Through my eyes

living my life without regrets

Sunday, April 05, 2015

31. Ha Noi, Vietnam

Ha Noi, Thailand

Foggy Morning in Vietnam
Up and out of bed at 5.30 am. The bus leaves at 6.15 am for the 3 hour ride to Hanoi. It is still dark out when I get out of bed and a dense fog hangs over the harbor. The temperature is a modest 60 degrees F. In my haste to get out of the room and get breakfast, I inadvertently drop the room key card and custom (immigration card) papers someplace. I only notice this when I want to exit the ship and don't have the proper paperwork. Now it really became hectic, I needed a new room key card, had to convince the customs police on board I lost my papers, etc.  Phew, what a start. But all's well that ends well. I was the last guy on the bus and we left at 6.20 am instead.

I don't like bus rides because the seats are not made for my tall body. Three+ hours is literally a bit of a torture, my legs don't fit and the headrest presses into my neck instead of supporting my head. But I mentioned this once before already, it is just that I need to vent I think, I hate bus rides. Especially in buses made for smaller Asian people.
Coal Dust Pollution

On the way to Ha Noi we passed many open pit coal mines. The pollution from the mines, in the villages we passed, is clearly visible. Coal is exported to China but most of it is used domestically as the power source for electricity generating plants. The first nuclear powered electric plant is being built now to be on line in about 2 years. So far Vietnam has no idea where they will store the spent fuel rods, the politburo is still “thinking” about the
Coal Ready for Transportation
right location for this radioactive trash.

China ruled Vietnam for over 1000 years and left quite a few beliefs and ways of living before they were finally driven out of Vietnam. One of these ways was the education system. The Chinese had a school system based on Confucianism. A boy at the age of 6 was given a test to see how smart he was. This test was given, once a year, to every child in the nation. Only the very, very best were chosen and then educated free of charge by the best teachers in the Empire. Those boys were trained to become future Doctors, Ministers or Politicians. Naturally every family wanted their son to be one of the smart ones. The family went to a temple to pray before the actual exams to make sure the gods would help
Temple of Van Mieu-Quoc Tu Gian
their son. The tests were very difficult and only with help from the gods, could they be passed.

Entering the Complex











Amazing Banyan Tree
Our first visit in Ha Noi was to the Temple of Van Mieu-Quoc Tu Gian, within which is the Temple of Literature, Vietnam’s first national university. It is dedicated to Confucius, sages and scholars. Quite a few students, who studied here in the past, passed the infamous entrance exam and became well known Doctors, etc. A section in this Temple has a display of monuments to these famous people. There are 82
500 Year Old Stone Turtles in Front
of Stele Listing Names of
Previous Scholars
remaining, tablet-like stele listing their names and accomplishments and standing behind 500 year old stone turtles. Even today, people come with their child to ask the gods for help. There is no such “exam” any longer but what family does not want to have a smart offspring? Asking God for help, even today, seems like a great idea to everybody. While this was a temple, it was different from the temples I have visited so far.

Donations to the temple are cheerily accepted. The collection box was full of bank notes.

Picture of the Original "Hanoi Hilton" (Hoa Lo Prison)

The Hanoi Hilton “is not a hotel; quite the opposite. This place is a reminder of the brutality humans are capable of. One would think people would learn from history but after visiting here I can assure you nothing has been learned.

Prisoners Locked in Place





Brutally mistreating prison inmates, no matter the race, belief or outlook on life, is deplorable. But you know all of this; you see the latest ISIS brutalities almost daily on TV or on the Internet. Well, the Hanoi Hilton, originally
Carving Showing Prison Brutality
built by the French to mistreat Vietnam’s political prisoners, is just one example of many places in the world. A sad place! It is a museum today, set up to show some of the horrors that happened here. Giving the premises a museum look, cleaning it up, categorizing actions, only showing what the administration deems appropriate, is censorship. The Hanoi Hilton has been severely censored. Three quarters of the facility was ripped down and a skyscraper apartment building erected in its place.


Cell Door in the Dungeon Area
The left over part is now just a museum, a money maker focused on the mistreatments of Vietnamese people by the French. There is hardly a mention of the real conditions American Pilots faced when they were incarcerated here during the last war.



Ba Dinh Square with Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum

After a good lunch at the Wild Lotus Restaurant, we entered what seemed like a protected, almost holy section of Ha Noi, the political compound. The Ba Dinh Square; where streets were blocked off, and uniformed guards were controlling people's movements.
Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum






Many sections were not to be visited, were verboten. The center of this whole area was Ho Chi Minh’s (HCM) mausoleum. A utilitarian looking building, like
Communist Flags
a small, squared off pyramid sat within a park like area. Lots of Red flags (yellow hammer and sickle and star) waved right and left of the official entrance to the tomb.

One of the Honour Guards
at the Mausoleum





Honor guards in white uniforms stood on top of the stairs, next to the entrance. Another few uniformed guards with all kinds of medals pinned to their chests loitered about looking bored.

Bored Looking Guard
The building was closed. It is only open in the morning. Inside, I am told, lays HCM well preserved. Like Lenin, HCM was pickled in Russia. In fact every few years HCM needs to go back to Russia for a touch up and to check on his preserved condition. It is a fact that HCM did not want this kind of attention, he asked to be cremated. His fellow politburo comrades however voted to keep him “alive “looking; hence the circus and attention given to HCM now.

Right across from the mausoleum is the building that houses the 500 members of the Politburo's Congress who run Vietnam today. But due to a lot of infighting and political positioning among themselves, there is no time to work on the real issues of the land. Every member just shows up and does nothing. Everybody is afraid to stand up and address problems or upset the corrupt apple cart, because if one does, one gets killed. A bit of poison is known to do the best job. The locals call this building the “Puppet Theater”.
Ho Chi Minh's Simple House

Behind the mausoleum, I visited the house HCM lived in while alive. First there is a rather fine house the nation wanted him to live in, like the U.S. president lives in the White House. This house, the Yellow House, was a bit too grand for HCM. He built a very simple, one bedroom cottage-like house nearby and worked from there. I saw this simple affair of a house and liked it better, too. The large house is now the Presidential Palace although the President is a mere figure-head who
The "Yellow House" Where Ho Chi Minh Refused to Live
and Now is the Presidential Palace
functions only to give out medals or show him-self at functions or to give speeches at schools. He is an empty suit.

The real power sits across the street from his Palace at the headquarters of the Communist Party. That is where the decisions are made after the members’ political positions are somewhat secured. Vietnam is run by a few rich people who make the majority of the people pay taxes and with a lot of ridiculous laws, keep the masses under control and poor. If you are within the circle of the politburo you live well. Even the extended family members of each member of the politburo live well. This area we visited, the area around HCM’s grave, gives one a visual representation of the power brokers behind today's Vietnam. A bit scary to walk through this bit of Ha Noi, it reminds me of the times I walked through East Berlin before the wall came down.

The One Pillar Pagoda With Its Pillar and
Staircase in the Pond

A nice spot, and a surprise, was the one pillar pagoda. A smart looking, small building that serves as a temple. The architectural idea behind the building intrigued me. Clever!

We had to drive back to the ship anchored at Ha Long Bay so we left Ha Noi around 3 pm. Vietnam was celebrating the beginning of Tet. This day is like New Year's Eve in the West; here it is called “Tet”; The Chinese New Year. Tet is an official 4 day festival but people take off 10 days to allow for travel on the other 6 days. Everybody goes back to their place of birth, to their family.
Brilliant Lights to Guide Us
Back to Our Ship
It is the festival where the ancestors are honored. There is a ritual for each day. New Year's Eve, the day before day 1 of Tet is all about eating, drinking and being festive. Day 1 is the family reunion day. Day 2 is the family parents’ day where one’s parents and grand parents are visited and honored. Day 3 is dedicated to the parents-in-law or the extended family. Day 4 belongs to teachers or close friends. Gifts are exchanged, food is eaten, and visits are made. It is a hectic and happy time with lots of music, drinking and food.
Colours of the Lights Are Constantly Changing

We thought it a good idea to be on the ship before the real drinking and driving starts. The rice wine consumed is 49 % alcohol. Already on the way back we heard very loud, booming “Rap” music; if one can call that noise music, but it sure was loud. It was audible from blocks away. There will be no sleep for the villagers tonight; the music will awake the dead.  Happy (Chinese) New Year!
 
Other Ships Were Outlined in Lights
We are anchored off shore, away from the festivities. Yea!


It Means Happy New Year (I Think)











 

30. Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

“Ha Long Bay’s countryside and "ZenBuddhism” was the theme of our outing today. The trip started a bit late in the day, around 12.30 pm. We have a routine now getting
The Fog in Ha Long Bay
to these excursions. We made reservations in Toronto already, just reading the brochures and guessing which the best tour is. Not always the best way, but we booked something at almost every port of call in Asia. I feel this is why I travel and who knows if I will ever come back to these spots? So excursions are part of traveling the oceans. To find the best tour offered is a bit of a crap shoot, it depends on what subject you like and what you find interesting. Sometimes the choices conflict with each other as in this case. Many took a junk tour through Ha Long Bay to see these UNESCO spires and Islands. It was very foggy when this tour started off and I gloated a bit because we did not book this UNESCO tour but opted instead to visit a Zen Monastery and to visit and talk to a local farmer. Those were the two main items on the itinerary for us today. The bus ride took a long time again, something like 2 hours one way. Our first stop was the Zen temple.
Zen Monastery

Zen is a sect of Buddhism that is not very common in Vietnam. The word Zen is a Japanese word and this Zen practice of Buddhism is not linked to Hinduism. The reason to belong to this sect is that meditation is the main focus. Careful attention is given to the way you sit in Zazen (the practice of meditation), the body position, your whole demeanor seems to be important. The Zen Masters will guide you through each step, each day, each time you sit 
View From the Monastery
and meditate. He will also counsel you after each session of meditation.

Female Monks










Getting Ready to Practice Zen


The cloister we visited only had female monks. I am not sure if they are called “Nuns” or not. The facility is huge and fairly new to the area here. The sponsor of the complex is a very rich industrialist who is a believer and supports his region this way. The place is very clean and when we arrived we found all the nuns busy doing something. Nobody loafed. Some weeded the flower beds, some moved boxes, some did dishes or swept the floors, and everybody was busy.
The Zen Teacher

The tour had made arrangements for us be shown Zazen. A young woman, speaking a bit of English, taught us how to sit and practice Meditation (Zazen). We had to climb a 40 degree incline using many stairs to reach the hall where Zazen took place. Mats and a round cushion were given to us to help us sit in the right position. Instructions were given and demonstrated and then we had to, for some time anyway, just sit in this position and do nothing.

Practicing Meditation
 

Nothing! Only breathing in and out, no thinking! Let your mind calm down and let all thought flow out of you. Empty your mind. Like a glass of water, empty it. Just sit, hold still and think of nothing. No thinking of the future or the past. No thinking of family, kids, jobs, troubles, etc. just sit with an empty mind. Breathe in, breathe out. Do this for at least 2 times a day for 30 minutes each session. Try it, it's not easy. Well that is Zen, so simple yet so difficult.
Inside the Temple at the Monastery

 
Happy Buddha With All His Little Cherubs
Inside the Temple at the Monastery













Inside the Temple at the Monastery
Inside the Temple at the Monastery












Our next stop was a visit to a local “farmer“. We walked through a small village, down a long lane-way and all the farmer’s neighbors watched us walk to his house.

Bamboo Grove
Few Furnishings in the
Farm House




When I booked this tour I thought we would see a farm. Instead it was a small, simple house, with 2 bedrooms and very sparsely furnished. The house was surrounded by a bamboo grove, a vegetable garden and it had an enclosure for foul, some chickens and a few turkeys. In the back of the house were some fruit trees. That is a farm?

Always An Alter Present With
Gifts to Buddha

Not in the American sense of the word, no!

It was a normal, regular house with a bit of land around it; normal for Vietnam. No evidence of cows or pigs, goats or sheep. No rice paddies. Neighbors all along the narrow lane-way-like, dead-end road had similar gardens or orchards. I cannot say why this was advertised as a “farm”. A couple
Chickens and Turkeys
occupied the small house, no children were present. We were offered some tea in plastic cups, baked sweet potato and a few slices of fruit. It was an odd visit. Imagine a busload of big Westerners visiting the small Thai house of a ‘farmer’. The whole scene did not really fit together. It was not a natural match; especially when the farmer’s wife smacked her young dog with a severe blow on the head. We Westerners just looked on in shock, the dog cowered and the Vietnamese woman thought it was the most natural thing to do. A definite deal breaker in most of the eyes I looked into. We all left soon thereafter, got into the bus and drove back to the ship. In my eyes this ‘farm’ visit was a dud. 
We Liked the Planter