Vietnam: Motorbikes, crowds, and lovely landscapes

Vietnam is hot, humid, busy, sweet-smelling fragrant or “not-so-much," and is frequently noisy.

(Lee and I were awakened by a rooster outside our 9^th floor hotel room in Hanoi!)  

How very different were my experiences in Vietnam this time – all to the positive! To a person, the Vietnamese were kind, friendly, and gracious to us Americans despite our shared history of “the American War.”  We visited at the time of Tet, the Vietnamese family-based celebration of the new year:  the year of the snake.

Warm and humid afternoon at the sidewalk fruit and vegetable market.

Along the sidewalk: special gifts and decorations for Vietnamese weddings.

Motorbikes:  The tremendous number of motorbikes on the streets terrified me on my first visit to Ho Chi Minh City: this time I learned (gradually and with a good measure of trepidation) to actually be able to cross the streets and boulevards – though, as a pedestrian, I could not completely rid myself of an internal kernel of trepidation. 

Motorbikes on sidewalks along with sidewalk cafes with meals cooked on small fires and Vietnamese of all ages dining.

Different sections of the 5-km. mural were designed by different artists about different periods of history

 A 5 km. mosaic mural along the main street coming in to Hanoi was created a couple years ago to commemorate Hanoi's 1000 year history

 

Quite surprisingly I was completely comfortable and having fun on the last of 6 days in country when Lee and I met Vuong and Chung Ngynen by pre-arrangement  and rode around HCMC on the motorbikes!  The passenger’s experience of the streets while riding with safe and cautious drivers was remarkably pleasant and even exhiliarating! Most Vietnamese families have 4 or more motorbikes.  The young ride in front or in back or both.  Frequently there will be a family of 4 on one motorbike - and occasionally 5!

Crowds:  With more than 90 million people, just about everywhere in Vietnam is busy and bustling. Homes are much smaller than our grand and spacious American homes.

Some of the tube homes are as narrow as 2 – 3 meters wide and 4-5 storeys high (since the taxes are paid based on the footprint of the house, not it’s height.

People bustle and jostle through temples and marketplaces.  Schoolrooms have 38-52 students per class.  Even the Gods in the temples reside close-by one another.

Street vendors everywhere with crowded tables of wares.

A crowd of fisherfolk dolls in a display at a seafood restaurant.

TOO MANY ZEROS!!! So hard to quickly calculate while bargaining with the vendors! 

 1000 dong = 1/2 penny; 2000 dong = 1 cent; 20,000 dong = $1; 200,000 dong = $10; 1,000,000 dong = $50; too many zeros to make it easy!!!

A view from the Bitexico Tower in Central Ho Chi Minh City.  The expansive building with the red roof is the famous Ben Thanh Market where one can buy ... just about anything, and many many tourists do so!

Crowds of cripts in this cemetery nestled in with the high power tower.

Incense and calligraphers and jostling people and tourists taking photos and candles and guards shouting out to "keep moving" and Vietnamese people praying to each God and statue, all in the stuffy heat and humidity!

Shop girl sleeping in a crowded stall at Ben Thanh Market.

 

The coach driver paying great attention ... no doubt to all the motorbikes!

Instructive (Communist) billboards are seen in both the countryside and the cities.

Tube houses - very narrow (as narrow as 2 miters wide!) and very tall, with open porches on the top levels.

Ho Chi Minh resided in this house and in another traditional stilt house

 for his last 20+ years

 
Landscapes:  As Vietnam is a country of more than 1000 miles from north to south, we visited a great number of different landscapes from misty Ha Long Bay to rice paddies to cityscapes in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. From gritty street corners to aerial  views from atop the Bitexico skyscraper in HCMC, it was all fascinating.

Ha Long Bay is 3-4 hours from Hanoi.  Our time there was quiet and mysterious and misty.

Semester at Sea Resident Directors Paul, Elizabeth, and Travis

In this floating Vietnamese village there are homes, a school, and fishing boats, all on the water.

Tet - the annual New Year's Celebration in Vietnam

Lanterns hung along the streets in every village and in the cities of Vietnam.  Schools and shops and markets were closed for the holidays while all families gathered for food and family celebrations.  The first day is for parents (Fathers and Grandfathers in this patriarchal society).  The second day is 

for Uncles (and Aunts) and the third day is for children (all the cousins).

Our first day in HCMC Lee and I enjoyed the Flower Festival which is a spectacular part of the Tet.

Two ladies born in a year of the monkey.

The Flower Festival from the rooftop terrace bar of the Rex Hotel where "Good Morning Vietnam was broadcast daily, long ago.

 

CHINA - in preparation for the New Year Spring Festival

Terra cotta Army at Lintong

More than 8000 terracotta warriors, 500 horses, and a great number of chariots stand  silently guarding  the region of the tomb of Chin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China  at Lintong near Xian.  Their presence is testimony to his power and magnitude in the year 210 B.C.  The purpose of this terra cotta army was to protect the Emperor in his afterlife. 

In this place the word awesome is most fitting.

We saw in the visitor’s center an elderly man, one of the peasants who discovered this archeological wonder while digging a well in 1973.  The Chinese government continues

the amazing restoration of this site which was known to exist  through legend but lost in it’s location.

Nearby were sophisticated bronze sculptures of a fanciful carriage and a team of horses.

 

 

 

XIAN 

Xian’s old city wall from the Tang Dynasty, 618 – 907 BCE  is a rare and complete city fortification.  The rampart is decorated for the Chinese New Year Spring Festival. Looking down from the wall on the inside is the ancient city of Xian.  On the outside are parks and people busy with their lives.

The air quality in Xian was appalling – they all called it ‘fog’ but our sore red eyes and sore throats made us think “smog” not “fog.” 

City Wall decorated for New Year

Ramp to the old city

An elderly man's exercise in the park spinning a top using a whip.

Street vendor below in the old city.

Barbers in white coats cutting hair on the side of the bridge in the "new city"

Is that "fog" or is that "smog"?

Traffic, traffic, .... and traffic ..... everywhere, always.

 We visited the Tang Theater and enjoyed a spectacular display of traditional Chinese dance.

 

Central City Bell Tower with Spring Festival street decorations ... and a charming Police wagon.

My dear friend Lee Pope came aboard in Shanghai  --- while I was off leading a full-day Field Lab at the Shanghai Museum with my Collage Class.  So much fun to share 3 weeks of adventure and fun from Shanghai to Xian to Hong Kong with Lee. We look forward to Vietnam and Singapore together.

Our Semester at Sea group visited an orphanage for children of incarcerated parents. The “orphans” and the SAS students played together and performed for each other …. And we all danced “Gangman Style” together.  

"Call Me Maybe" performed by 7 SAS'ers

Muslim’s make up about 1% of Xian’s 8 million population. We visited the Muslim Mosque just at the hour of the call to prayer and later explored the Muslim Bazaar with the food, fabric, and trinket vendors - a great sensation. 

This stall is NOT for the vegetarians - nor would this meat-eater even consider eating this street food.

This jolly vendor steams small pudding cakes.

Outside the grocery stores people are lined up to purchase meats for the holidays.

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Hong Kong

We rejoined the MV Explorer in Hong Kong for a couple chilly, damp and busy days.

The tram ride to Victoria Peak took us up into the thick clouds with zero visibility.  It was much colder than we anticipated so we ‘just had to’ buy Chinese silk jackets and pashmina scarves to be warm enough.  We enjoyed parading our new jackets back on the ship at Happy Hour with the Faculty and Staff as the ship left Hong Kong, headed next for Vietnam. 

MV Explorer tied up by Ocean Terrace Mall in Kowloon and Hong Kong Island is across the water.

Shopping with stiff bargaining at The Ladies Market.

This piece of gold jewelry is approx. 7" wide and 5" from rump to rump. Anybody interested?

 

The steep hill climb of the Victoria Peak Tram.

 

Nightly light show in Hong Kong Harbor.