Guest Blogger, Lisa; Part II
The place I resonnated most with was Hoi An, a beautiful city near the beach. Parts of the town were filled with pagoda-style Chinese Buddist temples, which Hoa and I visited on our last morning there. Hoi An was a busy trade center in the last century, and conducted lots of business with China, Japan, and other Asian countries. Subsequently, the existing architecture is informed by many cultural influences. The people we met were also exceptionally open and warm. Hoa took us to a wonderful gallery space, where we met a painter who is making a living selling his art. Again, I was really attracted to the ink drawings on rice paper. The artist invited me to do a couple of paintings with him the next day, which I gladly took him up on. He was such a sweet man. A self-taught artist, he painted scenes from Hoi An, cats, and women dressed in the traditional Ao Dai (long tunics with matching silk pants typically tailored to fit the wearer.) I'd sure love to apprentice with this artist, as well as the tailors we met where Hoa and I had some clothes made!!!! In the 2 days we stayed in Hoi An, I went to Tan Toan the Tailor no fewer than 6 times!!!! Hoa and I designed a couple of summer tops for her, a curdory orange and magenta (deep pinkish-purple) skirt with a sewn flower, for me. I'd like to say it stopped there, but nooooooo-- I also had a pair of cropped kelly green spring pants made, a turquoise silk Chinese-inspired top, and lastly, in fewer than 3 hours, a periwinkle (light blue-violet) Ao Dai made, which we picked up at 9:30 pm, the night before we left (SMILE!). Also while in Hoa An, we met Chloe,a fantastic woman from France who was an engineer in Mali working with Mailian folks to keep their water clean. Her husband works with Doctors without Borders, and her 7-year old twin sons are fluent in an African language, French and English. They attend the local school in the afternoons, and play with friends outdoors till dinner time. Chloe says, it is a challenge for one of the sons to wear shoes when they are visiting relatives in France. Finally, we went on a boat tour in Hoi An to some smaller islands, one of which specialized in carpentry, wood carving, and boat construction. Beautiful furniture and boxes shaped in the form of waves, and slim wooden boats with eyes on each side!
From Hoi An, we spent one day in Da Nang. Our "tour guide", in his fifties, married late in life to a woman who's been teaching for 30 years. They have two young children who keep him busy. Due to the fact that he had worked for a U.S. doctor during the War, he was limited in terms of current employment opportunities. This was also the case with our tour guide in Hoi An, and many of the cyclo drivers, who take tourists around in makeshift bicyles and motor bikes. Both served time in re-education camps and are blacklisted from any of the more secure government jobs. Da Nang was unusually spotless and corporate. Apparently, there is strict legislation about littering. We went to 2 musuems-- the Ho Chi Min museum which spoke to the wars against the U.S. and the French, and a Cham museum that had amazing stone sculptures of lion-dogs, elephants, and Hindu-inspired goddesses.
We concluded our stay with a delicious late sushi dinner at a mall in Ho Chi Min City with Tom and Hoa! I ate till my belly ached, 'cause sushi is a little spendy here, and David and I can only afford it annually.
In terms of general impressions, I was really struck by the aesthetics of food, clothes, architecture and art (both indigenous Champa sculptures, as well as more contemporary ink drawings). These art forms seemed to have a nice balance of the contemporary being informed by the traditional. Secondly, the freshness and variety of the food. We ate no processed foods period. The fruits were stunningly beautiful-- the colors and textures, not to mention the flavors, were works of art in and of themselves! Third, I was struck with "what communism looks like", and how it manifests itself differently in various countries and cultures. For instance, while Vietanam is deemed a communist country, there is a ton of private enterprise, particularly in the south. Further, medicine and education are not socialized there, and Buddist temples, suggesting obviously freedom of religion, are prominent in every town we stayed (but I guess Russia has always had tons of orthodox churches too). Fourth, I was impressed with the stories of the folks that served time in re-education camps-- their resilience, resourcefulness, and capacity to to remain open and not bitter, was astounding! Our favorite English saying in Vietnam was "same, same, but different", to me it suggested a larger concept of this not being so fixed in time and space-- prices of things, time according to the clock on the wall, etc. I personally found it liberating, 'cause I knew I wasn't in control (HA!)
Tom and Hoa are GREAT guides, mentors and teachers!!!! Our experience in Vietnam was very enriched through their guidance. thank you soo much Hoa and Tom for making our summer, and giving us memories that will stay with us for a lifetime!
Lisa
From Hoi An, we spent one day in Da Nang. Our "tour guide", in his fifties, married late in life to a woman who's been teaching for 30 years. They have two young children who keep him busy. Due to the fact that he had worked for a U.S. doctor during the War, he was limited in terms of current employment opportunities. This was also the case with our tour guide in Hoi An, and many of the cyclo drivers, who take tourists around in makeshift bicyles and motor bikes. Both served time in re-education camps and are blacklisted from any of the more secure government jobs. Da Nang was unusually spotless and corporate. Apparently, there is strict legislation about littering. We went to 2 musuems-- the Ho Chi Min museum which spoke to the wars against the U.S. and the French, and a Cham museum that had amazing stone sculptures of lion-dogs, elephants, and Hindu-inspired goddesses.
We concluded our stay with a delicious late sushi dinner at a mall in Ho Chi Min City with Tom and Hoa! I ate till my belly ached, 'cause sushi is a little spendy here, and David and I can only afford it annually.
In terms of general impressions, I was really struck by the aesthetics of food, clothes, architecture and art (both indigenous Champa sculptures, as well as more contemporary ink drawings). These art forms seemed to have a nice balance of the contemporary being informed by the traditional. Secondly, the freshness and variety of the food. We ate no processed foods period. The fruits were stunningly beautiful-- the colors and textures, not to mention the flavors, were works of art in and of themselves! Third, I was struck with "what communism looks like", and how it manifests itself differently in various countries and cultures. For instance, while Vietanam is deemed a communist country, there is a ton of private enterprise, particularly in the south. Further, medicine and education are not socialized there, and Buddist temples, suggesting obviously freedom of religion, are prominent in every town we stayed (but I guess Russia has always had tons of orthodox churches too). Fourth, I was impressed with the stories of the folks that served time in re-education camps-- their resilience, resourcefulness, and capacity to to remain open and not bitter, was astounding! Our favorite English saying in Vietnam was "same, same, but different", to me it suggested a larger concept of this not being so fixed in time and space-- prices of things, time according to the clock on the wall, etc. I personally found it liberating, 'cause I knew I wasn't in control (HA!)
Tom and Hoa are GREAT guides, mentors and teachers!!!! Our experience in Vietnam was very enriched through their guidance. thank you soo much Hoa and Tom for making our summer, and giving us memories that will stay with us for a lifetime!
Lisa
posted by Tom Holz | 7:57 PM
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