Hue is a very old and beautiful city
situated on the Perfume River in the central part of Vietnam close to
the East Sea that extends east from Vietnam toward the Philippines
and other nations in the Pacific. On the first of February we flew
into Hue from Hanoi to explore this historical city and celebrate Tet
with our friend Vinh and her family. But first we'll share the
earlier travels just before Tet...
On January 25th we began our
trek to the Northwest part of Vietnam by flying to Ha Noi from Ho Chi
Minh City in the midst of the Tet Lunar New Year rush to return to
home to family villages by thousands of Vietnamese heading to the
rural provinces to be with family and friends. Luckily our driver
had delivered us to the airport about 3.5 hours before our flight,
because it took about 2.5 hours to get our baggage checked and to
receive our boarding passes. Now we understand our Vietnamese
friends' warnings that Tet is like all USA holidays combined! Once
we reached Ha Noi we met our guide Thiep and our driver. We spent
the next two days and nights in Ha Noi visiting the Ho Chi Minh
Museum, the HCM Mausoleum, and several other sites including a long
walk halfway across the Long Bien Bridge -- the railway bridge that
was bombed many times by the USA during the American War (to no avail
as the Vietnamese immediately rebuilt it or used alternative routes
to carry on). This was at the same time that we bombed the dikes and
irrigation systems in the North that were necessary for food
production. Of course this caused hunger and famine for the
Vietnamese, but in the spirit of people's war they carried on with
great faith that victory would be theirs.
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| Our Hanoi Friends |
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| Tet Lights on a lake in Hanoi |
Next to the Mausoleum we visited the
traditional stilt house where President Ho Chi Minh lived instead of
the Presidential Palace – he considered the beautiful structure
liberated from the French as “too much” and preferred to live in
the stilt house (built like a traditional rural farmer's house) until
he died at the age of 79. Incidentally, when he had the house built
he refused to allow the installation of a toilet within the house in
keeping with the practices of the rural people. I would note that
there were literally thousands of Vietnamese visiting these sites
when we were, celebrating the Tet holidays when they are off work and
families can enjoy the beauty of their country. In the HCM Museum
our party of three moved quickly as we had lots to cover, including
the aforementioned Long Bien Bridge and then the Old District market
that lies next to the railroad and covers a number of square blocks.
The streets in the market are named by the goods that used to be sold
there: a silk street, vegetable street, beef street, and so forth.
Thus family shoppers or the different classifications of merchants
would quickly find the items they needed to purchase or barter and
get on with it. Our friend Carol found a type of mushroom that she
was looking for and was able to purchase a nice quantity right there
in the market. The woman running the herbal medicine shop cut it up,
ground it and packaged it while we waited.
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| Black Hmong mother and child |
From Hanoi we headed north by sleeper
train to Lao Cai near the border with China. After a short drive we
were in Sapa – a beautiful mountain town with picturesque streets,
houses, parks – and lots of tourists. The town is surrounded by
several ethnic group's rural villages that are reached by HIKING up
and down hilly roads. It took a couple of days of walking, but we
able to visit the villages of the Black Hmong and Red Dao to see up
close the typical houses, rural primary and secondary schools, rice
fields, water-pump rice threshing, wine distilling and handicrafts.
With 45 ethnic groups living in Vietnam, there is debate and some
controversy about education, balancing economic development and
cultures as well as the impact of tourism. With the mountains,
waterfalls, mist and sunshine, terraced rice fields and colorful
ethnic dress, the area is breathtakingly beautiful. While improved
housing and roads, new schools, electricity (and satellite TV) and
other signs of improved living conditions are there, it is clear that
sustainable economic development is a work-in-progress.
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| Rural village school |
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| Sa Pa Market |
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| Sa Pa skyline |
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| Terraces and water buffalo |
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| Walking to the Red Dao Village |
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| Nap and feeding combo |
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Friend Carol with Red Dao woman
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From Sapa we headed east to HaLong Bay
– another UNESCO and world famous area of Vietnam. This bay full
of limestone islands is impressive and popular with Vietnamese and
world tourists. During Tet the bay is not as crowded as other times
of the year, but we were still amazed (and worried) about the number
of cruise boats – of course we were on one! We were lucky to
experience both fog and sunshine during our
day-and-night-on-the-water while we saw dramatically beautiful
islands, floating fishing villages, an enclosed lagoon with golden
monkeys. And, as always, the food on the boat was GREAT!
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| Limestone Islands |
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| Sunset Ha Long Bay |
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| Lagoon |
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| Floating fishing village |
Our final stop to celebrate Tet was Hue
where we had a wonderful visit with our dear friend Vinh and her
family while visiting the Citadel, Forbidden City, several Vietnamese
king's tombs, traveled by boat on the Perfume River and ate as many
famous Hue dishes as possible during three days. Vinh and her family
shared their home and a traditional Tet meal with us – what a great
moment to meet with the parents, grandfather and brother of this
exceptional woman who was our teaching partner and friend all the
while we were in Vietnam. Vinh and her brother showed us a nearby
village with the oldest covered bridge in the area – and FUN
VILLAGE Tet market where folks were playing a complicated traditional
gambling game as part of the Tet celebrations. We also got to visit
the high school where Ho Chi Minh, General Giap and other famous
Vietnamese leaders studied – same high school Vinh and her brother
attended. Everywhere you look you see living history and awareness
of ties between generations. Visiting the Citadel and Forbidden City
(where generations of Vietnamese kings held court) once again
reminded us of the horrible destruction and death of the American War
– ancient historic sites bombed and destroyed in the midst of an
important Vietnamese city. With help from Vietnamese donors,
government and some foreign governments and NGOs, Vietnam is slowly,
lovingly restoring some of these historic buildings. Hue is known as
the “heart” of Vietnam with a large number of pagodas and
temples, traditional architecture and slower, traditional pace. It
was so special to get introduced to Hue by Vinh and her family!
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| Ancient bridge that is national treasure |
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| Friends at ancient bridge |
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| Coffee with Vinh's family in Hue on Perfume River |
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| Forbidden City restored and destroyed |
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| Vinh's father and Carol |
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| Vinh's parents heading home after Pho and coffee |
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| Celebrating Tet at Vinh's home with FAMILY! |
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Beautiful Perfume River - perfume from Sandlewood
Trees. |
From Hue we flew to HCMC where we took
quick naps before heading back to the USA – after getting to say
goodby to some of our special TDT friends at the airport. Even
after a week in Los Angeles, we still aren't sure if we've really
finished our Vietnam adventure. There are lots more photos – which
we'll figure out how to post for painless viewing. So watch for the
photo alert. We'll also be participating in a workshop at the annual
United Association for Labor Education UALE conference in March in
Los Angeles (check out the UALE website for more details), hoping to
recruit more volunteer teachers to go to Vietnam.
We thank and recognize each and all of
you who contributed solidarity gifts and money for solidarity gifts
that we shared with many students, workers, union leaders,
professors, children, peoples organizations and Vietnamese friends
while we were in Vietnam. You were a real part of this adventure
concretely showing YOUR international friendship. We shared your
stories with the Vietnamese when we shared your gifts, so YOUR
friendship now resides in Vietnam!
Onward to a 2014 full of international
friendship, peace and progress for workers everywhere!
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