Better Late...

Wednesday was my last day volunteering at the Museum of Ethnology.  I've accomplished basically everything that they needed from me for the catalog for the new museum in the Dak Lak province, and Mrs. Thuong has promised to send me a copy when it's published in November...so I'll be waiting a while to see my name in print (as English Editor), but that just gives me more time to get excited about it.

Mrs. Thuong, Mrs. Vincente, and Mrs. Nicole.

I bid the spunky French ladies and dear Mrs. Thuong adieu and set foot in the museum for the first time.  Yes, I've been volunteering there for over three weeks but in an adjacent building.  This being the last time I'd make the schlep over there, I decided it was finally the right afternoon to peruse the collections at my leisure.  The building itself has an interesting crescent layout with two floors representing all of the fifty four ethnic minorities.

Atrium with pottery display.

I love me some pots!

Bike loaded down with fish baskets.

Wood block printing. It's done in layers, with each block used for one color.

Tay shamanic ritual tree.

Shaman initiation mask.

Hmong skirts.

Bark clothing.

Model of Jarai tomb.

Hoa Lion Dance costume.

Their collection is pretty impressive, and they use interesting display techniques to help you visualize the objects' use in the everyday lives of minorities.

Muong funeral.

Tay house.

Hmong weaving.

In remembrance of the twentieth anniversary of the first diagnosed case of HIV in Vietnam and to increase awareness, the museum also has a temporary exhibition on HIV and AIDS and its impact on the lives and culture of Vietnam.  It was pretty somber passing through, reading first-hand accounts of those both living and dead with the disease and seeing personal and medical items.  The whole thing was rather unsettling, but it reminded me that my uncle is here for a reason, and that's because there's a problem that needs a solution.

Pie chart representing the demographics of those with HIV. From largest to smallest: Drug Addicts/Injectors, "Other Subjects," Patients Suspected to be AIDS Patients, Tuberculosis Patients, Prostitutes, Unknown Reasons, Blood Donors.

Self-administered AIDS test, used by a man who tested positive.

Condom dress, just one of many created by The Flamboyant Club to raise safe sex awareness.

You could write a short blurb about your thoughts on AIDS and the exhibit.

Finally, there was a less morbid temporary exhibit that gives visitors a taste of what's to come with the museum's future permanent exhibit on Southeast Asia.  I liked the Indonesian glass paintings best.  My coulrophobic friends *cough Cassie cough* might want to skip the first photo.

Renowned clowns (in Java) that are apparently quite popular...and creepy.

Common Javanese dance of women, accompanied by instruments.

Wedding.

That evening I attempted to attend a lecture and demonstration by a famous Vietnamese medium, but by the time I got there it was standing room only for the lecture.  I decided to skip it and wander around the Hoan Kiem Lake area in the drizzle, enjoying the twilight hour and slightly calmer nature settling over the city due to the time and the weather.  It was here that I stumbled upon today's highlight, something I've been planning to experience since my first week but which fate deemed to happen today.  There is this locally famous ice cream shop at which one can just drive one's bike--pedal or motor--into the store, pick up one's ice cream, and drive back out.  A veritable drive-in.  So seeing this as my last chance, since it's in an area I rarely visit, I popped over and got the specialty that all the locals were ordering.  Imagine my surprise when, at my first lick, I discovered my apparent vanilla cone to be a delicious coconut concoction.  Perfect end to the kind of day that makes me not want to leave.

Ice cream drive-in.