Haphazard Hanoi

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November 8th - 21st:

Hanoi is Vietnam’s small and elegant capital lying on the banks of the Red River. Surprisingly with a population of over 3 million it’s a relatively low-key city full of character and charm that differs greatly from the brash and young Ho Chi Minh City in the South. What is shocking is that Hanoi is a thriving metropolis and the commercial infrastructure for Vietnam even though it was almost wiped off the face of the map by the 1972 Christmas bombings of the American/Vietnam War.

While doing my volunteer program at Peace House and Friendship Village we only had a few chances to get into Hanoi and explore the town on our own so my experiences were somewhat limited. A weekend “city tour” excursion spearheaded by the Hanoi 4 (Lien, Thuy, To, Hanh) started with a 1-1/2 hrs. bus ride at 6:30 am (3 bus exchanges) to the Ceramic Village on the outskirts of town. The village contains a small market selling predominantly traditional ceramic and pottery crafts manufactured by the numerous small and independently owned factories. Hanh took us to the home of one of her friends in the village which also serves a small ceramics factory and we were given a personal behind the scenes tour on the laborious process that goes into making traditional ceramic tea pots and their accompanying cups and saucers.

Back on the bus our next stop on the city tour took us to the Museum of Ethnology situated in the Western section of Hanoi. The museum contains excellent displays on the country’s major ethnicities and their varying languages and cultures. The museum grounds contain life size replicas of customary Vietnamese village dwellings, burial and fertility statues and a traditional Water Puppet Show (literally, puppets dance on water) accompanied by musical narration. Newlyweds for their wedding photos were using the grounds and surrounding gardens - there must have been over 20 young couples in rented tuxedoes and dresses. If my return to advertising doesn’t pan out I’ve devised a backup plan to move to SE Asia and becomes a professional wedding photographer with branch offices in Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. It could prove to be a very lucrative business!

The evening ended with an International football (soccer) game at the local stadium. Vietnam was hosting Japan in an Olympic qualifier. Attending an International game has been a dream of mine since I was a small child listening to overseas games on my shortwave radio. My excitement level was high and I was expecting a packed stadium of rambunctious and surly crowds chanting, beating drums, blowing horns and waving their country’s oversized flags. Upon entering we were only a handful in attendance with the stadium no more than 10% filled at the start of the game. It turns out that Japan always beats Vietnam (as they did that night 4-0) and the game was irrelevant because Vietnam had already been eliminated in qualifying for the Olympics. We still had fun! My favorite thing was the ‘take away’ bags you receive at the concession stands for all beverages - I felt like I was drinking my warm beer from a goldfish bag you receive at the local pet store.

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Photos

The Eyes Won't Leave Me
This fertility statue's stare follows you like an unquiet ghost that does not seek rest.

Duck...Duck...Goose
I'm not sure if these are chickens, duck, baby geese or some other fowl. You can see they are quite small and I think I ate them in a soup Hanh's mother made us.

My Morning Starkiss
Hanh's mother shows her dexterity and youth by climbing one of the starkiss fruit trees in the yard. Like all mothers everywhere in the world she wasn't sending us home empty handed.

Homemade Fertilizer
Each day I stopped at a small roadside cafe for a cold coke or usually warm beer. The woman across the street from where I sat was burning the dried stalks from the cut rice to re-use as fertilizer on the paddies before planting the next crop.

A Slice of Life
Ceramic vases bathed in the morning's golden rays take on the texture of summer's cantaloupes and autumn's gourds.

Carnivals and Ping Pong Balls
Wasn't there a game at carnivals where you tossed ping pong balls into the tops of vases and if successful you'd win a goldfish? Or am I confused with "beer pong" (aka Beirut) ???

I See Your Face Again
Ceramic faces scream and smile out of the shadows and sun's penetrating beams - they look like they must live a hundred lifetimes in a day.

Packed the Bags and Checked the Things
Teapots, cups and saucers packed and ready for shipment and sale in Hanoi.

Potter's Wheel
Rusted and caked in years worth of chipped and flaked paint this potter's wheel is used to remove the rough edges of ceramic tea pots as they come out of their molds before entering the kiln.

Lime Sponge Cake
A potter's wheel used to spin the teapots as they are painted.

Splintered Sunlight
The morning sunlight seeps through the cracks at the base of a door as if were a whisper that slowly drifts away.

Wooden Shoes and Galoshes
Traditional wooden water puppets dance across the water like leaves in the wind. A dying art this form of puppetry was once popular in may remote villages long ago.

A Box of Tu
Portrait of my friend Tu.

Museum's Morning Wood
A traditional Vietnamese wooden fertility statue; shocking this was on display at the Ethnology Museum knowing the country's sensitivity to public displays of sexuality.

Waiter There's a Fly in My Beer!
Luckily it didn't drink much.

To Go Cup = Take Away Bag
We get plastic cups when ordering a beer at a sporting event; they give plastic bags. I kept thinking I was going to suck up a goldfish through my straw.

Up, Up, Up and Away
Outside of the stadium after the football match many teenagers light huge paper lanterns sending them soaring into the night's sky. Each lantern has a prayer written on the rice paper that is supposed to bring good luck as it shines through the night’s black skies.

Do Drugs and You'll Die
Although the medium may be slightly different than the ad campaigns we see in the states the message is just as effective.

Comments

[Tracy]

Wow
Alan -- the morning starkiss shot is simply beautiful -- for many reasons. Loved these shots.