Superimposed on those memories is the knowledge of the horror, pain, bloodshed, cruelty, and utter futility of the 10-year Vietnam war a war fought by foreigners trying to conquer minds with weapons, and ideology with bloodshed?
Living in Malaysia affords us the opportunity to visit exciting destinations in the region with AirAsia, the Malaysian budget airline offering flights at unbeatable prices! Vietnam was our first choice as we wanted to experience the people whom the French, Chinese and Americans fought, but failed to dominate. Having good friends posted in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City provided that added impetus which always makes travel so much more meaningful and fun!
Being in Hanoi with Jesper, Edith and their beautiful children Michael, Caspar and Sebastian "Buty" and was such a treat! We saw each other last when Michael was a toddler, Caspar was a baby (he is now 8) and Sebastian was not yet born! It was great to be together again and to catch up and to renew, recall and reminisce about “those good old days”.
We have known Ray, our other friend in Vietnam, from our Bhutan days a quarter of a century ago! He lives and works in Ho Chi Minh City and visiting him and his friends on his turf was terrific too! His wife, Ly, an engineer with the World Bank, was out of town at the time.
photo: Ly and Ray
Traveling in Vietnam with open minds and few expectations, we were delighted by the scenery and sights, and awed by the determination, hard work and robust spirit of the people. We visited Hanoi in the north, spent a night on a junk in Ha Long Bay, took the overnight sleeper train to the old capital city Hue, and buses to Hoi An, My Son and Danang from where we flew to Ho Chi Minh City and back home to KL.
We saw amazing scenery; paddy fields stretching to the horizon, hills and mountains, rivers, lakes, temples, ancient cities, and pagodas.
There was an abundance of water everywhere; the mighty rivers, the canals, streams, lakes, paddy fields, and of course the ocean along the country’s 3,500 km coast; the Vietnamese have created entire floating communities on the water and it was the first time that I have experienced them. The variety and ingenuity of watercraft they have developed has to be seen to be appreciated! They range from woven baskets through all manner of houseboats, floating supermarkets, barges, fishing vessels, ferries, junks with dining rooms and eight or nine comfortable bedrooms with airconditioners and attached baths.
In both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City we were amazed by the number of motorbikes, scooters, rickshaws, mopeds, and bicycles on the road! Like swarms of hornets, they hurtled by in their hundreds, around corners, shoulder to shoulder, hair and Ao Dais streaming through the smoky air. We saw unbelievable loads being carried on two-wheelers. Animals strapped to the seats or in precariously balanced cages, chickens, building materials, furniture, mountains of bananas and anything else you can think of, including entire families! At first, I had to steel myself to dare crossing the road. But I quickly learned the trick: with eyes downcast, step off the pavement and slowly but unhesitatingly cross the road while bikes stream past you like water. You will almost certainly reach the other side unscathed, if shaken! But there will be a zingier, confident bounce in your gait, announcing in the concealed body language of the street that you have arrived!
For us, Ho Chi Minh City was home away from home with Ray pulling out all the stops to give us a good time! He lives in a luxurious serviced apartment block in the centre of town, so walking and exploring was easy.
The markets are fantastic and always fun places to be in, because apart from the buying, you meet local folk, experience all sorts of sights and sounds, and feel the real pulse of the place! The Ben Thanh market, one of several, was fabulous and filled with all sorts of amazing stuff! There were veggies and fruit I could not identify, coffee, clothes, shoes, silk handbags, luggage, toys, and handicrafts, all at unbelievably low prices. The Vietnamese are well known for their beautiful art, embroidery, and lacquer work, not to mention their pottery. People everywhere were exceedingly kind and friendly and always willing to help.
The sidewalks and parks are used for all sorts of activities and Ray is planning a picture book called "Shared Spaces" showcasing these street persuits. Food is cooked on portable stoves and plastic stools are set out on the footpath for one to enjoy a hot bowl of Pho, noodles or rice. Carpenters set up their workshops and barbers their saloons!
31'st October was Adil's 28'th birthday and that morning we visited the Great Cao Dai Temple where I was able to offer prayers for him at a service. It was a fabulous place, filled with statues and paintings and men and women clergy dressed in the most vibrant colours and costumes. The main altar area is dominated by a huge painting of the Divine Eye which is the religion’s official symbol adopted after its founder, the mystic Minh Chieu, who saw it in a vision. He wanted to create an ideal religion by bringing together philosophies of the East and the West. There are elements of Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, native Vietnamese spiritualism, Christianity, and Islam included in it. The main tenets include belief in one God, the existence of the soul and the use of mediums to communicate with the spiritual world.
Hanoi
A bustling city of lakes, narrow streets and houses that are tall and crammed together, potholes in the roads and endless streams of motorbikes, scooters, and bicycles. On the first day that Edith took us out, she said “Don’t look both ways before crossing, just walk and the bikes will go around you."
Good advice, and I became quite an expert at crossing a street in Vietnam! I loved the Old Quarter which is crammed full of shops that specialize in the same goods so that you have many silk shops, handbag shops and so on, one next to the other on the same road. There are little streets and alleyways that wind along, taking unexpected turns here and there and some end up in tiny alleyways that are a lot of fun to explore.
The Temple of Literature - an oasis in the middle of the chaos of the city was built in 1070 and dedicated to Confucius in order to honour scholars whose names, place and date of birth, and their academic achievements, are carved on huge stone turtles. It was the first university in Vietnam and is set in beautiful gardens with grand old trees, and courtyards.
The Vietnam Museum of Ethnology - was most interesting and we saw a water puppet performance in the grounds there, which was accompanied by traditional instruments played by a group of elderly gentlemen. Water puppetry in Vietnam is an art that is over 1000 years old and began with rice farmers who worked in flooded fields. They carved the puppets from the wood of the fig tree which is water resistant. The puppets depict the daily lives of the people, their animals, and mythical creatures such as dragons, phoenix, and unicorn. There is quite a skill involved in handling these puppets with long poles while the puppeteers stand in waist high water.
The Ngoc Son Temple - set in the middle of a lake was interesting. We also visited the Tran Quoc Pagoda, one of the oldest in Vietnam.
We heard some wonderful jazz at a nightclub, enjoyed hot bowls of Pho and went around on the back of a bike to see what it felt like to be right in the middle of all the chaos!
Halong Bay
From Hanoi we went to Halong Bay with our dear friends Ray and Lee. Ray works in Ho Chi Ming City and has been in Vietnam for many years. He very kindly took time off work to take us to Halong, where he had booked us overnight, on a houseboat kitted out like an old Junk. It was a wonderful trip despite the hordes of tourists who, like us, were there to see this natural wonder of Vietnam. There are about 3000 limestone islands jutting out of the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin and these are dotted with caves of all shapes and sizes. Some of our group went around in kayaks while we docked close to the simple fishing families who live in wooden houses floating on the water. It was wonderful to observe the simplicity of their lives and to watch them going about their daily chores. Selling fish, mending nets, sleeping in hammocks strung everywhere, bathing babies, children taking care of toddlers, teenagers talking on a cell phone and some rowing up to us in their woven cane sampans laden with all sorts of everyday items for sale. Soap, biscuits, chips, veggie, fish and so on.
The tranquillity of the scene later that evening while we ate a delicious Vietnamese dinner, coupled with the balmy breezes and soft guitar played by our guide on a moonlit night, was the perfect formula for a romantic and memorable visit in Halong Bay.
Hue
From Hanoi we rode on the overnight train to Hue in central Vietnam. We opted for the “hard” rather than the “soft” sleeper. We had the bottom two berths in a 6 berthed compartment and spent a comfortable night, arriving in Hue at 8.40 in the morning. The city was the old capital and is best known for the remains of its citadel and the splendid tombs of the Nguyen emperors. We checked into a very pleasant hotel close to the citadel and got a cycle rickshaw to pedal us there.
The Citadel has a 10 km perimeter wall and ten fortified gates, each arched, via a bridge across a moat. The construction began in 1804 during the reign of Emperor Gia Long. Three sides of it are straight and the fourth is rounded to follow the curve of the river. In the northern corner is the Mang Ca Fortress, once known as the French Concession which is still used as a military base. Many areas of the citadel are given over to agriculture now because of the destruction caused in 1968 by the American War. We walked around the main sites and buildings and tried to imagine how splendid it must have been in its heyday.
The Tomb of Minh Mang. There are six famous tombs in Hue but we decided to only visit this one, the most majestic of them all. To get to it we had to hire a sampan and the hour-long journey on the Perfume River was beautiful. The tomb was built between 1841 and 1843. I had no concept of what I was about to see. I thought it would be a tomb enclosed in a small room, but it is nothing like that at all. It is a huge area surrounded by walls, gardens, trees, lakes, pavilions, bridges, gates, courtyards, temples and of course the tomb which faces the west bank of the Perfume River. It was planned by the Emperor during his lifetime and many of the precious ornaments that were once placed in these tombs sadly disappeared during the wars. The architecture blends in beautifully with the natural environment which creates an aura of peace and tranquillity. Quite special and incredibly beautiful!
Hoi An
We took a bus from Hue to Hoi An, driving through paddy fields and hills and the large town of Danang along the way. Hoi An is a UNESCO World Heritage site and the old town is filled with wooden buildings that date back to the first half of the 19th century and even earlier. Hoi An was relatively untouched by the American war and it serves as a museum of Vietnamese history because it showcases the traditional architecture of houses. Some are three centuries old and display fine carving on the wooden walls and roof beams. Many of the old homes have been converted into private museums and some are shophouses with the store downstairs and the family living above.
We stayed in a little hotel in the heart of the old town where no cars are allowed so walking is a pleasure. We were surrounded by quaint houses, shops, cafes, and the famous Japanese Covered Wooden Bridge. The entrances of the bridge are guarded by a pair of monkeys on one side and a pair of dogs on the other. Apparently, these animals were revered because many of Japan’s emperors were born in the years of the dog and the monkey. There is a small temple built into the bridge and legend has it that there once lived an enormous monster called Cu. His head was in India, its tail in Japan and its body in Vietnam. It was believed that whenever this creature moved terrible disasters such as floods and earthquakes struck Vietnam. The bridge was built on the monster’s body, killing it, but the people of Hoi An took pity on it and built a temple to pray for its soul!!
For most of our stay in this quaint town, it rained. This did not prevent us from walking and enjoying, but it did stop us taking photographs!
My Son
From Hoi An to My Son was a beautiful drive, the most important center of the ancient kingdom of Champa. It is also a UNESCO World Heritage site. Standing among the ruins you could imagine the grand city as it must have been, the setting was beautiful with hills and trees and overlooked by Hon Quap or the Cat’s Tooth Mountain. My Son became a religious centre under King Bhadravarman in the late 4’th century and was occupied until the 13’th century. Most of the temples were dedicated to the Cham kings who were associated with Hindu divinities, particularly Shiva. He was regarded as the founder and protector of the Champa dynasties. There are still a few statues of Shiva and the lingam as well as some other monuments, but sadly more than 70 percent of this spectacular site built in the 12’th and 13’th centuries was destroyed by American bombs.
Ho Chi Minh City (formerly called Saigon)
Ray lives in the centre of town in a modern serviced apartment from where we could walk and get around to places very easily. The city though bustling and busy was exceptionally clean and there were a few restful and well-tended parks and community areas. Every inch of space is used, and pavements are filled with people working and selling their wares. There are women who cook and serve their customers on little plastic stools, barbers setting up mirrors and chairs, carpenters building things on the street, dog sellers, peddlers selling bric-a-brac, astrologers, artists and motorcycle taxis waiting about and ready to take you anywhere for a small fee.
We visited the Reunification Palace, the War Remnants Museum, the Notre Dame Cathedral, and the Quan Am Pagoda. We took a leisurely boat ride along the mighty Mekong River, stopping to visit Phoenix, Dragon and Tortoise Islands where we saw honey and coconut candy being made, and were entertained by traditional musicians while we feasted on a delicious lunch of Pho, Bun Cha (Rice vermicelli) Ca Kho Tu (caramelised fish in a claypot) Goi (Vietnamese salad) and Rau Muong (water spinach).
We visited the district of Cu Chi, where intense fighting, bombing and destruction took place during the war but there is little evidence of this above ground. You have to visit the network of tunnels and once you do, you emerge overawed at the ingenuity, hard work and valour of the men and women who lived, worked, faced and defeated the might of the American war machine with their tenacity and determination. The tunnels are more than 240 km. long and several storeys deep and included living areas, storerooms for food, water, supplies and war materiel, workshops, weapons factories, field hospitals, command centres and kitchens. The lowest levels, below the waterline of the river, enabled the fighters to attack American positions by approaching underwater, all the way into Saigon. The surface entrances to the tunnels are so beautifully camouflaged we often walked over trap doors without realizing it. The openings were made in such a way as to accommodate the small frame of the Vietnamese; none of us in our tour group could squeeze through but our guide managed quite easily. The tunnels’ air holes and vents to exhaust smoke from the kitchens were ingeniously hidden under ant mounds and tree roots. The fighters would spend nights tending paddy fields and days carrying out guerrilla raids against the American bases in and around the area and as far away as Saigon. However, rice was always in short supply, so the main staple was cassava which grows wild in the area, but which has little nutritional value. Following an American air raid or tank attack on Cu Chi, squads of fighters would comb the forests for unexploded ordinance, drag these into underground workshops and saw them open to extract the contents to fashion into small bombs and grenades for use in their raids, a highly risky task with often disastrous results. Traps were built to ensnare and kill enemy soldiers who dared enter the forest. In one type of trap, soldiers fell through cunningly concealed doors in the jungle floor to be helplessly impaled on spikes ten feet below, or be attacked by snakes and scorpions, and die alone and in agony, while other devices, cynically called “greeting cards”, clamped to the soldiers’ legs and could only be removed in a hospital. Cu Chi afforded us a glimpse of the utter horrors of war.
We admire the inventive and proactive way the Vietnamese have approached the numerous natural and man made challenges they faced which they have overcome, including invasions, colonial occupation, political oppression, grinding poverty, and lack of development infrastructure. It is remarkable that the Vietnamese have reached a stage in their development that they are today poised to join the small band of Asian dragons.
Two weeks in Vietnam gave us a tantalizing taste of the country, its culture, and its people whose hard work and industry is visible and palpable everywhere. It is a country with a bright future. We will visit again.