We are cousins who graduated from Smith College in the 1960s, in the midst of the Vietnam War. We live in different parts of Massachusetts now and are delighted to be traveling together to Vietnam. Our understanding of Vietnam's history and culture has grown by leaps and bounds as we prepared for our trip through reading. We hope family and friends will join us, virtually, as we take our trip!
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Place Names
So many of the place names in Vietnam are familiar to Americans from the sad realities of the war in Vietnam. A visit like ours helps in re-imagining these places.
On our last day in Hanoi, we visited the site of the Hoa Lo Prison, nicknamed the "Hanoi Hilton" by American soldiers, primarily pilots, captured by the North Vietnamese during 1960s and '70s. Over the entryway are the words "Maison Centrale," or Central House, as the prison was built by French colonists in the 1880s and used to house political prisoners (Vietnamese people fighting for independence) and indeed it was a place of torture and execution. By 1954 -- and Dien Bien Phu and the Geneva Accords -- the prison had become hugely overcrowded. Following the French occupation, the buildings remained as a symbol of exploitation. Abusive conditions for U. S. soldiers in the American war are well-documented and remain difficult to think about. The original buildings were demolished in the 1990s, with the gatehouse and several rooms retained as a museum. The exhibits are vivid and, of course, presented from the perspective of a unified Vietnam, a country that experienced decades of war. I was very glad to have the chance to visit a museum that marks the historic significance of a place, helping me to a deeper understanding of our catch phrase "Hanoi Hilton."
In the American war, U. S. soldiers first came ashore at so-called China Beach in central Vietnam, at Danang, and the phrase "China Beach" has always caught at my heartstrings. Later in the war, it was a location for R and R for soldiers. Now, this area is the location of beautiful resorts, homes, and a growing tourist trade. Vietnamese call the ocean here the "East Sea." In fact, our hotel is right on the ocean, and my day began with a walk near beautiful and very high surf. I am reimagining the phrase "China Beach."
We will visit the cities of Danang, Hue and Saigon. Each of these visits help us reimagine these place names in the light of beautiful, welcoming contemporary Vietnam.
On our last day in Hanoi, we visited the site of the Hoa Lo Prison, nicknamed the "Hanoi Hilton" by American soldiers, primarily pilots, captured by the North Vietnamese during 1960s and '70s. Over the entryway are the words "Maison Centrale," or Central House, as the prison was built by French colonists in the 1880s and used to house political prisoners (Vietnamese people fighting for independence) and indeed it was a place of torture and execution. By 1954 -- and Dien Bien Phu and the Geneva Accords -- the prison had become hugely overcrowded. Following the French occupation, the buildings remained as a symbol of exploitation. Abusive conditions for U. S. soldiers in the American war are well-documented and remain difficult to think about. The original buildings were demolished in the 1990s, with the gatehouse and several rooms retained as a museum. The exhibits are vivid and, of course, presented from the perspective of a unified Vietnam, a country that experienced decades of war. I was very glad to have the chance to visit a museum that marks the historic significance of a place, helping me to a deeper understanding of our catch phrase "Hanoi Hilton."
In the American war, U. S. soldiers first came ashore at so-called China Beach in central Vietnam, at Danang, and the phrase "China Beach" has always caught at my heartstrings. Later in the war, it was a location for R and R for soldiers. Now, this area is the location of beautiful resorts, homes, and a growing tourist trade. Vietnamese call the ocean here the "East Sea." In fact, our hotel is right on the ocean, and my day began with a walk near beautiful and very high surf. I am reimagining the phrase "China Beach."
We will visit the cities of Danang, Hue and Saigon. Each of these visits help us reimagine these place names in the light of beautiful, welcoming contemporary Vietnam.
Fishing villages at Ha Long Bay
Now that it is Saturday the 13th, our visit to Ha Long Bay seems very distant, but since I've figured out how to import photos (thanks to Rusty's little gismo that allows me to plug the memory card into a USB port, and the availability of the computers in the business center) I want to share this image.
There are 10,000 people living in 12 floating villages like this within the karst formations of Ha Long Bay that have been there for generations. The fish they catch is stored live within the decking until buyers come to make their purchases. As we cruised slowly among these labyrinthian rocks, we passed many of these floating villages.
Historical Fiction
As a children's book person, I love stories that bring new horizons to young people and in the process, often, to me. Sometimes a book provides a look backward (a new persepctive on history and culture)... good historical fiction. A wonderful such book is The Land I Lost: Adventures of a Boy in Vietnam, by Quang Nhuong Huynh, published in 1986. Set in Vietnam in the decades before the American war, it is a story of the author's growing up time in the midst of his extended family. The family farms rice and lives in a village where cooperation among farmers is central to their lives. The qualities prized in the water buffalo which are much a part of a family's labors are a combination of mountain-bred buffalo and lowland buffalo: aggression and patience. The young narrator accompanies his father to a distant village to purchase a buffalo which they hope will be ideal for them; the boy hopes the buffalo will be a playmate as well as a great help to the family. They find just such such a one! The story is filled with vignettes that bring the Vietnam countryside alive -- forays into the jungle where snakes and other animals lurk, tasks that necessarily fill a young boy's life, such as bringing water from the river for the family.
When it was evident in our own travels that water buffalo are very much a part of agrarian life in Vietnam today, I asked our guide Huy if what I had learned about the family's water buffalo held true, if the same qualities were prized. He understood my question right away and said yes: the "strength" of a highland buffalo combines with the "skill" of a lowland buffalo to produce a valued family beast. I also asked about the wildlife found in the countryside and highland areas, so much a part of the book. He replied that much of the wildlife in the countryside was depleted, sometimes entirely, by the use of Agent Orange, the herbicide and defoliant used by the U. S. military in Vietnam in the 1960s. We have long been painfully aware of the tragic affects in loss of life and birth defects among human beings as a result, I had not, frankly, considered the result for the creatures of the countryside. New understanding and perspective for me.
So yes: historical fiction can surely be an invaluable stepping stone to understanding a new land, a different time -- the ways a culture continues and the changes a country undergoes.
When it was evident in our own travels that water buffalo are very much a part of agrarian life in Vietnam today, I asked our guide Huy if what I had learned about the family's water buffalo held true, if the same qualities were prized. He understood my question right away and said yes: the "strength" of a highland buffalo combines with the "skill" of a lowland buffalo to produce a valued family beast. I also asked about the wildlife found in the countryside and highland areas, so much a part of the book. He replied that much of the wildlife in the countryside was depleted, sometimes entirely, by the use of Agent Orange, the herbicide and defoliant used by the U. S. military in Vietnam in the 1960s. We have long been painfully aware of the tragic affects in loss of life and birth defects among human beings as a result, I had not, frankly, considered the result for the creatures of the countryside. New understanding and perspective for me.
So yes: historical fiction can surely be an invaluable stepping stone to understanding a new land, a different time -- the ways a culture continues and the changes a country undergoes.
Favorite Foods
While I cannot speak for Mollie and Marianne regarding favorite foods, I thought I'd begin a blog entry about one of my favorite pasttimes: eating. We have had many delicious meals; I will only hit a few highlights.
1) The croissants. A happy legacy from the French. Light, perfect with creamy butter. Available in every breakfast buffet we have had. Perfect with the strong, good coffee Vietnam offers. Especially delicious following an early morning walk along the ocean.
2) Passion fruit. The outside is a pretty red color; inside it's filled with countless slippy seeds (one fellow traveler called it a "slimy yellow mess" but I prefer to think of it as a sweet-tart confection that feels both healthy and decadent). This morning Mollie discovered passion fruit yoghurt on the buffet. I put passion fruit yoghurt onto my passion fruit half and was in heaven.
3) Barbecue Chicken and Green Mango Salad made by us. Today. At the Morning Glory Restaurant in Hoi An. We and our fellow travelers had a fantastic cooking class led by Lulu, a young chef who had worked at the restaurant for seventeen of her thirty-one years.
4) Lemongrass sorbet. Best experienced in the middle of a 95-degree day.
1) The croissants. A happy legacy from the French. Light, perfect with creamy butter. Available in every breakfast buffet we have had. Perfect with the strong, good coffee Vietnam offers. Especially delicious following an early morning walk along the ocean.
2) Passion fruit. The outside is a pretty red color; inside it's filled with countless slippy seeds (one fellow traveler called it a "slimy yellow mess" but I prefer to think of it as a sweet-tart confection that feels both healthy and decadent). This morning Mollie discovered passion fruit yoghurt on the buffet. I put passion fruit yoghurt onto my passion fruit half and was in heaven.
3) Barbecue Chicken and Green Mango Salad made by us. Today. At the Morning Glory Restaurant in Hoi An. We and our fellow travelers had a fantastic cooking class led by Lulu, a young chef who had worked at the restaurant for seventeen of her thirty-one years.
4) Lemongrass sorbet. Best experienced in the middle of a 95-degree day.
Water Buffalo
From Marianne
Huy told us there are three important things for a man to have:
1. a water buffalo,
2. a house,
3. a good wife.
The water buffalo helps by working in the rice field. It will not eat the rice crop or the straw from the rice, but eats only grass.
Killing a water buffalo is considered a serious crime...like murder.
When Huy was a young boy he was told that he could be out all day and that when sunset came and it was time to go home he could follow their water buffalo and it would lead him home.
Huy told us there are three important things for a man to have:
1. a water buffalo,
2. a house,
3. a good wife.
The water buffalo helps by working in the rice field. It will not eat the rice crop or the straw from the rice, but eats only grass.
Killing a water buffalo is considered a serious crime...like murder.
When Huy was a young boy he was told that he could be out all day and that when sunset came and it was time to go home he could follow their water buffalo and it would lead him home.
Bamboo
From Marianne
According to Huy, the bamboo tree represents the Vietnamese people., "bendable but very strong."
2500 years ago, the hill people divided. The more adventurous people left the hills and came to lower lands near the rivers. They brought bamboo with them from the hills and planted it to serve as a fence.
Bamboo matures in five years. It has a strong root system and helps to stabilize the soil.
Items made from bamboo can be as small as a toothpick or as large as a house. Products made from bamboo bring in $200 million annually.
Huy said that bamboo chopsticks are the best chopsticks. "One stick is stable, the other one is in motion....(pause) like a couple."
According to Huy, the bamboo tree represents the Vietnamese people., "bendable but very strong."
2500 years ago, the hill people divided. The more adventurous people left the hills and came to lower lands near the rivers. They brought bamboo with them from the hills and planted it to serve as a fence.
Bamboo matures in five years. It has a strong root system and helps to stabilize the soil.
Items made from bamboo can be as small as a toothpick or as large as a house. Products made from bamboo bring in $200 million annually.
Huy said that bamboo chopsticks are the best chopsticks. "One stick is stable, the other one is in motion....(pause) like a couple."
Language: Tones Matter
From Marianne
Huy's lesson today, as we rode the bus to visit a small village, was about the Vietnamese language.
Vietnamese is a very musical language. It has six different tones. If one pronounces "Chao" with a descending tone, it means "Hello"; with an ascending tone, it means "I'm hungry."
In written Vietnamese, the accent marks (which show how a syllable should be pronounced) change the meaning of a syllable. Huy gave us an example using the word, "ma." He said it six different ways and the words meant ghost, mother, horse, tomb, young rice or what if, depending on the tone he used. A group member suggested that using the same syllable we could say "What if mother's horse and young rice are in the tomb?"
In written Vietnamese, the accent marks also change the meaning of words. Example: by changing the accent marks the sentence "I'm waiting for you at school" becomes "I'm naked waiting for you."
Thirty percent of Vietnamese vocabulary is borrowed from the Chinese. The word's pronunciation is kept, but the meaning of the word is different in Vietnamese.
There are different regional and provincial accents. The Hanoi accent is used as the standard accent and is used in singing. Huy explained that radio and TV news programs use announcers from different regions on a regular rotation in order to be fair to the regions. Mondays may have an announcer from Hanoi; Tuesdays may have an announcer from the central or southern region.
The danbau is a unique Vietnamese instrument with one string. Its sound is core to the Vietnamese people; it's like the call of the homeland. Huy noted the link between music and language.
Huy's lesson today, as we rode the bus to visit a small village, was about the Vietnamese language.
Vietnamese is a very musical language. It has six different tones. If one pronounces "Chao" with a descending tone, it means "Hello"; with an ascending tone, it means "I'm hungry."
In written Vietnamese, the accent marks (which show how a syllable should be pronounced) change the meaning of a syllable. Huy gave us an example using the word, "ma." He said it six different ways and the words meant ghost, mother, horse, tomb, young rice or what if, depending on the tone he used. A group member suggested that using the same syllable we could say "What if mother's horse and young rice are in the tomb?"
In written Vietnamese, the accent marks also change the meaning of words. Example: by changing the accent marks the sentence "I'm waiting for you at school" becomes "I'm naked waiting for you."
Thirty percent of Vietnamese vocabulary is borrowed from the Chinese. The word's pronunciation is kept, but the meaning of the word is different in Vietnamese.
There are different regional and provincial accents. The Hanoi accent is used as the standard accent and is used in singing. Huy explained that radio and TV news programs use announcers from different regions on a regular rotation in order to be fair to the regions. Mondays may have an announcer from Hanoi; Tuesdays may have an announcer from the central or southern region.
The danbau is a unique Vietnamese instrument with one string. Its sound is core to the Vietnamese people; it's like the call of the homeland. Huy noted the link between music and language.
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