Eleventh Hour

My time here is dwindling away.  By the time I leave Sunday morning, I'll have accomplished everything I really wanted to do with a few things left on my list that won't be terribly missed.  But I'm still trying to squeeze in some things last minute, so Thursday was something of a mish-mash in my last ditch effort to take in all there is to see and do in Hanoi.


First up is Quan Thanh Temple, just down the street from our apartment, dedicated to Tran Vu, the Guardian of the North and the Dark Heaven in Taoism.  According to legend, he aided the Vietnamese in their third century struggle against the Chinese and is the "patron saint," or genie, of Vietnam during adversity.  It's a really nice temple, but I don't think it receives very many foreign visitors, which is a real shame considering the unique nature of its main deity and the temple decoration.

Back of entrance gate. On top of each outermost pillar is a ky lan, a symbolic animal representing intelligence and goodness and is a messenger for peace.

One of a pair of elephants honoring those that helped fight off invaders.

Stele naming those who donated to the reconstruction of the temple in 1893.

This altar houses a statue of the master foreman of the temple.

Beautiful lacquer door painting.

Statue of the Black Genie. He holds a sword wrapped with a snake resting on a turtle, symbolizing protection of the country and death to all adversaries. Women rub his right foot in order to absorb the genie's strength. Yes, I rubbed it--sorry, Amy, but at least it's a fake foot.

I then set out for the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, passing by the Presidential Palace.  I didn't go inside the mausoleum, as the guards wouldn't even let me walk on the sidewalk in front of it and were making me nervous, and I didn't stop to take the picture of the palace, because I was afraid they'd tackle me and confiscate my camera thinking me an American spy.  I therefore took it from my hip while barely slowly down.  In the same area is the One Pillar Pagoda, which is...a pagoda built on one pillar.  Not much else to say about it.

Sorry for the wonky angle of the Presidential Palace, but I rather favor not being incarcerated for suspected espionage.

Hanoi...

Mausoleum (with Uncle Ho inside)...

Thang Long (The Citadel)...

One Pillar Pagoda.

After taking tea at Joma, writing up some postcards (which will now probably arrive in the States after I will), and sipping a Long Island Ice Tea in the shadow of St. Joseph's Cathedral, I stopped in at yet another pagoda I'd never noticed tucked away on Church Street.  It seems that few foreigners stop in at Ba Da Pagoda, as well, and I think my timing was rather unfortunate as a monk appeared to be holding a service, so I ducked my head and made a swift retreat.

Smaller pagoda entrance than usual.

Big Buddhas.

Stupa!

Today's highlight was my xe om ride back to the apartment.  I'm trying to fit in as many rides as I can before Sunday, since once I'm back in the States it's back to four-wheeled vehicles.  I'm really going to miss driving down the street and feeling the wind caress my cheeks and danger lurk around every corner.  It just won't be the same surrounded by steel and glass on all sides.

Oh, how I'll miss careening around corners.

Promenade

Lonely Planet's guide to Vietnam includes a one-page walking tour of the Old Quarter, located near Hoan Kiem Lake.  They suggest leaving yourself at least two hours (I fit it into two and half on Wednesday, but only because I was already familiar with about a third of it and didn't feel the need to linger.) to complete the three and a half km (over two miles) walk.  It starts at Ngoc Son Temple on the lake, so I skated by the first couple stops over to Hang Be Street, where I'd perused the long line of shops on Monday looking for things I couldn't live without.

Man, I wish I'd found this map earlier.

My first big stop was Memorial House, No 87 Ma May Street, which entertained many a foreign businessman back in the day.  It was a Chinese merchant's house built at the end of the nineteenth century, and has since undergone renovations to preserve its historical integrity.  Architecturally, it was pretty cool, but its filled with more items for sale than historical artifacts.  It was like having the museum gift shop inside the museum, taking up more room than the exhibits.  Still, for twenty five cents, Memorial House was well worth a stop.

Antique toilet. No joke--I'm going to continue to keep this a potty-humor-free zone.

Well.

Nice little open-air atrium.

I want one so badly now!!!

Silk embroidery station. I picked up a couple whilst shopping Monday. They could be for you!

Next stop was Bach Ma Temple, built in the ninth century.  It's said that the king who established Hanoi as the capital of Vietnam in 1010, Ly Thai To, would pray here while trying to erect the citadel walls.  They kept collapsing, and Bach Ma (White Horse), the spirit of ancient Hanoi, heard his prayers and posed as a workman, helping Ly Thai To finish his building project.  It sits right on bustling Hang Buom Street, traffic rushing past, as well as into and out of, the pagoda.

Prayer-burner that's apparently out of order.

Bach Ma.

I ended the tour back by St. Joseph's cathedral, having worked up an appetite and thirst that I quenched with pizza and beer, tea and lemon cake, the latter at the it coffee shop, Joma.  How much fun to stumble into being hip.

This pizza was about as close to pizza as the tea on the Heart of Gold was to tea. :/

Now this is more like it. London Fog Latte and a lemon bar.

My appetite was alternately worked up and quashed on the streets between the pagoda and St. Joseph's.  Flowers and fresh produce are sold, but so are "fresh" and processed meat of every variety, frequently overpowering any visual and aromatic enjoyment of the latter.  Animals can be found at the huge Dong Xuan Market, with birds, kittens and bunnies wanting to go home with you.  The metallic chung of blacksmiths wafts through the streets, adding auditory stimuli to all the others.

Piglet. :/

In the lower left corner is pickled bamboo root. The woman is shaving the conically shaped root into thin slices.

'Shrooms!

Mats being sold on "Mat Street."

Opened jack fruit, much less imposing than when it's intact.

Hair-don't

Blacksmith.

Herbs on "Herb Street."

For dinner that night, we finally had hotpot--it's a similar concept to cha ca.  You're given a hot-pad on which is a large pot of broth (supersaturated with MSG) into which you add whatever goodies you like.  We got seafood hotpot, so we put in vegges, shrimp, clams, fish and noodles.  There were five of us, and still plenty of food left over.  It's a good meal to have when you're in the mood to socially huddle around a flame (albeit an electronic one).

Look at all that raw goodness.

Hotpot!

The highlight for the day occurred near the end of my walking tour, when I stepped off the Lonely Planet path and into a shop touting to sell ethnic minority handicrafts.  I wasn't super concerned with these items, but my eye had been caught by these funky little statuettes made of soldered bolts, spark plugs, and other small pieces of hardware.  They had some really cool alien-robot-looking guys, a dino-monster or two, and even planes and helicopters.  But I settled on a slick black motorcycle for my nine-year-old cousin, Jake.  I've been desperately trying to find him something besides a t-shirt from Cambodia, and think I hit the mother lode with this one.  It's been difficult, having never been a nine-year-old boy, to find a gift that's not dorky or lame or terribly generic.  But I think this chopper's pretty rad and a good representation of Vietnam without screaming "I'm a souvenir from Vietnam!"

Don't you wish you were Barbie- (or GI Joe-) sized so you could ride this like a badass?!

Thursday, something very exciting happened.  I picked up the dresses I commissioned!  She finished them way faster than expected, and only one quick alteration had to be made, so I brought them home almost a week early.  Roman and I are going to a "country wedding" (not quite sure yet what that entails), and I'm desperately hoping the weather's nice enough for me take my silk dress out for a spin. ;)

It's so shiny and iridescent!!!

That afternoon I volunteered again at the Ethnology Museum (way at the western end of the map above).  I've finally mastered the bus there and back and no longer have to tell the driver where I'm going so he can let me off at the right place.  The street names are all so foreign, it's hard to remember them and between that and the fact the bus windows are always dirty, it's easy to miss your stop.  I've been working on a catalog for a new museum in the Dak Lak province of Vietnam.  It includes pictures of all the objects in the exhibits (The Peoples, Culture, and Long-Standing History) with descriptions and informative sections on everything from everyday life to jewelry to ancient objects to (in great detail) the American War.  The ethnologist, Mrs. Thuong, speaks fluent French (she has a Ph.D. in that subject) and very little English.  She and two French women have translated the Vietnamese into French, while the latter have attempted to translate this into English.  I've been attempting to make sense of this copy of a copy, this fax of a fax, and to relocate all the thoughts that have been lost in translation.  They are very nice women, but some concepts have been difficult to put into proper English while appeasing the particular desires and nuances of the Vietnamese.  It's not the most thrilling or glamorous work, but they dearly need the help, and I'm happy to give it.  My name will even be published in the catalog for the world (or, you know, the handful of people who read such catalogs) to see.  That, and the free tea Mrs. Thuong insists on making every time I volunteer, is enough for me. :)

Takin' It Eeeeeeasy

In the immortal words of the Eagles, things have been pretty chill the last couple days.  The hustle and bustle of Hanoi are steadily returning to full throttle, while I've been slowing down and trying to regain my momentum after Cambodia's monumental marathon.

Tuesday was supposed to be simple.  I was going to take a nice leisurely stroll around the east side of Truc Bach Lake and up to the north side of West Lake on a very important mission: find Hanoi Boutique Tailoring (located in someone's house) and start the process of having two dresses made from silk and cotton I picked up in Phnom Penh.  Easier said than done, my friends, as the trek from our apartment to Hanoi Boutique Tailoring was way longer in person than it appeared either on the map or through the balcony window overlooking the lakes.  After an hour and a half of squeezing through traffic, perilously traversing along the edges of deep ditches, and asking eight different people for directions only to receive eight different responses, I made it, tired and frazzled.  But the tailor, Nhung, was very hospitable and helpful, especially considering she had a baby just three weeks ago.  (Bella, and she's super cute! :))  My dresses should be done two weeks from this past Tuesday, giving me a rather slim window in which to make final fittings and adjustments.  I can always get Kyle or Roman to pick up and ship them to the States, but I'm looking for slightly more instantaneous gratification than that.  Fingers crossed Nhung will come through.

The upside to that wild and crazy schlep was that I got to pass through the "Western area" filled with shops with English names and people who look like me...I didn't realize how much I missed that.  I stopped at Segafredo Cafe to rest my weary bones on the way, and discovered carrot cake, which is like a rare-colored diamond over here--it's so hard to find--and espresso granita, which I languidly sipped while thinking of my barista buddies. :)  On the way back, I found a grocery store and scored some Honey Nut Cheerios and Smacks cereals--SWEET!  But I figure it's okay, since I made up for it with eel and rabbit for dinner.

In addition to Tuesday's Western food extravaganza, I had a bacon cheeseburger yesterday.  That's right, I couldn't go four weeks without a burger.  But it wasn't the burger itself that I desired, and thank goodness for that, since I have to admit it was sub-par, even for my low-set expectations.  Rather, I was longing for what the burger represented, something familiar and as etched into my psyche as the American flag, Saturday morning cartoons and the sound of my sister's voice.  I won't say I'm homesick, but neither can I in good conscious say that I haven't been thinking about home and the people who make it lately.

The sun came out yesterday.  Feeling its warmth on my face was just what I needed, and, like a long-slumbering lizard, I was energized by its heat.  I strolled in sunglasses with my face turned toward the sky, a cat on a mission of no great importance without a care as to its success, just simply enjoying a lazy day in the sun.  I managed to make my way to St. Joseph's Cathedral on...wait for it...Church Street.  Compared to other, older cathedrals I've seen, it's interior architecture isn't significant, but the fact that it exists in the middle of Hanoi drew my curiosity, an everyday exoticism.  The Vietnamese government aren't particularly fond of its existence, churning up deep-seeded feelings about French involvement here, but the church casts its impressive shadow on bustling shops and cafes in the immediate vicinity.  Inside, the cathedral was fairly quiet, though, and cool and still, novel concepts for Hanoi and just what I needed.

Tomorrow I'm going to Halong Bay.  It was the first and only thing on my list when I arrived in Vietnam, and the only thing I would have been sad to miss before leaving.  I set out at eight in the morning, take a bus, then I'm on a boat for Friday afternoon and night and Saturday morning.  This will be a solo expedition (Kyle's planning a going-away party for Sunday evening and Roman's...doing his Roman thing), but it's a ten-cabin boat, and I think I can put my quiet shyness aside for forty-eight hours and try to make some short-term friends.  What's the worst that can happen, right? ;)

I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it! :D

Highlight, highlight, highlight...hmmm.  While walking around the Cathedral, I found this tiny little shop that specializes in jewelry made with insects in resin.  The bugs they've chosen are actually really cool and pretty, so it makes you want to take a second look rather than shying away in disgust.  I got someone a present there, a bug bracelet, but that person shall remain nameless so you can all hope and dread that it's for you.