Yo. What is up everyone. My name is Wade and I have been entrusted to write this week’s blog. These first couple of days have been truly amazing. We arrived in LAX, or in some cases Ha Noi, feeling a mix of nervousness and excitement to meet the people we would be spending the next 70 days with. As we prepared for the 14-hour flight we got to know each other and played some games. 14 hours and a couple questionable airplane meals later, we landed in Taipei where we got ready for our last flight into Ha Noi. Arriving two days after we took off from LAX we dropped off our bags and showered for the first time in too long. We went out and got our first taste of Vietnamese food and culture before heading to orientation where we learned more about each other as well as going more into depth about the program and what the next 70 days would look like. 

The next day is when our Ha Noi exploration began. First, we walked over to the Temple of Literature. The temple was not a temple in the traditional sense of the word but rather a set of multiple buildings where students were taught and took the national examinations during the years 1076 – 1776. It was very interesting to see the architecture as well as the layout of it all. The layout consisted of courtyards, a building, and then a gate to the next courtyard and building. This came together at the end with a two-storied building where the locals were worshipping golden idols of former kings and offering things such as fresh food, money, and burning incense sticks. There we also learned about the ancient stelae which were stone carvings that described the students, philosophers, and scholars of the previous year. We learned that, in order to protect and preserve them during the Vietnam War, they buried them in the sand and built a wall of concrete around them. It all was very cool to learn about and see. Afterwards, we walked to lunch which was on the shore of the lake where we had fresh seafood and other traditional Vietnamese dishes. Tran Quoc Pagoda is where we spent some time in the afternoon. This pagoda has had a long history in Vietnam, but its most recent iteration hosts a gift from India — a seedling-turned tree from the Bodhi Tree The Buddha was sitting under when he reached Nirvana. The pagoda, which went over 50 feet high, was impressive, to say the least. There were also posters giving examples of how the laws of Karma worked.

With a previous day that seemed hard to beat, the following day we walked our way across the city to the Hoa Lo Prison Relic, or as the American fighter pilots called it during the Vietnam War, the “Ha Noi Hilton”. This museum, while on the ground where the prison once stood, was only a fraction of its former size. The prison was created by the French during their colonial reign over Vietnam in the late 1890s and held, primarily, political prisoners. As we walked through old cells which held close to 100 people our good mood turned melancholy. The stories we heard revealed just how brutal the treatment really was. It is one thing to see the horrible conditions, but hearing stories of how prisoners were tortured and subject to poor food conditions made the whole experience that much more impactful. We also learned about the way that political prisoners rallied to continue their revolutionary work secretly within the prison walls, hiding materials in the walls and toilets. It was interesting to then see the switch to when it became a prison for American fighter pilots who had been shot down during the Vietnam-American war. The prison, the conditions, and the stories are things I’m sure we won’t soon forget. Following a couple hours of exploring time and lunch, we headed off to something a little more lighthearted. WATER PUPPETS! Honestly, while it was a little confusing at times, it was still an incredible experience. The culmination of the sounds played off of traditional instruments and the voices of the musicians were unlike anything I had ever heard before. The puppets as they splashed around in their watery stage provided us with some much-needed laughs to end the day.

Now onto the last day I have been entrusted to write about. We started off by visiting the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and the Ho Chi Minh Museum where we learned more about his life and his roots. Did you know Ho Chi Minh means “He who enlightens”? Or that Ho Chi Minh had three different names? (We didn’t). The museum enlightened us about one of Vietnam’s most revered leaders and provided some background to things we had heard and seen while walking around. In the afternoon, we visited the Women’s Museum where we learned more about Vietnamese culture and the women who run it through their daily life and activities. We also were taught about traditional dress and Vietnamese marriage customs, as well as the role of women in anti-French revolutionary activities and the Vietnam-American War. With some sweet treats from a local bakery and an evening circle with an M&M activity, the day came to a close.

This first couple of days have been a great introduction and foreshadowing of what’s to come in the next 60+ days. Onto Sa Pa and Beyond.

Adios Amigos