Good Morning Vietnam!!

For the past 10 days we have been traveling around Viet Nam and Cambodia, and now it's time to chronicle the adventures here on the blog. To begin our journey we flew from Bangkok, Thailand to Hanoi, Vietnam (Hà Nội in Vietnamese). This part of the trip was a bit of an adventure in itself. In Bangkok they have just completed the construction of the new international airport. Named Suvarnabhumi, it is an amazing building. The terminal is the largest building in the world, and the air traffic control tower is the tallest as well. As you can see from the pictures they really spared no expense on the construction of this behemoth facility.

All the doors are etched with this Thai warrior.

Inside the main terminal and the air traffic control tower.

Some of the art in the airport is amazing, and very Thai.

After walking for what seemed like days, we finally arrived at our gate, and boarded our Air Asia flight to Hà Nội. The flight was rather quick, lasting just under two hours. And before we knew it we had arrived. The first thing that struck us as we left the airport, was how different the weather was. Where Bangkok was hot and humid, Hà Nội was cool and comfortable. While at the airport we exchanged our money for Vietnamese Dong, which instantly made us millionaires! Too bad a million Dong is roughly only about $65.

Two million Dong.

We zoomed in from the airport, and soon arrived in the Old Quarter of Hà Nội where we met up with two of our friends from Bangkok, Gwen and John.

After checking into our hotel, went to have a little late night dinner before everything closed down for the night. One of the things that is a little strange at first, is that everything in Hà Nội closes at midnight or before. The police arrive on the streets in force to yell at anyone loitering around after that time, not at the westerners however.

The next morning what we awoke to was a beautiful colonial city. Hà Nội, originally built by the French, still maintains much of the European architecture. As is Paris, Hà Nội has an abundance of extremely narrow buildings. In the days of colonialism the French would tax a building according to how wide it was. This gave rise to really narrow, deep and tall buildings. The roads that wind their way through this city also bring up pictures of a European city. Along these skinny winding streets zooms the ever present motorbike. The sheer number of motorbikes in Hà Nội is mind boggling. Believe me this makes for an adventure when crossing the street. We learned very quickly that when crossing the street there is only one way to make it. You don't wait for an opening, or you'll be there all day. You don't try to make a mad dash for it, or you'll be in the hospital or worse. The way to cross one of these motorcycle laden streets is to just start crossing. Walking slowly and methodically, you cross the street. This slow pace gives all the motorcycle riders time to gauge how best to get around you. So you end up crossing the street with motorbikes zooming past on every side. Quite adventurous really.

We spent four wonderful days in Hà Nội before departing for Hue (this and the rest of the trip will follow in additional posts). What follows are the pictures of Hà Nội and of the various sights. Remember to see a bigger image just click on the thumbnail.

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Some of the architecture around the Old Quarter.

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Various Sights from around Hà Nội

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Communist Propaganda

All around Hà Nội you will see the tell tale signs of the Communist government. The most prominent being the proto-typical propaganda posters.

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Ho Chi Minh

(Chinese: 胡志明; May 19, 1890 – September 2, 1969) was a Vietnamese revolutionary and statesman, who later became Prime Minister (1946–1955) and President (1955–1969) of North Vietnam.

He was originally named Nguyễn Sinh Cung. He was also known as Nguyễn Tất Thành (阮必成: 'Nguyễn will accomplish'), Nguyễn Ái Quốc (阮愛國: 'Nguyễn the patriot'), Lý Thụy (李瑞) and Hồ Quang (among others), and is popularly called Bác Hồ ('Uncle Hồ') in Vietnam. The name Hồ Chí Minh means "he who enlightens." He is most famous for being the founder of the Viet Minh independence movement in 1941 and establishing Communist control in part of Vietnam in the 1950s.

I'm sure it will come as no surprise that the Vietnamese have almost deified Uncle Ho. Just like Lenin and Mao, so too is there a mausoleum for Ho Chi Minh. We were not able to see him, because he is traveling at the moment, and I'm not joking. Every year he travels to Moscow for some special spa time, let's face it time marches on even after your dead.

Presidential Palace

Mausoleum with Ceremonial Guard

The Home of Ho Chi Minh

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Thang Long Water Puppets

Puppetry is a traditional art form closely connected with the long-standing spiritual life of the Vietnamese people. There are many kinds of puppet-shows in all the corner of the country. Puppets of different kinds can be found all over the country. However, puppetry art has been developed and diversified as well as popularized mostly in northern midland areas and the plains in Vietnam. The word "roi" (puppetry) has become part of the proper name applied to villages, to pagodas and even to ponds found in many places. (Puppetry villages at Y Yen, Nam Dinh Province; puppetry pagodas at Phu Xuyen, Ha Tay province...)

Since early times, "robe-climbing and puppetry" have been forms of entertainment and have attracted lots of people. Public love, here and there, was expressed through Vietnamese folk songs, idioms, and literature...In old days, puppetry was closely linked to the tradition and customs of Vietnam. Dong An village festival (Hung Yen province) re-performed the myth of "Dung, Da" by two big puppets. (These two big puppets were made of bamboo, had paper faces and colorful clothes). The villagers carried them around the village and showed their great happiness. This kind of puppets was found in Ba Chua Muoi Temple Festival (Queen of Salt Festival). Its face was made of bamboo, its body was made of poles and its march-clothes were made of sails. All parts of Ly Than Tong Statue (Ha Tay province) and Linh Lang Statue (Ha Cau Temple, Hai Phong Province) were carved separately and were put together with joints so that they could move like string-puppets. There were many puppets standing over night in the fields in order to threaten mice and birds harmful to crops. On Mid-July, Vietnamese people often burn joss stick and paper items for lost souls. On Mid-Autumn Festival (Ram), adults buy toy-puppets for children. Dragon dances, Lion dances, the dance of Four Magical Animals, Land God dances are attractive amusement of festivals in ethnic minorities. There have been many bird-disguised dances connected with "Animal religion" such as peacock dances (Black Thai ethnic minorities), Phoenix dances, Gru bird dances (Ede ethnic minorities), and Dove dances (Cao Lan ethnic minorities). " Puppet-statues" found in worshipping of La Chi and Lo Lo people. Bana ethnic minorities have many puppetry shows in funeral festivals in order to satisfy not only themselves but also the lost souls. In "puppetry family", there has been "mask dances" at Xuan Pha (Thanh Hoa province). Khmer people (from South Vietnam) have their own mask stage called Robam Tuong.

I would encourage everyone who visits Hanoi to visit the water puppet theater, but be aware...make sure to take some antihistamines before hand if you have any mold allergies. I had no idea about this, and almost immediately upon entering the theater my allergies when into chaos. I started sneezing like a crazy person. My sinuses were in overdrive, and my eyes were watering like crazy. I was actually forced to leave and was not able to enjoy the show. However, Jan was able to stay and he took the following pictures.