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.

Miss Adventure or Misadventure?

It's been a weird week.  Not bad, definitely not fantabulous, but weird.  My internship was put on hold this whole week...don't ask, because there's not much to tell.  Hopefully it'll pick back up after we get back from Cambodia.  (T-minus ten hours till our flight leaves!)  So I started volunteering at the Ethnology Museum on Wednesday.  I went with a worldly French woman who volunteers there and is, of course, a friend of Roman's.  Basically, all they're letting me do right now is edit the English sections of catalogs and artifact descriptions...not very glamorous, but then again I'm in Hanoi. ;)


I've had some serious transportation misadventures the second half of this week, partially because Tet is coming up and everyone's driving crazy and trying to extort money to pay for all their jubilation, and partially because I've attempted to conquer the bus system, a beast which, it seems, cannot be vanquished by the likes of me.


The Ethnology Museum is way out west, so it's a real schlep to get out there, and the first day I volunteered, I had to get back to our side of town on my own.  Being impatient and too timid, I climbed into a cab with a wildly rigged meter, and made him let me out at the corner of No and Where, begrudgingly handed him his ill-earned commission and swiftly bid him adieu.  I could have walked the rest of the way, but the street was SCARY, packed with stalls and people and vehicular dangers, and I soon found a xe om, the driver of which wanted a slightly exorbitant amount of money (of course) and then didn't want to let me use his extra helmet.  I was in no mood, and he could tell, so he quietly pocketed the money and handed over the helmet.  So that was Wednesday, saved only by the fact that Roman and I attended a Tet and Kitchen Gods party in which we ceremoniously released fish into the lake to take our kitchen reports up to the gods.

Mine was the pretty silver one in the bottom corner. :)

Thursday.  Oh, Thursday.  After spending a small fortune on transportation the day before, I thought, "Hey.  How hard can it be to figure out the bus system for a sprawling city in which all the signs are in Vietnamese?  I'm a college graduate.  This should be no big deal."  Ah, to be as young and naive as I was yesterday.  My morning was spent at Hoan Kiem Lake checking out the Ngoc Son Temple, dedicated to the Spirits of Literature.

Bridge over not-so-troubled-waters leading to the Temple.

The mountain represents a good foundation. The tower says "Writing on the clear blue sky," always be truthful.

Furnace used to burn offerings to ancestors. Poems are burned as well, as a respectful method of disposal.

Wave Stopping Pavilion, symbol of resistance against "waves" of foreign influence.

The parrot represents a legend in which a woman  in need of self-improvement was flanked by two parrots, who repeated all she said back to her, and therefore ensured her honesty.

I have absolutely no idea what's up with this guy, but he's pretty friggin' awesome.

If you don't already know, taxidermy totally wigs me out. But this giant soft-shelled turtle was pretty cool.

And then I had a leisurely lunch and did some serious present-shopping for some of you lovely readers.  (At least, you better be lovely readers or you might not be getting your presents.)  I should have had plenty of time to find my way to a bus stop to take me to the Ethnology Museum to volunteer that afternoon, but after lapping the lake twice (and this is seriously a lake, not some dinky fishing hole); feeling my feet begin to violently mutiny and mist settle on my cheeks; and with the distinct urge to throw a tantrum in my ever-increasing frustration at being stuck around this damn lake like a rat in a maze, knowing how to get out but somehow not managing to, I called it quits.  Bested by a bus.  Ugh.  So I took yet another xe om, this time with a driver who proceeded to immerse me in the most TERRIFYING fifteen minutes of my life.  I swear he must have had a death wish or, at the very least, homicidal tendencies.

We got one of these and one of the lanterns above for Ms. Madagascar.

 

So walking in the apartment door, I was done with 'Nam and all it's 'Nam-ness.  I drowned my sorrows in a bowl of pineapple and pampered my poor pedary paws and took a well-earned nap.  And when I awoke, the clouds didn't seem to darken the sky quite so much.  My spirits were lifted further by another visit to Hang Ma, the seasonal decorations street, where Kyle and I shopped for a Tet gift for our hostess in Cambodia next week.  Gold and red tinted the night air and gleamed out of the corner of my eye.  I finished the day with a viewing of The Maltese Falcon at the Cinematheque with beer in hand.

The highlight of the week needs a small introduction.  Hoan Kiem Lake is legendarily known for its giant turtles.  There's a story of a king who received a divine sword from the lake and used it to free Vietnam from Chinese rule.  After this accomplishment, a giant turtle retrieved the sword from the king while he was out on the lake one day.  These turtles are fairly rarely seen now, but if you spot one poking it's head out of the water, you're granted good luck.  Guess who saw one this week.  ;)

Stranger in a Strange Land

And now for today.  Roman gave a tour in the Old Quarter, the historic shop district in Hanoi, for The Friends of Vietnam Heritage, an NGO for which he volunteers.  We started at 9:30 am and finished at 12:30.  It was tiring but terribly informative.

Entrance gate into Old Quarter and part of original citadel.

I

t was dreadfully loud and crowded and dirty, normally the trifecta of misery, but there was a plethora of things to see and smell and feel, resulting in a literally sensational experience.  We visited a Buddhist pagoda, the name of which I don't currently know, but there are LOTS in Hanoi.  Pagodas here refer to Buddhist religious centers, while temple denotes a Taoist place of worship.  Please understand that what I've gleaned about Vietnamese Buddhism and Taoism is sparse and limited, so take everything I say on the subject with a grain of salt.  From what I understand, Buddhism here is an amalgamation of Indian Buddhism (but in a religious, rather than philosophical, form), Taoism, animism and ancestor worship...make of that what you will.

Main entrance to pagoda, open only on certain days.

Itty bitty alley through which we walked to the side entrance. 

Taoist section of Buddhist pagoda.

Angry guy to left of Taoist statue. He's red and intimidating and sitting on a lion while holding its tail.

Empty chair in invitation for the Buddhist god to come have a seat.

Gold leaf is a specialty in some Vietnamese villages. This is directly above a large, tiered display of Buddhas representing various principles and practices.

Ancestor worship in the same room as the Buddhas. These dudes are half of the ten guys who rule the ten levels of hell through which one must pass in order to make it to one or all of the six heavens. That is, of course, highly simplified.

Animistic mother goddesses representing water, metal, wood, fire and earth.

Animistic patriarchs...I think.

This cat picture is dedicated to my sister. ;)

These are bats, which hold some significance in Vietnamese Buddhism. They just reminded me of Austin.

We then went to Cho Dong Xuan (please note that I am not including the correct Vietnamese tonal characteristics because I could never figure out how to convey them via my laptop and because I am too lazy), the oldest and largest market in Hanoi.  It houses stall after stall of merchandise including, but not limited to, fabrics, bags, clothing, cookware, toys, sunglasses, and basically anything you could ever need and didn't know you wanted.

Everyone and their mom rides a motorbike here. I'm going to try to convey how many are used here through a series of photos depicting them in vast quantities throughout various areas of the city. Stay tuned.

It was gigantic and congested and I had to climb over people and squeeze under bundles to get out.

We walked around some more, visited a confectionary stand where I tried dried Vietnamese plum covered in grated ginger (eh), visited another pagoda and ended the tour at a dinh, or communal area, in which people go to visit, chill and worship.

I forgot I wanted to show you the cable system here. Very organized, obviously. Apparently, the city is working on a project to bury all wires like this, so this is a final vestige, although I've seen at least a dozen cases like this in the last two days.

In the worship area at the dinh. If there are too many people praying, you ring this bell to make sure that the Buddhist god hears you.

And off to a well-deserved lunch at Paris Deli on Church Street.  This area obviously caters to Westerners and is in the shadow of a French, Catholic Cathedral (St. Joseph's).

Delicious and Western. I got my comfort food: macaroni and cheese.

I'm going to go back and check this out. Will issue report shortly.

We then whiled away the afternoon walking around Hoan Kiem Lake, the cultural center of Hanoi.  The lake was huge and beautiful, with the Turtle Pagoda in the middle-esque.  There's a good story for its foundation, but I'll let you Google it if you really want to know.

There are some really cool displays around the lake and lots of food stands and coffee shops and benches for sitting.

Giant clock visible from space.

Yes, Vietnam is still Communist...I am still not.

My Converse, which were forcibly cleaned by a shoe-shiner who sweet-talked me out of my shoes.

Roman (left) and Kyle (not-left)  buying tea.

Awesome three-storied coffee shop on the terrace of which we took libations.

And finally, we went to a club owned by a friend of a friend called 21 Degrees North on West Lake.  I had drinks with six gentlemen who swing the other way, 2/3 of whom I saw coming a mile away (including a pint-sized Aussie who I wish I could carry around in my pocket and pluck out when I'm in the mood for a smile), but apparently I need to upgrade my Gaydar and download a VietGay app.

"Club" (more like nice bar)

Set of stairs on West Lake that lead straight into the water. I stuck the toe of my newly-cleaned Converse in the lake--I didn't actually want to let any of my skin come in contact with the questionable-looking water.

We were at the bar for happy hour and scored free beer and appetizers for two hours.  I tried steamed clams for the first time (better than expected) and got some more squid (yums).  Overall, today was awesome.  I met a Japanese woman, a Kiwi, two Canadians, an Aussie, five Vietnamese and two Poles.  Highlight: weaving on foot through relentless motorbike and car traffic without flinching (at least on the outside).