Kellie
\nUnderstanding Vietnam: Its History and Culture
\nWeek 1 Journal<\/p>\n
Day 1 & 2 (April 24-25, 2008)<\/p>\n
I think my journey in Vietnam started on Wednesday night I stayed up to 2:30 in the morning because I waited until the night before my flight to pack.<\/span> After only getting an hour of sleep I went to National Airport to fly to New York.<\/span> Since I was so exhausted from getting barely any sleep,<\/span>I slept right through my flight from take-off to landing.<\/span> When I got to New York I was completely overwhelmed.<\/span> Most airports I\u2019ve flown to,<\/span>you don’t have to leave security to get to other terminals,<\/span> but not in this one.<\/span> I was so scarred I was doing something and would miss the flight to Vietnam,<\/span> even though in the back of my head I know had plenty of time which I was grateful for.<\/span> After figuring out how to get to the Korean Air desks,<\/span> I was able to rest and talk to Professor Trian before the Boston people came.<\/span> While I was talking to Professor Trian,<\/span> it finally hit me that I was going to be in Vietnam for the next month learning about Vietnamese culture and art.<\/span> I couldn’t wait to get on the plane to Vietnam.<\/span> When the people from Boston came we checked in and got our boarding passes for Vietnam.<\/span> After going through security again,<\/span> it was nice to be able to get lunch with the group and start getting to know everyone.<\/span><\/p>\n When I figured out I had a middle seat,<\/span> I tried getting it changed.<\/span>Thankfully there was an emergency exit available and I was able to stretch my legs and was very comfortable for our long flight.<\/span> Korean Air was really nice as well.<\/span> On other planes,<\/span> when I\u2019ve slept through meals,<\/span>it meant that I wouldn’t get anything at all,<\/span> but on Korean Air they put up a sticker informing other flight attendants that I hadn\u2019t eaten yet so I could get a meal when I wanted one.<\/span> The best part about Korean Air was that I not only had my own personal television,<\/span> but I was able to choose what movie I wanted to watch and when I wanted to watch it.<\/span> It also helped that they had a wide arrange of movies from classics to new Hollywood movies.<\/span> Before I knew it the flight was over and we were in Seoul,<\/span> Korea.<\/span><\/p>\n Landing in Seoul I was starving,<\/span> and wanted to try explore the Seoul Airport.<\/span> We found a place that served Korean food and tried it.<\/span> I had cold spicy noodles that were delicious,<\/span> and I was ready to get on the next plane to Vietnam.<\/span> Unfortunately,<\/span> our plane was delayed due to weather.<\/span>The plane was finally able to board and I had a window seat again.<\/span>Although some people thought that the plane seemed longer,<\/span> I was able to sleep again and the flight seemed the same as my flight to New York.<\/span>After we landed in Hanoi,<\/span> Vietnam,<\/span> we got our bags and drove to the hotel.<\/span> It was moving to see Thao reunite with her parents after not seeing them for almost a year.<\/span> I can\u2019t even imagine what that must have felt like to be back in your home city with your family.<\/span> Driving to the hotel I loved looking out of the window to view the city at night.<\/span> When we got to the hotel,<\/span> even though it was 3:30 in the morning I was so excited to ne finally be in Vietnam I could barely get to sleep.<\/span> I just wanted to start the next day.<\/span><\/p>\n Day 3 (April 26, 2008)<\/p>\n After waking up and showering,<\/span> I had breakfast at the hotel.<\/span> I was really interested to see what we would have for breakfast in Vietnam.<\/span> In China,<\/span>breakfast consists normally of some sort of dumplings filled with meat or vegetables or noodle soup so I wondered if it would be similar or not to a Vietnamese breakfast.<\/span> When I got to breakfast it was mostly Western food,<\/span> so I\u2019m excited to try an authentic Vietnamese breakfast when we leave Hanoi.<\/span> The scrambled eggs and fruit were my favorite part of breakfast.<\/span><\/p>\n The first place we went today was the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum.<\/span> The boys had to dress respectfully in long pants and a nice shirt and the girls have to wear to wear either a long dress or skirt that wasn’t revealing.<\/span> I was so surprised when I got there how strict security was and how many rules there were to go into the Mausoleum.<\/span> Even though Ho Chi Minh wanted to be cremated and scattered throughout Vietnam,<\/span> the Vietnamese government decided to embalm his body after his death,<\/span> since that was what was done to Stalin.<\/span> We were not supposed to bring any bags or purses,<\/span> and cameras had a special bag to be carried in.<\/span> There was a security line and a lot of guards everywhere.<\/span> What was most shocking to me was that everyone had to walk silently two single file lines.<\/span> If people were not absolutely quiet,<\/span> intimidating looking Vietnamese guards would “hush” you.<\/span> There was something about seeing Ho Chi Minh\u2019s body that was uncanny=.<\/span> I\u2019m not sure what I was expecting,<\/span> but seeing little things like the perfectly trimmed nails and styled hair on his body seemed eerie.<\/span>The guards made sure that no one just stopped to gawk at his body as a sign of respect.<\/span><\/p>\n We then walked past a beautiful government that was built by the French and used as Ho Chi Minh\u2019s office and is still used for special government meetings today.<\/span> Less than a couple hundred feet away was Ho Chi Minh\u2019s residence,<\/span> the House on Stilts.<\/span> It was a reproduction of the countryside houses in the north by the mountains.<\/span> Ho Chi Minh wanted to live in a house that reflected the majority of the lifestyles of the Vietnamese people,<\/span> instead of living in an ornate palace.<\/span> The House on Stilts was really unique,<\/span> overlooking a small pond and completely open without windows.<\/span> It\u2019s almost hard to imagine a person with so much power living in house commonly found in Vietnam.<\/span> On the same grounds was the One Column Temple.<\/span> The One column temple is supposed to look like lotus in the middle of the water.<\/span> I thought it was beautifully constructed.<\/span><\/p>\n After seeing all of these sites,<\/span> we had our first lunch in Vietnam.<\/span>Vietnamese food back at home is one of my favorite types of foods so I was extremely eager and curious to see if it would be similar to that or completely different.<\/span> What I found was that the food reminded me a lot of Chinese food,<\/span> with a bit of a twist.<\/span> Everything we had was so fresh and not heavy at all,<\/span> so even though I was completely full after our meal I didn’t feel overstuffed,<\/span> as I do with sometimes with American food.<\/span>One of the best surprises of lunch was having vegetables without heart (rau muong in Vietnamese).<\/span> It\u2019s one of my favorite vegetables,<\/span> but it is often really hard to find and is also very expensive in America.<\/span> I love the crunchiness and sweetness that it has when it is stir fried with garlic.<\/span><\/p>\n When we finished lunch,<\/span> we went to the Temple of Literature.<\/span> Walking through the Temple of Literature,<\/span> it was fascinating to see the Chinese influence.<\/span> This Confucian temple had beautiful stone statues in the shape of turtles that had the names of all the men who had passed the civil service examinations.<\/span> It also helped that the Temple of Literature had a 3-D map of the area so that it was easy to understand the symmetry and layout of the temple.<\/span><\/p>\n Following the Temple of Literature we went to the Fine Art Museum.<\/span>Walking to the museum was an adventure in itself.<\/span> The traffic in Hanoi was already intimidating enough when we were in a large bus,<\/span> but crossing the street was like nothing I have ever experienced.<\/span> Unlike in America there are no lights designating when people can walk and people also don’t have the right away.<\/span> Without our tour guide stopping traffic for us,<\/span> I don’t know if I would have ever made it over.<\/span> I hope by the end of the trip I can say that I have successfully crossed a street in Vietnam without any help,<\/span> but I\u2019m not sure if that is a feasible task.<\/span> The Fine Art Museum is filled with Vietnamese art ranging from bronzes to folk art to contemporary art starting from prehistoric time all the way to the 20th century.<\/span> The most memorable parts of the museum for me were the replicas of Buddhist statues and the artwork from the 19th and 20th century.<\/span> It was fascinating to see the evolution from the artwork in these two time periods.<\/span> The 19th century artwork reminded me of French impressionist painting with the delicateness of the paintings while the work in the 20th century depicted modern life in Vietnam.<\/span> The artwork in the 19th century used soft colors while the 20th century used ancient techniques with a modern twist.<\/span> Lacquer was very popular in the 20th century,<\/span> so many of the paintings we saw had red,<\/span> gold,<\/span> and black.<\/span> The artwork was used as a propaganda portraying how life in Vietnamese people should act with emphasis on education and working hard.<\/span><\/p>\n After returning to the hotel and napping for a bit,<\/span> we went to dinner.<\/span> It was a traditional Vietnamese banquet.<\/span> We were served many dishes ranging from fish to vegetables to meat.<\/span> It was incredible to get to try so many types of Vietnamese dishes in one meal.<\/span> One of the most memorable parts of the meal was listening to the traditional Vietnamese music.<\/span> It was amazing to see Thao play the mono-string instrument.<\/span> I was surprised to see how many notes it can play and how versatile it was.<\/span><\/p>\n Day 4 (April 27, 2008)<\/p>\n So far it has been so hard to get used to Vietnamese time.<\/span> When I went to sleep I was exhausted,<\/span> but I still woke up at 6:30.<\/span> I hope my body will get use to the time change soon.<\/span> Following breakfast we went to a Taoist Temple.<\/span> It is no longer used as a Taoist temple but as a common center for Vietnamese people.<\/span> People go to study,<\/span> couples go to love,<\/span> and locals go to escape from the busy streets of Hanoi.<\/span> The detail that went into building the temple was especially breathtaking.<\/span> I was amazed by the workmanship in all the wood carvings that were inlaid with mother of pearl.<\/span> Following the Taoist temple we went to a Buddhist temple.<\/span> In the Buddhist temple,<\/span> people put pictures of loved ones,<\/span> such as children. These are image pictures of the death which were honored on the altar at the Buddhist temples. Following these two temples,<\/span> I really enjoyed going to Hoan Kiem (Sword Return) Lake and Ngoc Son (Jade Mountain) Temple.<\/span> The legend about Le Loi, the first king of the Le dynasty, who revolted against the Ming Dynasty was especially interesting.<\/span> There was a brightly colored stone carving that illustrated this story in front of the temple.<\/span> It showed the turtle,<\/span> whose shells were made from blue and white porcelain,<\/span> with a sword on top of it.<\/span><\/p>\n Once again,<\/span> the meal was one of my favorite parts of the day.<\/span> I thought being able to sit on the ground without shoes made the environment extremely comfortable.<\/span> Everyone was able to sit together and enjoy the food and talk to one another.<\/span> I really like the banana flower salad,<\/span> the pumpkin leaf stir fry,<\/span> and the fried tofu,<\/span> but the eggplant curry was my favorite.<\/span> The freshness of all the ingredients was amazing.<\/span> The tofu was crunchy and fried on the outside but soft and delicate in the middle giving a great difference in textures.<\/span> The eggplant curry was so flavorful and was a great end to the meal.<\/span> I was so shocked when I was told that it was considered common food,<\/span> because it was so flavorful and rich.<\/span><\/p>\n The Natural History Museum was had a great collection of Vietnamese artifacts.<\/span> Seeing the replicas from Champa,<\/span> gave me a taste of what was in store for me later on in the trip.<\/span> I was really impressed by the large bronze drums.<\/span> The detail and workmanship that went into them was amazing considering that they are thousands of years old.<\/span> I also really like seeing the spears that the general used to defeat the Ming Dynasty after going to Ngoc Temple.<\/span><\/p>\n I was so stuffed from lunch that I couldn\u2019t even imagine eating any more but the “pho” we had was great.<\/span> Adding mint,<\/span> bean sprouts,<\/span> lime,<\/span> and the different sauces brought out the flavors of the soup.<\/span> The Vietnamese coffee that I had was a perfect drink.<\/span> It was so delicious that I wanted to get every last drip out and I was even tempted to drink some of the coffee grind (but was able to hold myself back).<\/span> Since I\u2019m still jetlagged I was getting a little tired at dinner but the coffee was able to wake me up for the Vietnamese puppet show.<\/span><\/p>\n Arriving at the Vietnamese Puppet show I didn’t know what to expect.<\/span> I was confused as to how the guild would transform the puppet show from a performance outside in the countryside to inside a theater.<\/span> After walking into the theater though all questions I had about the performance quickly disappeared.<\/span> The musicians and the puppeteers worked perfectly together and the movements of the puppets especially the dragons and fish were impressive.<\/span> I enjoyed how the traditional Vietnamese portrayed daily life in the countryside and Vietnamese myths but in a humorous manner.<\/span> What I thought was most fascinating about the Vietnamese Water Puppetry was that it was completely indigenous to solely Vietnam,<\/span>unlike other areas of Vietnamese culture in which you can see the influence from the ruling power of the time.<\/span><\/p>\n Day 5 (April 28, 2008)<\/p>\n The bus ride to the Huong Son Temple gave me a completely different perspective of Vietnamese life.<\/span> It was remarkable to see the change in landscape and people between the busy streets of Hanoi to the countryside.<\/span> The landscape was filled with either large green rice paddies or scattered small towns.<\/span> What struck me about the open fields was that in some parts there were large ornate tombstones just right in the middle of a rice paddy.<\/span> In others there were many tombstones in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere.<\/span> In the small town there were many vendors,<\/span>but they were all selling the same items.<\/span> There was hardly any difference in the items being sold,<\/span> whether it was fruit or clothing or everyday home appliances.<\/span> Also the architecture in these towns seemed peculiar.<\/span>They appeared to have French influence,<\/span> brightly colored,<\/span> and were very ornate but seemed out of place in these rural areas.<\/span> The houses were made out of cement and had no decoration on the side,<\/span> almost making it appear like there should be buildings in between imitating New York brownstones.<\/span> Overall I think that the drive gave me a different view of pastoral life in Vietnam.<\/span><\/p>\n The mountains surrounding the area were beautiful.<\/span> When we arrived to the town we immediately got into one large boat that was able to fit our whole group.<\/span> I felt horrible because two little Vietnamese women had to row the whole boat for almost an hour until we got to the monastery.<\/span> The boat was so close to the water that I was afraid that we would fall in but fortunately no one got wet at any point.<\/span> When we got off of the boats I was initially caught off guard because there were hanging meats that looked almost like dog with bugs swarming all around,<\/span> but walking a little bit more led us to a monastery.<\/span> Unlike the other temples we have visited,<\/span> this one was unique because it gave us a glimpse of the lives of monks.<\/span> There were many monks walking around and it was interesting to see the place they resided in and do their everyday activities.<\/span> My favorite part was sitting down and drinking tea with the abbot.<\/span> I was so nervous that I would offend the abbot that I didn\u2019t talk or drink any tea.<\/span> The abbot was so kind and I felt truly welcomed when he gave us the necklaces that are suppose to protect us and the magazine.<\/span> I felt honored to be in the same room as many other powerful Vietnamese leaders had been in the past.<\/span><\/p>\n When we finished meeting with the abbot we began our walk to Huong Son Temple.<\/span> I was expecting a hike in the middle of the woods,<\/span> but instead it was a steep hike with stone steps with vendors selling souvenirs and drinks all the way up the mountain.<\/span> Although the hike was long and arduous it was an amazing feeling walking up the same steps that Buddhists take to make their pilgrimage to this sacred temple.<\/span>Understanding the significance of Huong Son Temple made me reflect the importance of being the kindest human possible.<\/span> In the story the daughter is unconditionally forgiving even under the worst circumstances.<\/span> I think this moral is important to remember as it is often forgotten in our society where grudges are often held.<\/span> The temple was completely different from the other temples that we have visited.<\/span> It was inside a cave and wasn’t made from a man made structure.<\/span> There were many old women who made the trek and chanted.<\/span> I was surprised that these women were able to walk up and down the mountain,<\/span> without appearing to be tired at all.<\/span><\/p>\n After the exhausting hike (thank goodness for granola bars) we drove back to Hanoi and went to dinner.<\/span> We went to dinner at one of the oldest restaurants in Hanoi.<\/span> I really enjoyed the fish and I have never been to a restaurant where they just served on dish.<\/span> After eating the dish though,<\/span> I can understand why they are able to only serve one dish while still staying in business!<\/p>\n Day 6 (May 29,2008)<\/p>\n Today we drove to Ha Long Bay.<\/span> It was another drive through the countryside of Vietnam.<\/span> The contrast between the city and rural life is extraordinary.<\/span> I was so eager to get to Ha Long Bay because I have heard that it is one of the most exceptional areas in Vietnam