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Published: November 28th 2006
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Uncle Ho
This is as close as we got to the man. This keyboard is screwy, so forgive any questionable punctuation.
We thought Hanoi was a beautiful city and enjoyed our daily strolls around the lake. Thumbs up to Hanoi. Perhaps our favorite major city in SE Asia. However, I have to give its museums a lukewarm review. First, I'll preface my reviews by saying that Kate and I were devastated we could not view Uncle Ho. We suspect his body might be getting touched up in Russia, but people kept telling us his mausoleum should be open. For those of you who don't know me, I have a creepy obsession with all things related to death. I think it's interesting to see how different cultures handle the dead. Therefore, I was thrilled to get a chance to peek at Uncle Ho, and all the people stopping by to say hi. Each of our museum days started with failed attempts to see him, so that may have soured things for me.
Ho Chi Minh Museum The best part of this museum was the artistic side, the part described as "bizarre" by our guide book. There were large interpretations of Vietnamese history played out through
Gigantic Fruit
This is the kind of stuff I dug in the HCM Museum. gigantic cubes and enlarged fruit and creepy volcanoes. I dug it. The other part of the museum was composed of tons and tons and tons of documents in Vietnamese with basic English titles underneath, but no actual translation of the letter or newspaper article contents. There were also tons of photos of Uncle Ho with different crews of people, but no explanation WHY it was so exciting that he visited the people. Basically, they need to add the big intro wall featured in each wing of most Western museums to get you pumped and prepared for what you're going to see. If I was already an Uncle Ho expert, I MAY have understood and appreciated everything, but as it was, I could barely tell whether stuff was in chronological order.
Plus, Kate and I got into a big fight about what is the most famous painting of the 20th century, so I had to view everything alone. Sigh.
Museum of Vietnamese Women I had high hopes for this one and give Vietnam props for having a museum dedicated to this topic. However, once again, it lacked a lot of background info. Instead, it was largely focused on how
the women helped defeat America and its "lackeys," which we already knew about. This museum also featured a lot of documents we couldn't read and a billion photos of women in meetings. I'm glad there are conferences on reproduction and women in business, but the photos of them weren't that thrilling. If they had personal stories, tales of women told BY women, I would have been psyched.
I DID enjoy the propaganda posters and the varying fashions among tribes though.
Hoa Lo Prison (Hanoi Hilton) You should know that I also love prisons. What remains of Hoa Lo is mini because the government authorized the building of some business towers over most of it. There was an interesting mix of info about the Vietnamese prisoners kept here under French rule and the American POWs kept here during the Vietnamese War. Again, I need more personal info, so I had a hard time feeling for the Vietnamese men pictured. There was no personal info or testimonials about their plight. Just photos. In the case of the Khmer Rouge prison in Phnom Penh, the photos were moving because you could see fear in the eyes of the women and children,
Moria at Wat Ho Prakeo
Obligatory peace sign pose. and there were SO many people, nearly ALL of whom had been killed, but the Vietnamese prison photos lacked the human touch.
As for the American POWs... I know that they DID call the prison the Hanoi Hilton, but I want to know if the prison was really as plush as the Vietnamese make it sound. If someone can tell me what Mr. McCain says about his experience, I will thank you.
After all this, it was time to say goodbye to Vietnam and its yummy coffee. Kate and I were sad to leave and nervous about heading to Laos, a land with a lot of hype to live up to.
The Bus Ride The ride from Hanoi to Vientiane was supposed to be 24 hours long. In preparation, Kate bought sleeping pills, and we both bought stuffed animal dogs to use as pillows. Kate was thrilled with both, but I think I would have preferred super heavy duty noise-blocking headphones. We heard the same Vietnamese hits over and over and over again. The bus ride started at 7PM. Kate guessed the music would stop at 8, and I guessed 9. According to the angry German
girl on our bus, it didn't stop until 3AM. It started again at 7AM. Ear plugs only dulled the volume a tad. Ipods were useless. Somehow, we both managed to sleep on and off, despite the gnarly scarred foot of a man in the aisle, sleeping on top of the piles of rice and other miscellaneous cargo shoved on the bus. Because it wasn't a normal tourist bus, we made one pee stop a half hour or so after getting on, and did not make another until 7AM the next morning. The bus made a few stops during the night, but these were to pick up the mysterious goods we were transporting. (Drugs?) In the morning, one of our tires blew out, and the men repaired it in impressive time.
All in all, it was an interesting ride, but not nearly as bad as our ride to Pondicherry in India.
Vietiane We only stayed here one night, but it seemed fine. Similar to Siem Reap. We stayed in our first hostel, and that was fine as well.
This morning we went to Wat Ho Prakeo, the former temple of the Lao Royal Family, followed by Wat Sisaket,
which holds nearly 7,000 Buddhas. Wat Ho Prakeo had dragons with crazy tongues that Kate loved, as well as Buddhas with a new pose for us (considering we've seen millions of Buddhas by now), Buddha beckoning the rain.
Wat Sisaket might be my favorite Wat thus far (if you ignore Cambodia). The mini Buddha pairs all over the place, tucked into the wall, were awesome. The murals inside the Wat were childlike and endearing. But the best part of all, for me, was the stupas outside the wat. Most of the deceased had died recently, and an impressive number lived to be 100. I loved the different styles, colors, and sizes of the stupas. Kate did not love the red ants that bit her while we stared.
Now we're in Vang Vieng. Apparently, Laos is the recreational drug capital. I do not know how to handle the weirdo drugged tourists. I am a nerd. Kate is protecting me.
Laos is beautiful though. Less built up than Thailand and Vietnam. It smelled like rain on the way here. Not sure why. Tomorrow we go kayaking.
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anonymous
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Hey girls,
I just wanted to write a quick note to say I've been enjoying reading about your travels! I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving in Asia. Kate, my parents truly enjoyed your postcard about your dysentery and how you had it coming out both ends. Looking forward to reading more. Take care of yourselves! Moria, be witty.