September 9, 2005
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HÀ NỘI – Part 3
Quan Thánh temple
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West Lake and Trúc Bạch Lake
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It was believed that Hà Nội (used to be Thăng Long or Ascending Dragon) was protected by Trấn Quốc temple. Picture #5 is the statue of Trấn Vũ which was made of
black copper and four feet high. Picture #6 is the map of the temple.
After visiting Trấn Quốc temple we watched Thăng Long water puppet show. The camera was run out of battery so there was no picture of the show. Besides, I was coming down with a cold and still fighting with jet lag, I fell asleep two or three times, each time was about five minutes during the one hour show. The show was performed worldwide based on a folktale with a lot of water creatures that are colorful and lovely. After the show because it was raining we took pedicabs to go around Phố Cổ (the Old Quarter) about half an hour in the light rain. Hà Nội was beautiful with the trees lining the streets, soaking wet, lustrous green leaves, mist covered lake surface.
I thought of a few verses from the poet Tạ Tỵ about Hà Nội “tôi đứng bên nầy vĩ tuyến, thương về năm cửa ô xưa. Cửa ô ơi cửa ô. Nhớ thương biết mấy cho vừa.” (translated I stood on this side of the latitude (*divided Vietnam into two parts). Have loving thoughts about the old five cửa ô. Cửa ô, awh, cửa ô. How could I express this loving and longing) I wonder what is cửa ô. One of the drivers explained to me that it was the main street leading to Hà Nội and now there are more than five cửa ô.
That night we took the all night train to Lào Cai and the next morning we were in Sapa. At the train waiting room I chatted with a young couple who are from Israel. Both are engineers and they newly wed. The trip was their honeymoon. That night the moon was full. I woke up a few times looking out the train window watching the moon, mountains, clouds, and the Red River (the rail road is running parallel to the Red River). I could not describe my feeling. I was overwhelmed to see the grandiose nature combined with a little anxiety that I was going deep into the heart of a strange place, of a regime famous for austerity due to poverty, and the severity of a culture which have been endlessly judging women’s virtues…
My though turned to the Israeli couple in their honeymoon who I met before boarding the train. It was quite romantic making love on the running train as the moonbeam shone into their cabin…
Comments (11)
Beautiful and informative.
hey you’re back! with awesome terriffic pictures!
i really liked #9 and 32 excellent
wow…pics are beautiful….how was your trip?
Gorgeous. Thanks for sharing. What camera did you use?
Wow ddep qua’ chi Wish oi…I really want to visit Sapa one day. Thanks for sharing chi.
Very nice indeed, thanks for sharing. Such simple life in Sapa and throughout our country. Poor but no stress
finally some photos of Sapa… dde.p qua’ chi. H oi… nhi`n ma^’y ta^’m hi`nh ca`ng la`m em muo^’n ddi Sapa ca`ng so*’m ca`ng to^’t … la~ng ma.n, thanh bi`nh va` tho* mo^.ng qua’ chu*`ng. thanks a lot for sharing, chi.
btw, i sent you my thought as promised… sorry for the late sending as i have been quite busy. i do look forward to your comment/feedback, chi.
HCM has became a personification that many people got wrong. He was a patriot to his country. And, if you think about back then, if your country was ruled by foreigners all these years, you too would resort to any tatics. Quick history on HCM. He was educated in America and spoke 3 languages fluently, so he’s no dumb guy; like Stalin or Mao. Back then the French wasn’t nice to Viet Nam. As a matter of fact they were the worst to Viet Nam. I dislike it when people see the French as imperialist to Viet Nam, no they weren’t. They were typical Westerners that took their spoils, raped our people, and killed who ever they feel fit. HCM rose up by asking the US to help with the French colonialism. But, since US is an allie to the French they refused. So, as humanature has it; if you number one can’t help then you go ask number two. Number two was Russia. So, in order to get the French out HCM had to ask Stalin for help. HCM wasn’t ever really into communism, but he fought under it just to get help from Russia. If HCM was alive after the Viet Nam War, I’m sure our country would be in a lot better shape then it’s true face of communism.
Another thing; you can’t compare HCM with Stalin and Mao. HCM never killed millions of his own people. Stalin killed nearly 60 million of his own people and Mao with 29 million. These political leaders killed their own people. And, this was a time after the wars.
i like Sapa.
Nostalgic pictures Wish. I love the scenery.
This is interesting. I tried imagining this scene, but couldn’t quite… “My though turned to the Israeli couple in their honeymoon who I met before boarding the train. It was quite romantic making love on the running train as the moonbeam shone into their cabin…”
Great speech Hau. You spoke my mind. Thanks for speaking.