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Published: October 24th 2006
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Flat Stanley at Temple of Literature
This is the temple of Literature that dates back to about 900 AD. The Gate behind me is the original gate into the garden area. Today Uncle Arlyn and I took a tour of Hanoi. We went with a group of tourists. In our group were people from Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Germany and Australia. Everyone spoke English which made it nice. Our tour started at 8:30 AM and was over at 3:30 PM. The good news is that the minivan we took was air-conditioned and held 10 passengers. The bad news was that there were 14 people on the tour. Needless to say, we all sat very close together and we were very good friends by the end of the tour. I also became very good friends with Ms Huong, our tour guide. Remember what her name means? It means “flower” or “perfume”. Here is my picture with Ms. Huong.
We first visited the Temple of Literacy which was founded about 1000 AD and was the first University of Vietnam. There is a picture of me in front of the Temple Gate. They told some interesting stories about how long ago, students traveled long distances by foot to reach the university. It was a dangerous trip because the students didn’t have much food and there were tigers and lions all around. Today the
The Temple Garden
The Temple Graden is very beautiful and leads the way to the Temple of Literature. Vietnamese people are still very dedicated to education. All children are encouraged by their parents to learn and study hard.
While we were at the Temple of Literacy we saw school children. The teacher’s had them sing songs and recite lessons. The children were all very well-behaved. They wore uniforms of red and white. I am including some pictures of them for you to see. In many ways they are just like you. They all look healthy and have good manners.
The next stop was to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. The Mausoleum is Where Ho Chi Minh is buried. Ho Chi Minh was the President of Vietnam from 1949 to 1969 when he died. The people of Vietnam are as reverent to Ho Chi Minh as American’s are to Abraham Lincoln. They identify with Ho Chi Minh because he was a very simple man. Even as President he refused to live in a palace and instead had small houses built for him that reflected the common people of Vietnam. He spoke fluent Vietnamese, English, French, Russian, German, and Chinese.
We also visited Ho Chi Minh’s two houses on the Presidential grounds as well as the Presidential
Pond at the Temple of Literature
This is a pond in the 3rd Garden at the Temple of Literature. It has many fish. Palace. By the way, I saw Ho Chi Minh’s garage and his cars were still there. I took pictures and they are on this web page. Ho Chi Minh did not live in the Presidential Palace; he had small homes built that were the same size as the common people in Vietnam.
Today the president of Vietnam lives in the Presidential Palace. The Presidential Palace is similar to the White House where President Bush lives and works. I got my picture taken in front of the building, but security is high and this was as close that we could get.
The next stop on our tour was the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology. See my picture in front of the museum. The museum detailed all the types of people who have lived in Vietnam through the ages. There were over 90 ethnic groups who inhabited Vietnam. The museum had many old and interesting exhibits of their tools, dishes artwork, musical instruments and practices. Unfortunately though, they did not allow photography, but we bought some books we will share with your class when Uncle Arlyn and I come home.
By this time we were all very hungry. We went
Presidential Palace
This is me in front of the Presidential Palace. The President of Vietnam lives here and many important guests of Vietnam stay here as well. to a Vietnamese restaurant where we had pineapple juice to drink and a lot of very good Vietnamese food. We ate rice, chicken, noodle soup, spinach and tofu. It was all very good.
After lunch we went to an ancient house to learn how the early Vietnamese people lived. The houses are very narrow, but they are also very tall. The house we visited was built around 1840 and has been owned by the same family all these years. I had my picture taken with the lady who is the tour guide and actually lives in the house. She is a member of the original family. She is very pretty and speaks very good English. She told me that the Vietnamese usually have a family business on the first floor of their home. On the second floor is the kitchen and living quarters and the 3rd floor is for sleeping. The houses are very, very small so sometimes there are cots all around. Also the families usually include children, parents, grandparents and sometimes great grandparents. The whole family lives together in one house and it get very crowded, but they said they usually get along well and the family
We are on the roof!
Hi Kids! Thought I would climb the roof to get a bird's eye view of the Temple of Literature. is happy.
After the tour Uncle Arlyn and I headed back to the hotel. We were very tired and Uncle Arlyn put me back in his book where it was cool and dark. I had a nice nap.
There are many exciting things happening here and hopefully Uncle Arlyn and I will be able to share some surprises with you soon.
Flat Stanley and Uncle Arlyn
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Angie
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Thanks
What a wonderful impact this is having! Thank you so much. I hope you are doing well, and are traveling safely. Please take care. Love, Angie