Museum Madness

Today was a day of exploration and adventure in Hanoi. We ate breakfast at our hotel (a complimentary breakfast with our stay) and were just finishing up when Bobby arrived to spend the day touring with us, which he had not yet done in Hanoi. Zenia and I had planned out our one day in Hanoi with great care, deciding to follow Lonely Planet’s “One Day in Hanoi,” which laid out detailed instructions of what to visit and where to eat if a visitor only had one day to spend in Vietnam’s capital city. Our day was laid out, therefore, with a plan to visit a wide variety of museums and sites around Hanoi.

First Stop – Ho Chi Minh Museum

To get a cab to take you to the correct location in Hanoi you must write own the address of your proposed destination in Vietnamese with the proper accent marks on every letter or you may end up somewhere off the beaten track. You can’t try to say the name of your destination because there is no way you will ever pronounce it correctly – the Vietnamese language is too insane (filled with ng sounds that are impossible to actually make unless you grew up using them). Therefore, my first act before we set off on our grand adventure was to look up the addresses of all our trip locations for the day and write the Vietnamese names out very clearly.

Prepared, addresses and plan in hand, we set out to find a cab and go to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, our initial destination for the morning. After pointing to the name of our first stop on our list of locations, we settled back for the ride through Hanoi traffic to the Mausoleum. We were dropped off in front of a large complex simply named Ho Chi Minh, with no real idea of where to go. We looked back at our cabbie for reassurance that we were at the right place and after a nod of confirmation we went inside to wander around and find the Mausoleum on our own. After exploring the grounds for a bit we stumbled upon a large imposing structure labeled the Ho Chi Minh Museum. Unable to locate the Mausoleum around the grounds (we had seen pictures and knew what to look for), we finally asked the man selling tickets to the Museum and were told that the Mausoleum was closed (later consultation with Lonely Planet told us that we picked the one day of the week the Mausoleum is closed).

Fun Fact:
• Ho Chi Minh requested that he be cremated, but after his death this request was denied. Instead, his body is on display in a glass coffin in the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum (what we were trying to visit). For two or three months out of the year Ho Chi Minh’s body is sent to Russia for preservation updates. :) For a guy Vietnam loved so much it seems a bit rude to me to deny his final request, but to each their own.

We decided to take the opportunity presented to us at that point and visit the Museum instead of the Mausoleum. If I can only use one word to describe our visit…whoa. Just whoa. If ever there was a place created to indoctrinate individuals, it was this museum. I know it’s the “Ho Chi Minh” Museum, but a walk through its three stories will lead the observer to conclude that Vietnam has no history before or after Ho Chi Minh. He is raised to near deity status throughout this museum, coming across as the god of Vietnam (for example, all “he’s” are capitalized when mentioning Ho Chi Minh). It was a bit scary and an odd museum overall – a strange blend of the ancient, the modern, and futuristic features. For example, in one section of the museum, ancient furniture (the old) rested on a raised lotus dais (the new – modern art looking) that was surrounded by bright silver metal panels (the future – very science fictionish). I was more than happy to rush through the museum, feeling very uncomfortable within its walls as panels discusses Ho Chi Minh’s grand achievement in beating out the imperialist United States from Vietnam during the “US War” and reuniting North and South Vietnam into a single country.

After our visit to the Museum we headed out into the city on foot to our next tourist destination, which was located a brief five minute walk from the Museum complex. Our walk down the street offered us the first opportunity to really get a feel for walking around Hanoi. Unlike many of the other SE Asian countries, walking seems to be a fairly accepted mode of transportation in Vietnam. However, walking can be extremely hazardous to your health. On a first view via car, Vietnam seems very friendly to walkers as they have provided very decent sized sidewalks for pedestrians, unlike Thailand, which has no sidewalks. However, the sidewalks are often unavailable as they are used as parking lots for every car, motorbike, and bicycle in the city. Entire city block sidewalks will be covered with motorbikes parked at all angles, forcing poor hapless pedestrians to walk in the street instead. Unfortunately, walking in the street is a good way to die. You see, in Vietnam, no vehicle will stop for you. To walk in front of a car or bus here, even at a crosswalk, would be suicide because large vehicles simply do not stop and will run you down in the road. Motorbikes are somewhat more considerate in that they will weave around you. To truly explain how this works let me give you an example…

As you go to cross the street in Hanoi, often on roads with two or more lanes of traffic going in a single direction, you must first look for buses or cars. Any large vehicle of this nature MUST be allowed to pass before you even step foot in the road. Once the cars are clear, watch for a break in the constant stream of motorbikes, if none appear to be coming, simply close your eyes, send up a prayer, and take one step into the street. Stumble forward at a steady pass and don’t freak out as hundreds of motorbikes zip past you, some coming so close you can feel the brush of handlebars on your arms. The key to not being mowed down like a blade of grass in the ever continuing onrush of ravening metal motorbike beasts is to walk at a continuous pace and don’t flinch. However, if a car comes…get out of the road! Every time you step onto the pavement on the other side of the street you thank goodness that you have arrived there in one piece…assuming you did. It is impossible to wait for traffic to pass as it never will in Hanoi. On any road (except the extreme back alleys) there will never be a large enough break in the sea of traffic to allow a pedestrian to cross the road without braving cars or motorbikes and specter of death that lingers on the roadways, ready to spirit away the next victim of the Hanoi traffic system.

We managed to meander our way through the streets of Hanoi until we reached our destination, a place called the Temple of Literature. At one time (evidently) a place where scholars came to learn and study ancient writings (there were only 5), the Temple of Literature now resembles something more akin to a park. The entire area takes up about three city blocks and is surrounded by a tall stone wall. There is only one entrance to the Temple where visitors are required to pay a fee to enter, a nominal charge of 10,000 Dong (a little over 50 cents). The Temple is separated into sections that roughly feel one block long. The first two sections (out of three) are simply gardens with small rectangular pools filled with water on either side of a green belt that borders the central path. The third section leads to a courtyard where an actual temple stands to the front and on the left side great stone slabs that rest on the back of stone turtles stand in long lines. These stone slabs are covered in writing that dedicates them to the scholars who studied at the Temple of Literature when it still functioned as a place of learning. While there were some impressive sites to see here (the turtles were great – and I touched each of their heads to gain their wisdom and knowledge!), it felt more like a traditional city park and I felt deceived by the name. There wasn’t any literature!! How could Vietnam do that to a bookaholic like myself?! It just seemed like cruel and unusual treatment after my deprivation from my beloved books at home.

We fled the Temple of Literature as soon as I began to expound on this topic (for some reason Bobby and Zenia didn’t seem too keen to discuss the appalling misconception the Vietnamese were spreading by calling a park a “Temple of Literature” – I’m not sure why) and headed out to lunch as recommended by Lonely Planet and our growling stomachs/parched throats.

***I hate to do this to you, dear readers, but I must break off in my post for a short time. You see, some friends from Chiang Mai have been here in Laos for the past two days to visit us and are leaving this afternoon to visit Luang Prabang. We are, therefore, going out to lunch with them and I must leave now to get some amazing Fruit Heaven sandwiches and smoothies for my noon meal. I will come back and finish my post and will have it up for you to read this evening (in the morning for you). :) Good night!