Central Vietnam

Last week the UC students took a trip to central Vietnam. The whole time I was wishing I was still in Hanoi with my friends and familiar places. I feel like Hanoi is my Vietnamese home. However, the trip changed the way I feel about Vietnamese society. Many constants were revealed as illusions. It help me further understand the depth of Vietnamese society- not in a good or bad way, but rather objectively. It helped solidify my perception of Americans, First Worlders, tourists, bourgeois Vietnamese, etc. I ended up learning a great deal about exactly what I came to Vietnam to study. Though what that is exactly I cannot say, it is important to me.

One of my favorite “touristy” parts of the trip was when a small group of friends took a taxi to two tombs. The first was the tomb of Khai Dinh. It had very strange architecture that did not look very “Vietnamese”. Nevertheless, it was very nicely restored and consequently a tourist hotspot. My favorite tomb was the second one, the tomb of Thieu Tri. As we approached the ruins of the tomb grounds, I noticed an old stone bridge covered in moss over a stream. It reminded me of an old-world scene I’ve only imagined from books. The tomb grounds were surrounded by hilly forests that overlooked the tomb square and surrounding ponds. I could make out the shape of a lotus flower carved into the top of the ruins of an old tower next to the tomb. I was not the only one who thought the grounds were extremely romantic as there was a wedding ceremony going on the tomb grounds. I've always been a fan of tranquil places like this tomb. It was this experience that made Hue my favorite town on the trip. Quy Nhon would have taken first place if I had had more time there, but then again I liked it for a different reason.

Week 5 Assignment: Defining Poverty

Today Peter, Vi, and I went to phơ restuarant on Nguyển Trãi street. We talked to a well-dressed man eating at the next table. Though indirectly, we were able to get him to answer the two questions Gerard assigned to us.

1. How do they distinguish between being 'poor' and 'not poor'? With this one we'd like to see what sort of objective or subjective criteria they use, for example: having enough food to eat, having access to certain services, having certain possessions, etc.
- He jokingly said that if you're rich, we could buy his dinner for him. With further interigation, we were able to get a real answer from him. As far as an objective view of wealth, the man took a very pragmatic materialist approach. He said there is nothing subjective about economic wealth. However, he said that spiritually, one can be wealthy without material goods. He said that his country may not be rich materially, it is rich in other ways.

2. In the last ten years, has the gap between rich and poor increased or decreased? What specific signs have led them to this decision? Do they think that the current gap is too little, about right, too large? What will happen to the gap in the next ten years?
- The man said that in the last 5 years, the price of his phơ has doubled. He expects it to increase at a steady rate into the future. He said the gap between the rich and the poor will close for business owners and Vietnam will be continually better off. I felt that if I had asked him about the peasantry, he would have responded that they were a negative backwards force in the Vietnamese economy.

Paraphrased Transcript

Subjective:
There is nothing subjective about being poor; you are either able to buy what you want or you aren't. I believe most Vietnamese are rich with life and happiness. Satisfied with simplicity.
Objective:
If you are not poor, you can buy my food, haha. The poor people that I have seen are more mobile, walking around selling hoa qua or do choi instead of setting up a shop like my family's shop here.

10 Years yonder:
10 years ago we were selling pho for half of what we sell it now (15,000 today). Thanh xuan is still poorer than most areas in Ha Noi, like pho co, where they sell pho for 20,000. 10 years from now, I think prices around Ha Noi will be more similar ,around 50,000, but there will be more competition in the area. We will probably have to renovate our shop to compete with the newer establishments. I think business owners like my family will be better off and the Vietnamese people will be more wealthy in general.

Week 4 Assignment: Freewrite

This last weekend was very memorable for me. Due to Vietnamese Independence Day, we had four days off from school. While many UC students chose to take trips out of Hanoi, I wanted to spend the holiday in the nation’s capital city. As an advocate of national liberation movements and proletarian revolutions, Independence Day in Vietnam means a lot to me. The glorious triumph of the Vietnamese people over the French colonialists is a source of joy for me. The bus on the ride downtown was absolutely packed. Jesse and I talked about politics, history, and philosophy as we made our way to the city’s central area to see the fireworks. The bus let everybody off a few blocks from Hồ Hoàn Kiếm, the mythical lake where one of the nation’s first independence fighters, Lê Lợi, supposedly gained the power to expel Ming Chinese troops from Vietnam and establish an independent state. I had never been in a more crowded place than during that two block walk to the lake. There were people on all sides of me. The pressure and human body heat was intense. After the fireworks show, which was impressive due to the explosion of firework shells a mere 100 feet off the ground, I again waded through a gridlock of people, motorbikes, and cars. At one point I turned around to see what was grabbing on to my shirt and saw a chain of high school girls using me as a rampart against the waves of human bodies. Eventually Jesse and I made it out of that mess, ate pho, drank orange juice, and went back to our university. It was an exciting and emotional night for me.

Friday I went to an arcade with Eliza, Peter, and a Hanu student named Dung. While Peter demonstrated that he was clearly best at arcade basketball, Eliza proved herself the most skilled at riding the mechanical bull. I discovered a racing game from on of my favorite animes, so the arcade was very worthwhile. Afterwards Dung drove us around and we ate dinner.


Saturday I went to the Museum of Ethnology with a few of my UC and Hanu friends. Learning about the many ethnic minorities in Vietnam was very interesting. The replicas inside the museum were very intriguing and I took many pictures but the main attraction was the replicas of dwellings outside. The most amazing one was the replica of a stilted house with a pointed roof several times higher than the building itself. Because I could not think of a single logical reason to do this, I couldn’t help but wonder if it was just an exaggeration meant for tourists. Nevertheless, it was fun to climb and drink tea inside. One of the most interesting building replicas was the Vietnamese longhouse. It reminded me of certain Native American longhouses, especially ones I remember seeing when living in Pennsylvania. The similarities got me to think about the kind of environmental and economic factors that would lead totally different societies to construct almost identical dwellings. The trip to the museum was enlightening and fun. I will definitely be back.


Sunday we went to ceramic village. I was disappointed in the tourist-oriented structure of the so-called “village”. Though attempting to make my own ceramic bowl with Dung was fun, it felt more like Disneyland than traditional Vietnam. In any case, I was happy because I purchased several items as the village’s market for decent prices.

All things considered, this last weekend was well-spent and just as fun as the previous, more stimulus-driven, weekends. I do regret not being able to see my language buddy, but she had to go back to her hometown for the weekend to see her family.