Old Quarter Streets

Two weekends ago, we decided to walk through Hanoi's Old Quarter. Eric has been to Hanoi a lot, but admitted he'd never done the 'tourist thing' and actually gone on the self-guided walking tour of Vietnam's most famous shop-a-thon. So off we went.

Hanoi’s Old Quarter is the oldest continuously developed area in Vietnam. Its history spans over 2,000 years. Located between Hoan Kiem Lake (or the Lake of the Restored Sword), the Long Bien Bridge, a former city rampart, and a citadel wall. The Old Quarter started out as a swamp full of crocodiles and snakes, which later evolved into a cluster of villages made up of houses on stilts. Later, Chinese administrators who occupied the area unified the villages by building ramparts around their headquarters.

The Old Quarter began to acquire a reputation when the Vietnamese attained independence in the 11th century and King Ly Thai To built his palace there. In the early 13th century, the collection of tiny workshop villages around the palace walls evolved into craft cooperatives, or guilds. Skilled craftsmen migrated to the Quarter, and artisan guilds were formed by craftsmen originating from the same village and performing similar services. Members of the guilds worked and lived together, creating a cooperative system for transporting merchandise to the designated streets in the business quarter. Each guild was set up on a different street. The streets were named after the merchandise sold or the work carried out. For example, you’ll find the 'blacksmith' street full of metal workers and the 'shoe' street' full of...you guested it. Shoes.

In today's Old Quarter, you can still find any type of trade, and some streets still sell the original merchandise it was named after. Personally, it took some time to soak up the atmosphere and to get used to the noise, smells and chaos.

Eric and Pearce standing at the original entrance into the city.


Wendi and Pearce checking out the selection at the Old Quarter Market.


Eric and Peace deciding on what to buy...live baby crabs, eels or prawns. Pearce turned his nose up on all three "Eheww Mamma".


The parking situation: park where you can. Who needs side walks?


Pearce making friends with the locals.

We bought several gifts for some of our readers, including you, Connor. And we also had the worst chocolate ice cream of all time. All in all, it made for a good use of about five hours. Not sure if I'd want to live there. But shop? Absolutely.

Hang'n with Lenin

At dusk, on any given night, Hanoi’s parks and lakes are full of hundreds of young lovers, elderly playing games, reading or sipping tea, groups of women exercising and families playing together. But one park in particular is my personal favorite for many reasons, one being the “in your face” irony of conflicting ideals. Let me explain.

The park was built in 1958 and inaugurated in 1960 with a statue of Vladimir Lenin. At that time, the country was divided into two parts with two different political regimes; the park was named Thong Nhat, meaning "united," to express the governments hope of reunification of the people. In April 1980, on the 110th anniversary of Vladimir Lenin’s birthday, Thong Nhat Park was renamed Lenin Park. Nowadays, Lenin Park is situated on Dien Bien Phu St. Thong Nhat Park has its original name.

Beneath the gaze of Vladimir Lenin, the father of Soviet Communism, a group of teens in saggy jeans practice their break dancing, skateboards fly over curbs, trick BMX bikers bounce around, kids roller blade through cones, and toddlers joy ride in small replicated motorized motorcycles, SUVs, and cars to rent for 15 minutes at a time for 40, 000 with over twenty vehicles to select from. The delightfully ironic scene is so Vietnam, surrounded by rich traditions with a population moving lightening speed into the globalized world, while still tending to old political philosophies. I can only smile and wonder what Lenin would have thought.

One thing I do know, this is Pearce’s favorite place to go. He could cruise around in a motorized vehicle all night. And of course, Eric and I don't mind, we enjoy hang'n like locals.



Click on and watch this small snippet of toddler traffic jams.

More Baptisms!

Once again, before church we attended a baptism for three wonderful Vietnamese young single adults. Pearce continually asked "what are they doing?" while we all huddled on top of the fourth floor covered veranda where the portable font was located. It was so hot. We all happily became a pool of sweaty bodies, all wishing we were the ones climbing into the cool waters of baptism. Four flight of stairs down to the open room, meant for a living room, but used as the main place the Branch congregates we sang songs awaiting for the newly baptized to dry and dress. Once arrived, Eric gave a talk on the Holy Ghost, in Vietnamese while Pearce and I listened on our translating head sets. The electricity went out (which is a regular occurrence) in the middle of the musical number, so we were honored to hear it twice. Regardless of all the hiccups, the baptism was a beautiful reminder of the gifts God has given us here on earth.


Afterwards, now an hour late, sacrament began. The humanitarian missionaries gave there farewell talks. They leave this Friday, returning home to Tucson Arizona. They have been with the Hanoi Branch from its beginnings. Teaching even the Branch President, who has only been a member for two years, how to run a Branch. They are the modern day pioneers. What a blessing they have been to Vietnam. And naturally after church the Branch celebrated with refreshments.

Perfume Pagoda

This is Eric.

If you'd like to lose five pounds in a day, visit Chua Huong (Perfume Pagoda) on the hottest day of the year. That's what we did yesterday. Luckily we did it as part of a tour. Had we, as I initially suggested, taken the motorbike, I would be dead or divorced right now. And deservedly so. It was a 2 hour drive there and and back through narrow, dusty roads featuring 50-mph truckers who haven't looked before turning in 15 years. Add that to being sweatier than the arm pit of a gorilla in a space suit, at least six million stairs, and a 40-pound two year old, and even an all-male jury of Arabs would have acquitted Wendi for spousal homicide.

As it was, though, the day was fantastic. Pearce, as always, was phenomenal. And Wendi and I got to see arguably the coolest pagoda in Vietnam for less than $25.

We woke up at 5:30 and were picked up by a bus driver who decided to run errands for 30 minutes before taking us to meet our guide and fellow travelers. I wanted to say something, but I'd decided not to speak Vietnamese during the trip in order to spare us of the constant, "Why do you speak Vietnamese? Why don't you have a Vietnamese wife? Do you want one? I have a cousin?" conversations.

Finally, we left Hanoi and were given a new driver. But he ended up worse than the first. When we finally arrived in Ben Duc village (about 70 km southwest of Hanoi) where the river ride to Perfume Pagoda starts, our driver cruised right past the boat launch so he could get to his smokes quicker. Our guide, Tuan, asked him why he was being such a jerk, and the driver responded, "They're just dumb tourists anyway. They won't know the difference."

That was enough for me. I broke my promise and laid into him. But to no avail. We had passed the boat launch already and he wasn't going to lose face and turn around. He lied that he was following company 'policy.' To which I wished him a future full of lung cancer. My cover was blown, but it ended up being fine. Our guide, Tuan, was cool, and understood that it was rude to speak a language nobody else in the group understood.
The ride along Yen Vi river in our small metal canoe amidst the surrounding karst limestone mountains carpeted in green was peaceful despite it feeling like we were under a McDonalds heat lamp wrapped in saran wrap . Pearce kept dragging his hand in the water to the displeasure of our rower. She grumbled that his little fist was causing excess drag. I thought about countering that his hand was hardly big enough, but when I turned and saw that she was almost 80-years-old, I shut-up and pulled Pearce away from the edge. I had turned into the jerk. An 80-year-old rowing four fat Westerners in 90-degree, 10 million percent humidity for an hour at mid-day! Just think about her the next time you're about to whine about your job.

Perfume Pagoda is actually a series of pagodas in the Huong Son Mountains. Viets usually visit in the springtime, especially during the annual Chua Huong festival a few weeks after Tet (late February). In fact, during Chua Huong festival more than 100,000 pilgrims crowd the area. On August 16, 2008, however, there were only about 50 pilgrims. Every single one, a dumb tourist like us, hopelessly fanning their slimy bodies with futile paper fans. Why no Viets? Because Viets have brains. August is only a good time to visit if you're a cryogenic patient trying to hasten your thaw process.

We landed at the first pagoda of Den Trinh (The Shrine for First Presenting) after about an hour on the river. If we were Viet pilgrims, this would be the start of a three-day journey. We would sleep in one of the thousands of tents that spring up during the festival. Luckily, we were not pilgrims intent on visiting all 17 pagodas. Instead, we had our sights on two. The pictures of the first, Den Trinh, follow:

Pearce spent most of his time at this temple fanning the bugs.

Thank Buddha the Japanese funded the construction of a tram to the main pagoda. Otherwise we'd still be hiking. As it was, we blissfully rode atop of Huong Son Mountain, then hiked another couple thousand stairs to the main Perfume Pagoda.Wendi & Pearce creep down into the main Pagoda, Chua Trong--really just a cave. The steps were soaked and slippery.The Perfume Pagoda got its name from a nun who used to worship at this temple in 13th century. Apparently, she finally reached nirvana and left this earth. On that day, the entire mountain bloomed, filling all surrounding villager nostrils with an intense, pleasant aroma...thus the Perfume Pagoda.


Our journey back seemed half as long, and half as hot. When we finally arrived at home at 6 p.m., Wendi and agreed that it was the coolest pagoda we've seen in Nam.

Hoan Kiem Lake

Last night after a tasty meal we rode over to Hoan Kiem Lake, which is in the historic 'Old Quarter' area of Hanoi. Hoan Kiem Lake was originally called Luc Thuy Lake. According to Legend, a fisherman named Le Than caught a sword blade when drawing up his fishing net. He decided to offer it to his commanding general Le Loi. Afterwards, Le Loi found a handle fitting the blade, the sword never left his side during the ten years of resistance against Chinese Ming aggressors. After defeating the aggressors, he became King Le Thai To and returned home. One day, he took a cruise in the lake and suddenly, a giant turtle emerged and came towards him. The King withdrew his sword and and pointed it in the direction of the advancing turtle to alert his soldiers' attention. All of a sudden the turtle caught the sword betweeen its teeth, took it from the King's hand and submerged. The King thought that during the resistance against Ming aggressors, the turtle had offered him this sword to help him defeat the enemy and now that there was peace, the turtle appeared to take back the sword. King Le Thai To decided to rename Luc Thuy lake as Ho Hoan Kiem, Lake of Resorted Sword.

In the middle of the lake is Thap Rua, or Turtle Temple. The lake abounds in large turtles, aged a hundred years old plus. Locals say, when there are changes in weather, the turtles emerge or expose themselves at the foot of the Turtle Temple and if an onlooker spots one, they are assured good luck. We didn't see a turtle but we did enjoy the beautiful evening sitting by the lake watching the bats fly back and forth while drinking a cold glass of sugar cane juice.

Food Snobs

Every day at around 4pm Pearce and I wait in the Intercontinental Club for Eric to come back from work. While we wait, the Club has an arrangement of delicious gourmet hors devours to choose from to tantalize our taste buds. So, essentially I am eating dinner twice. I can't help myself. The food is so good here in Vietnam. In fact the choices in restaurants goes further than just the awesome Vietnamese food. For example, there is an East Indian Restaurant called the Indian Palace, which Eric agreed with me, was the best Indian food we have ever had, hands down, period. I was worried that eating Vietnamese food for a couple of months might get old fast, especially considering our admitted food snobbery. But I am here to say, that it isn't so. It's quite the smorgasbord of culinary heaven here. And not just in Hanoi. Last summer we ventured into Sapa, the most northern tip of Vietnam, in the highest mountain range enjoying some of the best Italian and French cuisine. Who would of guessed. Not I. One more reason I love Vietnam.

How do they cut the bread in such thin perfect slices?

Eric joins us for drinks and delectable treats after a day of hard work.

Church with the Hanoi Branch

At 9am two young single adults were baptized and confirmed members of the Hanoi Branch. Eric has been attending the Branch for weeks and now knows everyone. He has been able to go on splits and teaching assignments with the Elders. We just found out that the Elders are only here from Cambodia for three months. The Vietnamese government kindly has allowed full-time missionaries in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) as long as they are from Vietnam. Vietnam has 9 missionaries in the field (all from the Saigon branch). One is serving in Atlanta, and eight are serving in the Cambodia Mission, which includes Vietnam. Technically, all could come over and serve in Vietnam, but four are sisters and the Mission President doesn't feel comfortable leaving them here all by themselves. So that leaves the four Vietnamese elders currently serving in Vietnam. They would stay here longer, but because the Cambodia mission is getting a fresh crop of American Viet-speaking elders that need to be trained, the Mission President will pull the Vietnamese missionaries currently here back to Cambodia temporarily. It's complicated, but at least they're finally here. Church starts at 10am. There was about 50 members in attendance. I was the only one singing in English. Eric and two other dudes in the Branch took turns translating different parts of the meetings for the non-Vietnamese speaking visitors like myself and Pearce.

Pearce is really into listening to Sacrament now. He wouldn't take them off. There was no Nursery for the toddlers so Pearce sat in Primary for 2hrs in the same room with six other children singing and speaking Vietnamese only. I think Pearce deserves a treat for good behavior. In Fact, I think I deserve a treat for good behavior! Bring on the treats!

SNL Viet Style

Friday night we went to the first annual Hanoi Branch talent show. Even though there is only 5o member they showcased 2 hours of music and stories. Some highlights were:

Rock'n out electric guitar style with the local Young Singles.

A musical about the three bears by Emma and her mom, Jenny. They just arrived in Hanoi a month ago and will be here for three years.

A Beautiful rendition of I'll go where you want me to go dear Lord sung by the Elders, An Elder who is here on a humanitarian mission and a member of the branch.

Pearce's favorite spot, perched up top of Eric's shoulders, where he can see everything. The evening ended with of course, a world wide Mormon tradition refreshments.

Lost in Translation

A couple of days ago Pearce and I went on our first adventure without Eric who conveniently reads and speaks fluent Vietnamese. I soon realized I should have been more diligent with my RossettaStone Vietnamese lessons. Bright and early, the three of us drove our motorcycle with stroller in hand to the Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum. Eric said his goodbye and zoomed off to work. Pearce and I rolled up to the gates of the Mausoleum ready to see Uncle Ho. Built by the Soviet Union in 1975 as a gift to the Vietnamese people, it is intended to represent a lotus flower. There are strict rules for visiting the Mausoleum. It is not permitted to take phones or cameras inside. Oh and strollers, which is not mentioned in any tour guide book. No shorts or tank tops, and you must maintain a respectful demeanour. And of course I was denied entry. So naturally I walked around to every gate to try and smuggle my way in, but no luck. Some kind Vietnamese tourist took a picture of us in front of the Mausoleum. and then took a picture of Pearce and his wife in front of the mausoleum.

If you notice, from the pictures, there is a lot of grass, and it is all manicured by hand. Yes, all of it. Yikes. And the grass is heavily guarded with men and signs posted, no walking on grass, in Vietnamese, so naturally we walk on the grass. I thought they were going to kill us. Poor Pearce will never walk on grass again.

Next, we strolled past the Presidential Palace, conveniently next to the Mausoleum. Constructed in 1906, the palace was home to the Governor General of Indochina. No one may see the palace unless you are invited to one of the official functions. I am still waiting for my invite. This street was lined with government buildings and large trees on each side. Vietnamese flags and Swiss flags alternated over the light poles. The Swiss flag? In honor of the Swiss President who was invited to visit Vietnam for the first time.

We followed the lake where we stumbled on a few Pagodas and Temples. Pagodas (Chua) is dedicated to the worship of Buddhism. A Temple (Den) is dedicated to the spirit of a revered person. First we saw the Chua Mot Cot (one Pillar Pagoda) Ong Ich Khiem is situated between the Mausoleum and the Ho Chi Minh Museum. King Ly Thai Tong built the original Mot Cot in the 11th Century. He dreamed he saw the goddess Quan Am seated on a lotus, holding a son towards him. Legend has it that on marrying a young peasant girl who bore him a son, he erected the pagoda to show gratitude for the birth of an heir. The pagoda was destroyed by the French when they left in 1954 and a new smaller version was built in the late 1950's.The second Pagoda is next to the Mot Cot, called Chua Dien Huu a quiet haven with a lovely small courtyard for worshiping.
We continued to walked around the lake, Pearce asleep now. So we caught a cab who took us to the wrong hotel, and circled the Mausoleum three times. Lost in translation was the theme for today.

We have arrived!

Pearce and I are finally in Hanoi Vietnam! We arrived Monday morning at 3am. Funny, our itinerary said we would arrive in Hanoi on Thursday night at 11pm. Where did things go wrong you ask? Well to answer that I would have to write a short novel in explanation but since I am not interested in reliving the last 5 days I am going to touch on some of the highlights. The flight from Hawaii to Manila was 11 hrs and Pearce was a dream. Pearce, the two year old, was the easiest part of the whole trip believe it or not. Due to flight complications we were able to spend some time in Manila and ventured through their newest attraction, The Ocean Park. Even though the park was an aquarium oasis, Pearce was the main attraction. Every family wanted a picture with Pearce and he was happy to oblige. Throughout this trip we have experienced some very nice strangers. Lee, a Vietnam TV reporter from Hanoi, helped in so many ways while we waited 6 hrs for Cebu airlines to show up. He even went out of his way to hurry through the Vietnamese customs to retrieve Pearce's stroller from the baggage claim and then brought it to me by re-entering the customs area so I wouldn't have to carry 40 pounds of Pearce through the long airport trek. Thank you to all who reached out and went the extra mile for us. My personal favorite highlight was walking out of the Hanoi airport at 3am to fall into my husbands arms and to watch Pearce's excitement to see his Dad after missing him for several weeks.

We were greeted at the Intercontinental Hanoi Westlake (our home for the next 2 months) by Chien, an old friend who was our Guide in Sapa last year, who is now working at the Intercontinental. He works at the front desk till 10pm and then kindly waited for us till we arrived at 4am to present Pearce with a gift: a motorcycle helmet. Now that's a good friend. OK, you would think we would just climb into bed. But no. With all the excitement we couldn't sleep. So I unpacked and went to the Intercontinental' gourmet breakfast buffet and pigged out. Then we slept.

We woke up by the afternoon and ate again. We decided to ditch the car/driver and go local: the three of us together rode around on a motorcycle which made Pearce's year. He loves motorcycles. His enjoyment didn't just come from riding one but also seeing hundreds of motorcycles riding around him in every direction. Unfortunately, as we rounded Westlake, a storm was ready to dump on us, so we found the nearest boat cafe. We drank chocolate shakes while the boat rocked back and forth and the rain poured hard. Once it stopped we rode around until dark. Everything is how I remembered it, and I have to say I love Vietnam.

Missionaries in Vietnam!!!

Eric again.

I went to church today in Hanoi. Showed up an hour early on account of a faulty email tip. I parked my moto in the basement and walked up the stairs. Keep in mind, this is a house down a small alley. Not a Utah stake center. I emerged onto the ground floor and was met by the stares of two Vietnamese youths reading at a table. I looked closer and nearly peed my pants. They were wearing black name tags that read 'Anh Ca.' Elder in Vietnamese. Before me sat Vietnam's first full-time missionaries!!!

Eleven years of prayers answered on one rainy morning.

Now, it's not totally accurate to say these are the first full-time missionaries in Nam. During America's war here, the Church sent missionaries over from approximately 1973-1975. That ended with a bang when the VC drove their tanks through Saigon and kicked all things U.S. to the curb. And in the early '90s, service missionaries began to show up in Vietnam. They weren't allowed to proselyte, but they planted seeds. Over the past few years, the Vietnamese government has allowed investigators to travel to Cambodia to get baptized by Viet-speaking missionaries over there. And every once in a while, those same Viet-speaking Elders were allowed to come over to Vietnam for a few days at a time and do several baptisms.

But these elders, standing before me, are the first full-time missionaries in the modern era. There couldn't have been better news.

They've been here almost two months. There are also two more in Saigon (the southern part of the country). Their names are Anh cả Hậu and Anh cả Thắng. They've already had five baptisms up here, and have two more planned in the coming weeks. They had been serving Viet speaking in Cambodia before being called to open Vietnam. Both joined the church in Saigon roughly two years ago. They're phenomenal. They have strong testimonies and can share them better than I ever could.

Unfortunately they're not allowed to leave their homes to proselyte. They can only teach people who are brought to them. They rely 100% on referrals, but insist that they remain busy. I'm going to a few appointments with them this week.

There were about 40 people total at church (there are over 100 in Saigon). I was kind of surprised that I was the only Viet Speaking RM in attendance. They made me translate like I did on my mission. It was horrible. I can only pray the Holy Ghost did most of the teaching. But there are several other expats in the branch. Overall, I really tight and strong group. Many of the members joined in other countries while studying or working. Next time we'll bring a camera. There is a talent show this Friday night that should produce some good stuff.

Finally!

Eric are you there?

Lover this is your wife blogging you because she is unable to get in touch with you by the phone numbers you gave me. I am in Manila spending the night at the Hyatt in room 3336, meaning I didn't get a flight into Hanoi. Tomorrow I am flying Cebu air at 10:30pm. Should I just take a cab or will you be able to pick me up? So call me or blog me back. Till we meet again. Wendi