A Look At Vietnam

Heroes

 

From about two thousand years ago other people have taken over the land of Vietnam, sometimes for many years. The Vietnamese had to fight under strong leaders against the enemy, and many died. We call such a man or woman a “hero”.

First the Chinese became the enemy for hundreds of years. Later the Mongols too attacked the north, and in 1784 Siamese came into the Mekong Delta. We all know that the French ruled for a hundred years, but it took, another twenty years to unify the country after defeating the Americans. Now the country is peaceful people can remember the heroes in many ways. You see this proud feeling. everywhere. Of course one man, Ho Chi Minh “Bac Ho”, is seen as father (or “uncle”) of modern Vietnam. Everyone knows his story, Sai Gon was renamed after him, his face is on every dong note. There are several museums recording his life, many statues, and his memory is an important part of national days. Ho Chi Minh did not live to see reunification, nor did many thousands of men and women. They fought and died in the

battles, or attacks on their towns and villages by the Americans and those in the south who wanted to keep in power. We must think too of the children who died. The names of all are usually only known to those who knew them. But the part which ordinary people played in the struggle is shown by heroic statues everywhere.

The statue opposite stands proudly on a traffic island in Nha Trang. It seems to be showing a young family who are celebrating victory with flowers and doves as father is safe. The woman is confident as she steps forward. The father will still protect them. The Art Museum in Ho Chi Minh City has many paintings and statues of the struggles and fight for freedom. This lifesize group seems to show the love and sadness of a family. The soldier’s mother gives him fruit to take away, and his daughter holds him as she adds a mango to them. Will they see him again? But where is her mother? Dead? Again they have no names, but the scene will be real to so many people. In a peaceful garden on a corner where he died is the statue of Thich Quang Duc. Under Diem’s Catholic government Buddhists were treated badly, beaten or killed when they fought back. In June 1963 this senior monk drove a car from Hue, sat down in meditation and then set fire to the petrol another monk had poured over him. He died for the rights of others which he believed in. His death was seen across the world in newspapers, and made people think about what was wrong.

Older Vietnamese will remember life under the hard French rule that lasted so long. They tell their children and grandchildren so that what they learn in history books is not about strangers. They tell of family and villagers who suffered hard lives and died for freedom. The old really know how life changed when the French were defeated at Dien Bien Phu in 1954 after a long and brave fight through this land. So everywhere posters show ordinary soldiers fighting for or celebrating the victory. Visitors to Vietnam will notice many names of streets are the same in different towns.

 

After the French were driven out it was possible to rename streets for heroes, both from the fight against them and long ago. There are so many to choose from. One of the most famous was Fan Phu who from about the age of twenty worked in groups planning for freedom. He went to Russia and China, and by 1931 Secretary of the Indochinese Communist Party. But in April the French arrested him and beat him so badly that by August he died at only twenty seven. 

One of the main streets in HCM City to the Sai Gon River isNguyen Hue. It is named after one of three brothers from Tay Son who fought against the Nguyen Lords. The Lords had help from the Siamese who were then defeated by Nguyen Hue in 1784 on the My Tho River. Later in the north he drove the Qing army back to China, then became king of the free united country. He made great changes to give land back to peasant villagers, free trade and bring education to villages. But in 1792 he died suddenly.

 

Everybody knows about the two brave sisters, Trung Trac and Trung Nhi who in the year 40 led the fight to drive out the Han Chinese. They were successful, but in 43 a huge Chinese army returned and the sisters died. Either they were beheaded, or jumped in wn. Not only are the river to drown. there so many streets with their names, they are also worshipped in Hanoi’s Hai Ba Trung temple.

Old photos show this statue of Tran Nguyen Han was certainly not on the busy roundabout by Cho Ben Thanh in French days. That is an important position opposite where the railway station once was. But who was this hero to be placed in the city centre?

Perhaps you can write a few lines in English about his place among  the many heroes?

 

Moving About

 

In the last fifty years small motorbikes have really changed how people travel in SEAsia. They have replaced bicycles  for most adults and go much faster, often carrying loads of boxes, bags etc. A small family can travel on one Scooter, as these ladies and children show. Like everyone they wear crash helmets for safety. The police soon take money from those riders who do not.

Western visitors are amazed in Hanoi or HCM City to see the hundreds of these motorcycles that stop at the crossroads each time the traffic lights change to red. Though there are millions of them the motorbike Gaffic moves much better than cars which make jams in London, New York or Paris. They cleverly, go between each other and use less space than cars.

Ho Chi Minh City has a good bus service from Ben Thanh. Those above are at the end of 23/9 Park which used Oto be the railway station before it was moved further from the city centre. The French took over Vietnam in the time of railway building all over the world. So one they made from Sai Gon to Hanoi became the way to travel long distances. That journey still takes over 30 hours. The train opposite stopped at Nha Trang, ten hours from HCM City. But the railway is only a single line and many towns are not on it, so it cannot carry all who want to travel. Now a good way to travel is on the big modern buses.That way is getting better too as Highway I is improved to be wider, with new bridges. Many of these sleeper buses go at night the long distances between cities and towns. They. have three rows of beds in two layers, which are quite comfortable. They also carry boxes, parcels and even motorbikes with the luggage as the riders sleep like other passengers. The Mekong Delta has thousands of kilometres of waterways, natural rivers and man-made channels. In modern times they have made some road travel difficult. But in the past life centred around these waterways which made it easy to link (up) villages and towns. Boats were just as quick as buffalo carts, and they could carry more. Today they are still a good way to travel in the countryside and to towns. If you live on a river bank with family, friends and those you do business with spread along either side, or up channels, then a boat is often the best way to reach them. This is true not only of the Mekong Delta, but the Red River and around Hoi An. You can always see men and women ferrying. passengers in their little wooden boats, rowed standing.There will always be boats passing, under the modern bridges.

A Place to Live.

There are so many different kinds of homes in cities, towns, villages or out in the countryside. Some are big and expensive, others small and made of trees and plants which grow nearby. At Dalat Museum a house of the Ma people has been built with wood and bamboo walls and floor. These free local materials have been put together with a lot of care and skill. The house stands on posts and perhaps the Ma kept animals under theirs. The roof of rice straw would last a few years. There is just one long room, and no windows. But light comes through many little gaps, and so would the cold air on a mountain night! So the family probably slept round the cooking fire on its layer of earth on the bamboo floor. Each mountain group made houses in its own style, even though they had the same materials to use. This Ba Па house is so very tall and the roof looks to be made of rice straw held in place with bamboo strips or canes. Smoke rising would preserve the straw. Meat and herbs could be dried above fires and seed kept dry for planting next year.

 

The lowlands between Hoi An and the sea have some tiny, fishing and farming villages with small houses. Some are of modern materials, but you see many still built of coconut wood and the long leaves of water coconut’s” which grow along the water edges. Again these things are free, and skill fully used to make homes of just one or two rooms. Leaf covers over the windows lift to let in light and air.

In the Mekong Delta there are some poor villages and there is always the problem of waters rising high in times of floods. The house opposite is not far from Chau Doc and has vegetable gardens between it and the river. It has a roof of iron sheets, but the rest is wood, bamboo and coconut leaves. Like others in the village it is raised high to be above flood waters. Also near Chau Doc are many little houses which float up and down as the river rises and falls. Many of these homes have cages of fish below them which the people feed until they are big enough to sell.

Near Hoi An is Tra Que village where many people grow small fields of onions, lettuce, herbs ete in front of their rows of small houses. These fast growing crops need to be watered daily and picked as soon as they are ready to sell. So the growers need to live very near to them. The houses in the picture are in an area inside the old walled city of Hue. They too have little patches and rows of vegetables to care for. Like many homes one of them has a shrine by it for offerings and prayers. 

In Dalat among the area of French style villas of the colonists is this fine house which is not quite like them. It was built about 1930 for the last emperor Bao Dai as a holiday. home, and is very grand inside and out. Like the villas it has chimneys for fires which kept the French warm on winter nights. Now it is part of Dalat Museum.

 In the past Hoi An was an important trading port. It has many old shophouses where trade was done at street level and the family lived in the floor above. Building spaces are narrow but often go a long way back from the street and have little courtyards within to let in light and air. Space in cities is limited and expensive so buildings are fitted into any space. They can go up six or seven floors, but only on one room wide. In HCM city the family rooms above the art shop are very narrow. You could almost touch both walls with your fingertips! 

 

Somewhere to Eat

 

In any town in Vietnam you are never very far from something to eat. Look up and down the street and you will soon see a little restaurant, or somebody selling food that they have prepared. If you cannot see either just walk round the corner and look again. Often you will see someone carrying food, or sitting eating from a little plastic box. They will point which way it came from. 

Some parts of towns have many restaurants. Here in Hoi An by the river many of the shophouses have been turned into restaurants for tourists.

It is a good place to sit and eat slowly, with no hurry.

You can relax and watch life go by.  There are always boats moving , women stoping to sell things, and in the evenings the coloured light and lanterns shine on the water. Like many towns Hoi An has its own special foods that are only cooked there.“Cao Lau’ should only be made with water from one town well.

Cho Lon grew as the town for Chinese traders, so you see many special restaurants there and on the road from central HCM City. My friend is in one that is popular for Sunday breakfasts, and is very lively with families. She has chosen a lot of dishes, dumplings, dim sum, crab meat balls, etc. I did not know what to choose from the menu, but I will help her to eat it all! 

Sometimes we all like to eat somewhere special as a treat. But most of our daily meals are the food we need to give us energy. So we choose things we like which are not expensive before, between and after work. There is not always time to wait for food and eat it slowly. Most of us enjoy eating with friends or workmates. This group are having pho, probably the most easily found and common food eaten in Vietnam. Service of this tasty dish is so quick.

Often food comes to where people live or work. This woman probably serves many regular customers with the food she has prepared and carries round the streets. This is done everywhere.But in Pham Ngu Lao ward HCM City the police stop people selling on the streets. Why? 

Now in the cities there are several groups selling Western food. It is popular as a treat with younger people for a change from Vietnamese food. But not as tasty!

 

Shopping.

 

We can do our shopping in different places, and sometimes what we want is brought to us. Cities have many markets, but nearly 100 years ago the French built the landmark Cho Ben Thanh so shoppers and sellers were out of the rain or sun.It is still for citizens, not just the tourists it attracts. So at the back are Sections for fish, meat, fruit, vegetables and flowers. Inside with the shoes, clothes, kitchenware spices, etc. there is an area of little kitchens serving pho, etc. for everyone.

Cho Lon means “Big Market” and grew as a town for Chinese merchants to trade in and around. Arich Chinese businessman built the huge Cho Binh Tay but died about when it was finished in 1927. There is a shrine to him in the central garden. 

It is very different to Ben Thanh as  lot of goods are sold wholesale, iled on carts to be taken out motorbikes and vans for customers further away.

 

The whole area around Ben Tay is full of people trading from shops or stalls, and in other markets. Some of the market stalls are like large cupboards that the traders spread their goods out from each day. There are rows of tiny shops from which the owners too put what they have out on the street. Often the shopkeepers have only a tiny space to live in themselves. This busy guesthouse manager does not have time to go to the market. But she knows that each day the woman will wheel her barrow of fresh vegetables along. Bui Vien that she has bought earlier from a market.

She will sell them for a little more than she paid herself. Many little vendors make their living this way, and it is a goat service to their regular customers. Each one will usually go the same route each day. Their customers will know what time to look out for them.

The vegetable seller had a good selection of fresh food on her little barrow for people to choose from. This man is just selling bananas, but they are large and small, green or ripe. He knows that in a day he should find enough people to choose from what he has, as bananas are a popular fruit. His load can be heavy, but his barrow made from an old motorcycle will take him where he needs to go.

Unlike the banana seller the man with this bicycle loaded with baskets will not be able to ride. He must push them all around, looking for customers who he hopes will choose Something from the big assortment he has. People do not buy backets every day of course, so he must offer a good choice to them.

Like the lady with her barrow of vegetables this woman rowing in the Mekong Delta near Chau Doc probably has regular customers. Others will call to her as she rows about. Customers still

need daily fresh food there.

 

Grand Buildings

 

People with authority and influence all over the world have always shown that power in their buildings. So from the past often the only buildings to remain today are I those of Kings and religions. Rulers took money and labour for their palaces, and people gave for their temples because of belief and fear. 

These Cham towers at Nha Trang were built as Hindu temples. But the simple homes of the people made of Wood etc. have gone long ago.

When the Nguyen emperors moved their capital to Hue in1802 thousands worked to build the moat, huge walls and gates to defend the city. Within they had to make more walls to enclose the Imperial City, open only to the emperors and those who all directly served them. The ngo Mon Gate is all that the common people would see of the many fine buildings for the royal family inside. The bombing which followed the 1968 Tet Offensive destroyed many of the palaces and temples inside. But some have been restored beautifully with great care. 

The French planned to make Sai Gon a city with buildings as fine as those in kurope. These would make them feel at home and also show their power. Of course they needed certain buildings for government offices, finance, business and religion. The city has some very wide streets, as does Paris, and in several places are Key buildings which are meant to be seen and admired, or respected. These landmarks stand proud in surrounding areas such as the Opera House, expensive hotels and what is now the HCM City Museum. The present day People’s Committee offices was the French main administration office. The architecture style is totally. European with nothing Asian.

Most colonists were Catholic, and there are several fine churches around the city. There is no way a temple would have been allowed to have been built where the Cathedral is.

Its position in a square would have been decided when the city streets were planned. This finance centre is a classic of Europe. Now a new landmark stands above it in the business district. About 1930 this huge home was designed for a very rich Chinese businessman in Sai Gon style is partly. Asian and very clever to keep it cool Corridors and a central courtyard give shade and let air move through it. Now it is the Art Museum.

A Swiss used modern ideas to design this college for the French in Dalat, high above the lake. It is now a training college for student teachers. In the cathedral square in HCM City is the Post Office. Gustar Eiffel used his engineering skills to plan this iron arch roof after designing his famous Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Like that city Ho Chi Minh now has its own amazing tower which rises high above the more usual office blocks. It is a landmark which like those before is not just a building for a purpose, but gives a message to all who see it.

 

People at Work

 

Today many people work in offices or a factory, so we do not see them busy. Yet though we have technology and machines. many jobs can only be done by workers using their hands in the same way as our ancestors always did.

 

In the fields of Tra Que two women rest their backs.

One has bags of vegetables, her friend has a wheelbarrow of water weed she will dig into the ground to feed her plants. In the background another ady will go to the well all morning with her watering cans.

 

Every day this woman in Hoi An will go to cut water plants with her sharp knife. Just like her millions of small farmers will be working in fields to grow food. Farm work is really hard, but must be done. Building is work that can be done with the help of machines, but human labour is needed always. There are many accidents on building sites, so the labourers should take real care about safety. 

There is so much danger with electricity. Workers need good skills and must take great care against electric shocks or falls. This man has a good ladder and helmet. He will have been well trained.

The French did not have crane trucks like this an one when they planted tall trees! man high up in the branches is much fer than climbing to cut them.

I guess this man will have taken many difficult loads like this through Cholon and Ho Chi Min City on his motorcycle. He will have put so much on, (with help from his friend) to save time and money. He must be very careful to avoid an accident.

Sometimes things go wrong at work and have to be fixed. The cyclo rider knows where he can go to repair the tyre and can easily fix it. Soon he will be on the road again.

Thuc Anh works happily in her sister’s coffee shop, though one day she wants to have her own selling home-made cakes. She serves her customers with a smile and makes everyone welcome. You always get a free glass of tea with coffee.

 Vietnam has thousands of coffee shops selling coffee and tea grown in the country. Now western groups have opened some, selling coffee from many countries. But here a cup of their coffee costs nearly as much as in Europe or America. There they pay their staff a wage of about $10 an hour, Why do they pay so little here?

 

Ms Phuc used to be the head receptionist at this friendly modern hotel in Nha Trang. She was always smiling even when very busy or dealing with difficult customers. Most of the guests were Russian, but she was very patient talking with them. Last year she got a job as the front office manager at a much bigger hotel, in charge. of all the reception staff etc. Phuc did so well in that position she was able to get promotion, to assistant genera! manager in a large luxury hotel.

Good work and a smile brings success!

 

Gods and Spirits 

 

The religious beliefs and rituals of people play an important part in their daily Vietnam with its lives. This can certainly be seen in range of religions, although about 70% are of the main one. This is a mix of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. The Jade Emperor Pagoda in HCM City has many statues of the gods to pray to and give offerings for help. It was built about 1900 by the Cantonese community and

gets crowded at festival times. The statues in the garden of a Dalat temple attract quiet worshippers In some temples Buddha images are in a central place, and in others just among others. 

 

Fishermen and sailors have always seen clangers. So they respect the statues and pray as they pass this little island temple near the harbour at Nha Trang.

You do not need to go to the temple to pray each day. There are family and local shrines to pray for help and to make offerings to ancestors and gods at. This little one is in Hue under a tree where several ladies have their baskets and stools to make and sell roadside snacks.

 Also in Hue at Tet, like millions of others this shopkeeper is burning fake cardboard Iind paper offerings to gods, spirits and ancestors. Behind him food is ready for 14 them and the family.

 

When the French came of course they built Catholic churches like Dalat cathedral and many Vietnamese became Christians. Styles of churches are very different to temples or pagodas, inside and out, few statues and much less colourful.

 

However when you go into a Hindu temple like this near Cho Ben Thanh, which serves a small community,there is colour everywhere and so many versions of Hindu gods.

 

Along Tran Hung Dao on the way to Cho Lon is this big decorated Cao Dai temple with its “all-seeing” eye between the towers. Started only in 1926 this religion is strong.

 

in the south with many saints for 2 million followers. A few hundred metres from it stands this mosque. Unlike all the other religions the Muslims do not use any images or statues in their worship. Nor is there any incense or offerings when they pray to their one god.