Oh boy - if we thought
Sai Gon traffic was bad,
try this then in Hanoi. No road rules hardly at all, and those that do exist,
like the pedestrian crossings, are simply ignored. Very scary for these aged
chickens. Still, we must be intrepid, and must carry on. So, hearts in mouth we
slowly wend our way between a
thousand speeding motorcycles, two hundred push
bikes and sundry cars - all tooting and looking like they'd seriously like to do
in a couple of fat cat capitalists from the west.
Hanoi is the capital, 4m people, and
resting place of Uncle Ho at the massive
mausoleum, and symbolic heart, for many centuries, of
Vietnam. I forget - this
is the ONLY nation that defeated both the French and the Americans at war - how
weird is that? They have nothing but guts, enterprise and sadly fading family
values. What we seem to have seen to date is the traditional family working
together to ensure that they all share in whatever comes along. I was saddened
today, to hear from the tour company operator during our debrief that such
traditional structures are breaking down and young ones are wearing. The
original pagoda was built here in 1049. It has been rebuilt many times, but
questions are still raised as to why the French burned it down in the 1950s
innappropriate garments and doing stuff that is unacceptable, and worse, they
are not interested in working for the family unit. I guess this is history
repeating itself, but boy it sounds familiar.
Jenny commented that Vietnam is less developed than she imagined, and yes that
is right. While there are some glass towers, by and large we have only seen a
few industrial parks, and one hell of a lot of tiny weeny enterprises. The
overall drive is to get your children off the farm and into education - which is
seen as the saviour for the next generation. Kids are driven into study, and it
is the only way out of poverty - and even a degree is not an automatic ticket to
success.
The economy might be growing by 5% pa, but there is a lot of sadness we have
seen on the streets, not the least a lot of deformed people - which I wonder is
possibly a legacy of the American War. There are a lot of beggars and people
selling weird cheap home made stuff, as well as flogging t-shirts, postcards and
so on.
So we arrived in Hanoi this am, and visited Ho Chin Minh's mausoleum, but sadly
he was in Russia getting his annual dobie up, so we couldn't file respectfully
past his mummified body. We then visited a lovely pagoda on a single pedestal,
where, if you want babies - that is where you go to pray. We then went to the
university which turned out to be a huge surprise. Not only was it established
long before Heny VIII was even a twinkle in someone's eye, but it is the most
extraordinarily beautiful enormous compound. The entrance is pretty traditional,
with the royal path down the centre of a garden, through to a pavillion. Then it
is on and on, through pavillions, temples, more gardens and finally to the
university itself. Most extraordinary, and the ground are simply stunning with
unreal topiary, enormous drums and bells in their own pavillions, decorative
gardens and statuary dating back to the 1300s showing the learnings and wisdom
of the then students.
This was pretty cool on its own, but it was also graduation day for the
students, which now include women (girls). So there they all were, in
traditional Ao Dai, hair done, lots of makeup and high heels. Visitors walk
through gate after gate through to a magnificent temple. Davie is now 'Buddah'd
out' Simply lovely - they are so small and fragile (benefits of lack of food and
lashings of hard work I suspect).
The hotel was next - three star (drat, we were enjoying the luxury stuff we
thought) - well this is simply magnificent - can't understand the star system,
but this is top notch, and we've been upgraded to a suite. Lots more glorious
food, a bit of a stroll down the night market, and now Davie is asleep and I am
drinking green tea and whiskey before joining him in the giant bed.