my wand3rlust: fine arts

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Day 30 - Wandering Aimlessly Around Hanoi

Today was a very relaxing DIY tourist day. I got to walk around the city and go wherever I wanted at any time of the day. I only hired a motorbike once, and instead, decided to sweat it out most of the day.

In the morning, I walked around the Old Quarter District of Hanoi, which is a maze of streets full of vendors specializing in different trades, each situated on a specific street based on what they had to sell. One street was full of shoe stores, another full of light bulbs, another full of headstones, etc. I went to see a traditional tube house and tried to visit some of the other sites from my lonely planet book, but being as it was outdated, I got shut out of two different places because it was a Monday. It seems Monday is a rest day where many attractions are closed, including restaurants. I ended up walking to the Hoan Kiem Lake to just sit on the benches and watch the reflection of the city on the lake. The lake is situated in the center of most of the tourist areas in Hanoi, but is also a popular gathering place for locals at night, where people go jogging, sit around the benches, play badminton, or do group aerobics together. I walked across a bridge to the Den Ngoc Temple and then walked around the lake some more, before settling on lunch and some ice cream afterwards.

The city is full of hidden shops and stores as I mentioned in my previous post. Walking around, (finally with the help of a lonely planet book) I found an awesome art house cinema called Hanoi Cinematheque that plays different films every day of the week. Today they were playing True Grit and The Searchers (starring John Wayne). I bought a ticket and ended up watching True Grit in a theatre with only about 6 other people. It was really intimate. The movie theatre staff explained to me that not a lot of people come because they are only allowed to send notification emails to members, due to the non-profit nature of the theatre, and they also can't advertise in any way. It had something to do with governmental restrictions, which I didn't inquire further into.

After that, I took a motorbike to the Temple of Literature, which served as a place to worship Confucius. It also served as a place for higher learning in the past, and there are stone engravings of scholars who passed certain national examinations in the past. The entire place consisted of numerous temples, courtyards, and pools. Afterwards, I walked to a restaurant and cafe that were suggested by Lonely Planet, but they were also closed on Monday! Hungry and sweaty i settled on KFC for the first time on the trip. I can't say whether I like the chicken better here or not, because I'm so used to the delicious flavors back home, but it definitely tasted different.

Cooled off and stomach fed, I walked around some more and bought two lonely planet books for my next destinations (Philippines and Laos) for only 140,000 Dong. Then stumbled across the opening night of a photography exhibit depicting heroin addicts in Vietnam and the stories they wanted to tell. I didn't really see the effects of drugs on the population through my travels, so it was good to be exposed to some of these stories. Countless stories were told of people attempting to quit, only to relapse numerous times. Many of the stories told of men who ended up being motorbike drivers to make cash, sometimes to fuel their addiction. I wonder if I've assisted any of them...

More stumbling around at night in Hanoi led me to a cafe that had an open mic night where Vietnamese youth were performing "Chris Isaaks' Wicked Game" with violin, piano, and guitar. There is just so much more art here than Saigon, at least from all that I have witnessed. I think it is regarded much more highly here. Then after that I walked to a Jazz club that performed jazz every night with no cover. It was again, intimate, with a small audience, and I ended up staying, enjoying the music after everyone else left. It was a moment I wish I could have shared with someone else. I won't lie, it gets lonely traveling alone, and it'd be nice to have a friend here to share in these moments.

Walked home from the bar down empty streets, a stark contrast to the daytime action. It was a perfect end to the night, with the lake on my right side, french architecture to my left, and the headlights of all the motorbikes in front of me.

Old Quarter, Hanoi

Hoan Kiem Lake

Temple of Literature

Music Performance at the Temple of Literature

I Spy the Smallest IKEA I've ever Seen

Afternoon Break in the Hidden Alleys of Hanoi

NOT Vietnamese Street Food

Face-To-Face with Drugs Photo Exhibition

Entrance to Hanoi Cinematheque

Hanoi Cinematheque

Front Row Seats at the Jazz Show

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Day 29 - Hanoi, South China Sea Protests, Fine Arts, and a Water Puppet Theatre

We arrived in Hanoi at around 8am and were left at a bus station away from the main part of town. My GPS wasn't working on my phone so I couldn't gauge how far away we actually were to the epicenter. Another moment of vulnerability for the foreigners on the bus, and we were, of course, attacked by the mob of motorbike drivers hoping to get business. There was a guy there that sold us some information on an available hotel, and I ended up just booking it because it was cheap and I wanted to get out of there. Turns out, after I checked into the hotel, I noticed that 2 of the other groups of foreigners also ended up booking here. A switch in power between buyer and seller when we are lost in the city...

Hanoi is a big enough city to explore for days, but small enough to make the exploration on foot, if you'd like. It is bursting with life, art, music, and culture. The former capital of Vietnam as well (Before HCMC and Hue), there is so much French influence penetrating throughout the city. All the old governmental buildings and landmarks have elements of French architecture. It's also much cleaner than HCMC.

A random fact that I read in my Lonely Planet guidebook was that many of the homes and shops in the area are not wide, but very very deep, which explains why they call these structures "tube houses." In the past, the government would tax the property based on the size of the front of the building, which is why the facade of each house was very narrow, but very deep - a way to cheat the system. Nowadays, when you wander the streets, there are plenty of narrow, dark alleys you can explore. Some lead to homes while others lead to restaurants and other businesses. Each address could have many different businesses, each with a letter to separate each structure deep in the alleyways (e.g. 42A, 42B, 42C, 42D Hang Buom Street).

I spent the morning reading through my guidebook to plan my trip for the next 4 days. Many of the landmarks had strict visiting hours, and most of them were closed on Monday. I came on a Sunday so I had to plan it all right so that I could see what I wanted to see. I ended up booking a ticket for tonight to see the famous Water Puppet Theatre show. It was a "must-see" in both the guidebooks I was using.

On the way to the theatre, I happened to be right at the frontline of a protest and march against the Chinese regarding the territorial dispute in the South China Sea. A couple hundred people were marching the streets with signs saying "Chinese Government - Peace in Speech, Violence in Action," "Justice for Vietnamese Fisherman," "Vietnam and Philippines Together Fighting for Justice!" and "Paracel Islands and Spratly Islands Belong to Vietnam."

Afterwards, I headed to a couple museums, and there are a ton of museums here, to check out some Fine Arts. I was used to seeing a lot of relics and artifacts uncovered, but it was nice to take a break from that to see some other contemporary arts - mostly propaganda, silk paintings, oil on canvas, and lacquer paintings. The museum was only allowed to showcase government approved art, so everything inside was only things the government wanted you to see. There were plenty of pro-government and pro-military paintings that showed only positive interaction between the soldiers and the villagers.

From one museum to the next, I went to the Museum of Vietnam Resistance, which showcased all the resistance movements that occurred in the 19th and 20th centuries, from resistance from the French to the Vietnam War. There were plenty of original documents, weapons, and pictures, but I didn't really get much of it. It was probably a good time to hire a tour guide..

Walking around the city some more, I saw that at every park I wandered to, people were playing badminton or using their feet to kick those "birdies" over the net. Headed over to see the Water Puppet Show, which was a 50 minute performance with an orchestra on the side. The stage is basically a pool of water, and little puppets are controlled by people from behind the stage. The entire show was narrated and performed in Vietnamese, but it was fun nonetheless to witness this unfamiliar art.

At the end of the night, I walked the night markets trying to find new sandals because the other sandals I bought in Hue were making my feet blister. The street vendors in Hanoi are harder to bargain with! I've purchased sandals twice in Vietnam, once for 40,000 and once for 60,000. The starting price that they offered was 100,000 dong, and I bargained 40,000 but they just said no...not even counteroffering. I did this about three times before I started getting antsy. Some of the shop owners didn't even care to make a sale, just sitting there watching me peruse through the goods. This was something I was not expecting. I ended up settling on 85,000 for my pair of sandals after an hour or so of sweating and walking in pain...