We had a wonderful trip (as always). We spent 3 days in Hanoi where a tropical storm was supposed to come through (no wonder the plane tickets were so cheap) but decided not to! It was crazy hot and humid (not worse than Huizhou, but we were outside all day long) but that is better than a tropical storm. Anyway we spent each day doing a variety of activities, we saw the sights (Pagodas, Pottery Village, Silk Village, Presidential House, The Old Quarter, and The Hanoi Hilton) we shopped (I LOVE Asian markets, and a whole village with just silk and another with all pottery…of course we shopped!), and we ATE (Vietnamese food, Thai food, Western food…and MEXICAN…we used to try and eat places we don’t have at home if we were traveling when we lived in the states…well we don’t really have anything at home in Huizhou, so yes we are probably the only western tourists that go to Vietnam, Hong Kong or Thailand and choose a Mexican restaurant). We even went to a puppet show, which is impossible to explain but it was basically a puppet show in a pool in a theater telling the history of Hanoi (I think…it was all in Vietnamese).
I didn’t believe it when I read it but the streets were crazier than in Huizhou the only difference being Vietnamese people slow down if there is a person in the road. The coolest thing I learned is that Vietnam’s architecture and culture is really a hodge podge of French, Portugese, and a little from the USSR. The row houses were really cool and were painted bright colors (but only on the front) and they were obviously not built with the next house in mind so all of the houses are different heights and different styles.
The pottery village was really cool (I even made a pot…well painted a pot…think Mad Platter International). Families have been working for many generations making pottery. One thing I read said that the pottery village we went to has been around for a thousand years. Supposedly some of the best clay comes from that area of Hanoi and is imported to Europe. The silk village was equally as cool. Families had their own silk work farms (some of the worms came from India and China but some were Vietnamese) and created the thread and used old fashioned looms to create fabric. The looms had patterns that looked like songs on a player piano (you know…lots of holes that apparently mean something). The silk made in Vietnam is a lot different than the silk made in china…they use a more raw version of the silk to create texture, some of the silk even felt like rough linen.
The “Hanoi Hilton” was by far the best stop on our trip. It is actually a prison (for those of you that don’t know your Vietnam war history…like me) that American pilots nicknamed the “Hanoi Hilton” John McCain spent some of his POW days there. They showed all the horrible things they did to the local people were I guess considered traders. They locked them up they died of disease, they did slave work and had their heads chopped off. Then we saw pictures of the AWESOME time Americans had as a prisoner there. They had Christmas parties, played games, raised chickens for dinner, and were even given souvenirs on their way out. The print and video in the prison talked about how the Imperialist Americans had destroyed their way of life which was apparently perfect before we intruded.
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| The Intercontinental Hanoi...it cost like $60 a night including an awesome breakfast and VIP status |
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| the pottery village |
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| notice I am the only adult painting |
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| Vietnamese people locked up at the Hanoi Hilton |
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| The silk village |
