Day 16: Water puppets, street food & birthday

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Geo: 21.0243, 105.855

Nine is the lucky number we have been hearing about so feeling that this year is auspicious - 63 and born in 54. I've got it covered. And what a great year to start the countdown to the next.

Unwrapped the beautiful silk cashmere from LO_RI (matches the new outfit perfectly) and planned my spending from Aunty Gail and Paul ( water puppets.) The Birthday breakfast was the usual buffet spread where east meets west and of course we wanted to sample goodies from every section.

Right on time at 9 am Way was in the foyer waiting for us and helped us with a mad dash through the morning traffic to drop off a bag of laundry at the travel agents (go figure.) when we got back to the van, he magically produced a bunch of red roses for the birthday girl and then it was down to business.

It was a day of education with a touch of perspective from north Vietnam. I guess the easiest way to summarise this is to say that there is no smog in Hanoi. Although you can barely see the high rise in front of you, not to worry, this is just fog - mind you it is a pall of fog that never lifts.

The education focussed on the role of the temple, the Pagoda and the community house in Vietnam village life.

The Temple of Literature was an introduction to Confucius and his teachings and he and his disciples,are certainly revered. The Temple of Literature was the first university and was originally exclusively for the sons (not daughters) of the mandarins. It was built in 1070 and is one of a number of temples dedicated to Confucius, sages and scholars. It is located to the south of the citadel (we saw it from a distance) and has had various iterations over time to include pavilions, halls and statues. The system of examination was strictly controlled and only the highest scholars were rewarded with the laureate and doctorate and their names are engraved on the stelae of doctors. These scholars became the advisors to the king.

We recognised this temple from the back of the 100,000 dong note (the equivalent of $6 AU) and that little gem is one of many in our lessons with Way. We have worked out how to translate Way's enthusiastic and detailed descriptions. We all huddle and listen intently and throw in key words and phrases as we think other members of thee group look puzzled. Our goal is to take as much sense from it as we can. Then, we read the English translations on the signage and for most parts we get it right. The biggest challenge this morning was that for the first 30 minutes we thought we were in the "Little Churches" ..rather than the Temple of Literature. That should give you some idea of the concentration level required!

The next drive through the endless stream of bikes and cars that makes up the chaos of Hanoi was to the Museum of Ethnology. This is a park where the homes and villages of each of the 54 ethnic groups that make up Vietnam have been set up. A really fascinating insight into the diversity of Vietnam and Way was very keen for us to get a look at the structures we would see in the north. Clay floors, mud walls, bamboo roofs, altars and shrines, customs and traditions, furnishings and gardens. Way managed to bring it all alive and he was positively on fire in the exhibit that included the detailed carvings of men and women and their "happy places" at the Giarai tomb. Each home and village structure was unique as were the languages and customs. Way seemed to make sense of the diversity we saw - from the straw roof of the Tay house, to the steep impossibly high roof of the Bahnar Communal House, the his and her steps to the entry of the Ede Long House and the familiar high stoop of the Viet house. Our education continued in great spirit.

A lunch at the Museum followed by a walk along the lake, lots of "risking your life" road crossings and more tours of pagodas and temples and an "in passing" look at the French Quarter. We rounded out the day with a visit to the Tran Quoc Pagoda, considered to be an icon of Vietnam it is an historic Buddhist temple on the West Lake. Again, the gardens were magnificent and there are symbols of the beautiful lotus flower set within the Pagoda. The numbers are mind boggling, but the construction of is Pagoda began in 541! 63 is nothing!

Way seemed to have a never ending supply of notes. He made offerings and gave thanks at each of shrines we visited. And his ancestors were everywhere - as part of the 86% Viet people - his grandather's grandfather was in various stories as a scholar, a farmer and a soldier.

The birthday plans this evening Water Puppet Show (the best one according to Way) followed by a Street Food Tour ( we had organised this separately.)

Loved the puppet show but it was "low key" in comparison with the Bamboo Show of thigh deep water ( how do I know this - because at the end of the show the puppeteers wade out to take their bows). There music was performed live so there was an assortment of traditional instruments used (including he "zither" from the cruise) and all the voices and songs came from the same group. There were 14 items on the programme - all in Vietnamese obviously. So the extremely stylised characters and movements were definitely a mystery to us. Probably, the mating of the two ducks and the resultant egg and chick was the only "story" we actually go. But there were soldiers and ladies, dragons, fish and fisherman - and the locals in the audience were laughing at the dialogue. It was clever - and we did enjoy it - but wouldn't rush to go again. I actually think that Mac set a new yawning record in this one!

But I enjoyed it and was keen to buy my water puppets as souvenirs (thanks Aunty Gail and Paul for my birthday present!)

The Street Tour was high on our agenda. Our guide Rosie, called "sticky rice" and navigated our group of 6 through the nighttime chaos of Hanoi to seven venues for seven course for the birthday dinner. We went into venues that would challenge health and hygiene regulations on any day of any week back home. The secret was to not think about it and to definitely avoid looking at any kitchen.

And hat notion of kitchen is very interesting. Because in most cases, it was just a bucket of water under a shelf with some sort of cooking pot. The pungent odour of "different" was everywhere - some of smells were "off", but that was overlain with tantalisingly delicious odours. You just needed to focus the olfactory senses on the "good" and if we had been issued with blindfolds it would have been better.

There were no "exotic" or "extravagant" choices on the menu it was really more a case of where you ate. We started with rice noodles with grilled pork and then followed this with dried bean salad, steamed pancake, fired food (including spring rolls), spiced beef salad, fish cakes, lemongrass pork noodle wrap (we made the wraps), sticky rice and ice cream and egg coffee.

Rosie went into detail on how the food was cooked and what ingredients were used. She vetted every choice to ensure we got a range of choices.

There were so many laughs along the way and I am not sure how we managed to survive the table and chair arrangement but we did. In one of the venues the small plastic stools had diamond holes in them - when I stood up y bottom was glued to the seat (combination of heat and weight) and I had to give it a little shake to dislodge it. But that was nothing compared with the coffee venue which was a straw cushion on a filthy floor. Definitely drew the line in the sand for this one - could have drawn a line in the dirt on the floor actually.

The true test of the success of the evening will be in the "toilet checkin" tomorrow morning! Here's hoping we make it through the night.

Last job on the tourist checklist was to check the skyline by night. Despite the rain, we high tailed it to the Rooftop Bar to soak in the sights (yep it was still raining) and sounds of a night time Hanoi. The music blared, the scooters and cars did their thing, the revellers in the street seemed to survive, the laser lights played across the lake and Richard and Mac took their chance and danced on the glass roof that was the cover of the 10 storey void of the Apricot Hotel. And they too survived!

A perfect celebration of 63. Definitely feeling the luck and the love.


Steps: 16 429
Temperature: 36 degrees and showers

PS @Dick - just saying, some of the courses looked disgusting on the food tour - but the taste surprised. Can't imagine I will ever get over some of the kitchens. OMG.

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Comments

[Aunty Gail]

Happy Birthday again Love!......what an awesome day you have had.....must say, you are braver than I......not sure I could have coped with the eating arrangements on the night....but then, 'when in Rome'!!!....And, how beautiful you look...
..a gorgeous 63!.....xxxxxx