Category: travel

Women’s Museum, Hanoi

On By Rick McIn ethics, travelLeave a comment

Vietnamese Women’s Museum is located in Hanoi, in Ly Thuong Kiet Street, near the central Hoan Kiem Lake and the old quarter. This is the most ancient street in the capital city, with many French-style buildings, foreign embassies, hotels and government offices. …

The mission of the museum is to enhance public knowledge and understanding of history and cultural heritage of Vietnamese women by collecting, preserving and introducing exhibits through object collection, historical anthropology approach, diverse and multi-directional reflection of women’s issues in historical and contemporary life … promoting gender equality. …

In 2012, Vietnamese Women’s Museum was ranked “One of the best attractions in Hanoi in 2012” by TripAdvisor – one of the most prestigious world tourist websites. In 2013, TripAdvisor continued to include Vietnamese Women’s Museum in the top 25 most interesting museums in Asia.

street vendor

I’d concur. The most moving section is right at the beginning, photos and video of Hanoi street vendors. All have the same story – they’d much rather be home in the village, but felt forced to move to the city to supplement family income.

Click PLAY or watch it on Vimeo. (54min)

http://vimeo.com/104125386
 
Another floor I found laughable. Fierce women at war. Warriors.

Vietnam is still a totalitarian State. That exhibit is propaganda. I’m betting 99.99% of Vietnamese women hated the war. And cared only for the welfare of their family.

Oddly, I was unable to find the Men’s Museum in Hanoi. 🙂

Sapa, Vietnam

On By Rick McIn travelLeave a comment

Tourist love this Hill Station, first developed by the French.

Sapa mapThe first permanent French civilian resident arrived in Sa Pa in 1909. With its attractive continental climate, health authorities believed the site had potential. By 1912 a military sanatorium for ailing officers had been erected along with a fully fledged military garrison. Then, from the 1920s onwards, several wealthy professionals with enough financial capital also had a number of private villas built in the vicinity. …

Sa Pa is a quiet mountain town and home to a great diversity of ethnic minority peoples. The total population of 36,000 consists mostly of minority groups. …

I happened to arrive on a Sunday morning, a real market day for the surrounding villages.

Market Sapa

Before the 1990s, the town’s economy was mainly based on small size agriculture.

Tourist arrival between 1995 and 2003 grew from a total of 4,860 to 138,622. On average, 79% of the visitors are Vietnamese and 21% are foreigners. …

Those that were here before you, all tell that Sapa has been ruined by tourism.

Tourists create trash. The town of Sapa does not know how to dispose of it. That’s clear.

en route to visit the rice terraces
en route to visit the rice terraces

I loved it, as I love all Hill Stations. Especially the lake.

P1310293

P1310340

P1310532

The Communist Vietnamese government continued with the faded yellow French architecture. I find it charming.

P1310317

P1310466

P1310463

Animal lovers will be horrified, however.

P1310291

P1310310

P1310461

The life of many animals in Asia is harsh.

Mostly I wandered the town, avoiding touts, checking to see what regular people are up to. The Cathedral and plazas are entertaining.

P1310524

P1310525

P1310527

Tourists love Sapa. Even if many of the young have abandoned the fields to chase tourists.

P1310467

My only other big complaints about Sapa are the smoking. And the motorcycle culture.

Tourists can rent crappy bikes for as little as $5. 😦


more photos

Sapa Unique Hotel

On By Rick McIn product endorsements, travelLeave a comment

This might just be my favourite hotel of all time. (I’ve stayed in thousands of hotels.)

As I’m doing constantly these days, I found the Sapa Unique Hotel on Trip Advisor.

$35 / night single is far more than I normally pay in Asia. But the Unique was well worth it.

Here’s the view from the balcony terrace.

Sapa Unique balcony

On arrival, you’ll find the bedspread and bathroom shower scattered with flower petals.

P1310314

P1310313

In a tourist trap town where it’s near impossible to get information, front desk staff are helpful and thoughtful answering questions. They sent me to the most reputable trekking agency in town, unlike the official government tourist information office.

Before bed, they surprise guests with fruit or caramelized bananas drizzled with chocolate. What a treat.

If you are departing on a night bus or train, they pack you a snack for the trip.

Even better, they keep a room free so guests can take a shower at the end of day before climbing on to the sleeper bus.

Thank you Sapa Unique Hotel. 🙂

Peter Hessler – driving in China

On By Rick McIn books, travelLeave a comment

Peter Hessler (born June 14, 1969) is an American writer and journalist. He is the author of three acclaimed books about China …

River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze 2001

Oracle Bones: A Journey Between China’s Past and Present 2006

Country Driving: A Journey Through China from Farm to Factory 2010

countrydriving
Amazon

I read his third book while in China. It’s excellent. Hessler does a terrific job of painting a picture of how China has changed since he first arrived 1996 with the Peace Core.

Emulating the USA, China built many roads before the population had cars to drive them.

Chinese road

Surprisingly, the stories of what happens to him while driving rent-a-cars across the new roads of the emerging nation are fascinating and informative.

Every Province is different. Every town within a Province is different. And every Chinese citizen he meets is a unique individual with their own story.

So different than the simplistic stereotypes assumed by myself and most other westerners.

In 2011, Hessler received a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” in recognition and encouragement of his “keenly observed accounts of ordinary people responding to the complexities of life in such rapidly changing societies as Reform Era China.

Those 3 books are highly recommended for anyone visiting China.

Maura Elizabeth Cunningham, in 2010, posted a review of all the writing by foreigners who have lived and traveled in China. She rates Hessler high.

Vietnam – adventurous eating

On By Rick McIn food, travelLeave a comment

Bun Bo Nam Bo

Finally, an eatery in Vietnam where I’d be proud to bring Anthony Bourdain.

street front

It’s a cheapo, yet ranked #11 of 943 Restaurants in Hanoi.

Always crowded, this hole in the wall in the old quarter pretty much sells one dish. Rice noodles with beef in broth.

bun-bo-nam-bo

Roasted peanuts, bean sprouts. A few other things.

ingredients

As I entered, I just held up one finger, meaning … ‘one bowl’.

cook

Mine wasn’t spicy. But you can add Soy and Chili to taste.

Vietnam – Pho

On By Rick McIn food, travel1 Comment

Pho is a Vietnamese noodle soup consisting of broth, linguine-shaped rice noodles called bánh phở, a few herbs, and meat. Pho is a popular street food in Vietnam and the specialty of a number of restaurant chains around the world. It is primarily served with either beef or chicken. …

In the aftermath of the Vietnam War, Vietnamese refugees brought pho to many countries. Restaurants specializing in pho appeared in numerous Asian enclaves and Little Saigons, such as in Paris and in major cities in Canada, the United States, and Australia …

Pho
my first Pho in Vietnam $2

Fresh. Tasty. Safe. 🙂

Though I’ve been to KFC (twice in Hanoi, once in China) I’ll make more of an effort to try the local staples.

Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre

On By Rick McIn travelLeave a comment

One of the most popular tourist attractions in Hanoi.

… Today’s Vietnamese water puppetry is a unique variation on the ancient Asian puppet tradition.

The puppets are made out of wood and then lacquered. The shows are performed in a waist-deep pool. A large rod supports the puppet under the water and is used by the puppeteers, who are normally hidden behind a screen …

When the rice fields would flood, the villagers would entertain each other using this form of puppet play. …

2524909557_9efa7ee63f_o

It seems all puppet theatre script is simplistic. Punch & Judy simple. The puppets are crude. Therefore the plotting is crude.

Click PLAY or get a glimpse on YouTube.

Eisenhower was wrong

On By Rick McIn economics, government, travel2 Comments

It’s as if you can’t trust a President / Commander in Chief. 😦

Though he never directly used the term “domino theory“, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower put the theory into words during an April 7, 1954 news conference, when referring to communism in Indochina:

Finally, you have broader considerations that might follow what you would call the “falling domino” principle. You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly. So you could have a beginning of a disintegration that would have the most profound influences.

Introducing the domino theory, that if Vietnam fell to communism, the rest of Southeast Asia would soon follow. Press conference, April 7, 1954.

wikipedia

Today Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Canada? are NOT Communist.

domino_theory

Eisenhower was wrong.

… Hanoi will be the fastest growing city in the world in term of GDP growth from 2008 to 2025 …

On February 2013 Dubai-based property developer Global Sphere announced a mega-project to build about 70 residential towers in Hanoi in an area dubbed the Hanoi Wall Street. The first phase, valued at $10 billion, is expected to be finished by 2020. …

Fall of Saigon - evacuation of CIA personnel 1975
Fall of Saigon – evacuation of CIA personnel 1975

The USA could not win in Vietnam. Nor can they win in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, …

Santayana
George Santayana – The Life of Reason

When you hear a leader call for armed intervention, follow the money. Who’s going to profit in the proposed military action?

Good Morning Vietnam

On By Rick McIn food, travelLeave a comment

Rick in Vietnam

I arrived Hanoi very early morning, via the soft sleeper night train from Nanning, China. And slept well on the train, especially after drinking half a Coke Zero bottle of red wine chatting with a young Frenchman who’d traveled by train all the way from Europe. The trans-Siberian express was an excellent experience, he told.

Unfortunately we twice had to troop out of our sleeper cars hauling luggage for two inefficient border crossings.

Showing up at Little Hanoi Diamond hotel at 5:30an is normal. All kinds of tours arrive and depart the Old Quarter Hanoi early morning. I found this one hotel amongst hundreds of alternatives with Tripadvisor. Booked with Little Hanoi directly. $15 / night including a wonderful breakfast and all the Vietnamese (hot) coffee I can drink all day long.

vietnamese-coffee-1

Sweetened condensed milk is the dream ingredient.

omlette

After breakfast I headed over to Hoàn Kiếm Lake.

Hoàn Kiếm Lake

Only 400km from modern Nanning, old Hanoi feels far different. A nice change.

I’m living large on this trip. Check my room.

room Hanoi

In 2014, Hanoi ranked #8 in TripAdvisor’s list of World Best Destinations (by Travellers’ Choice).

I’m going to have trouble leaving. 🙂