Dust

We started at the home of an American ex-pat who showed us around her house and art collection. Both were exquisite.

Boarded the bus for a temple in the countryside with a stop to visit another artist. Our last stop was to a temporary installation by a contemporary Vietnamese artist. Her exhibit was a collection of dust--sounds a bit suspect, I know, but her concept was about memory as she collected dust from her childhood home and school. They had both been razed for new building projects.

She wrote a moving poem about the dust she had collected that resonated with the group. The traffic and pollution is overwhelming. Plus the noise. Cars, buses, motorbikes are all beeping at each other and at pedestrians and bicyclists. The cacophony is extreme and wears you down.

The photos are the ex-pat's home nd the countryside. Tonics against the dust and noise.

Art and more art

Started with a trip to the National Fine Arts Museum with its collection of lacquer paintings and paintings on silk. Fine examples of both. Then on to the
contemporary arts center to meet printmakers studying with a Boston printmaker. The workshop participants were professors at the local fine arts university who produced strong work, especially for first time lithographers. The instructor, Carolyn Muscat, received the Medal of Art from the Vietnamese government. We were there to watch the ceremony. Many speeches first in Vietnamese and then translated into English. And, of course, the government official was late, the speeches droned on, more small talk before we could leave...Long cab ride at rush hour. We split up into 3 cabs and we reported 3 different fares back to our hotel.

The highlight of the day was a visit to the studio of Le Quoc Viet. He generously shared his work with us and it was terrific.

The Tet new year is at the end of January so every one is getting ready. Shops are all lit up for the occasion.

Tuesday, Jan, 10. Travel Day

We left Hue for Hanoi on an early morning flight, arriving about 10:00. Our day was busy, some shopping, walking around our hotel in an area called the 36 streets. It is an old craft and guild district, each of the 36 streets was dedicated to a single craft. Today it retains some of the old devisions, but not as strickly.

Our evening entertainment was a water puppet performance. It is a traditional form of puppetry originating in the rural, rice growing areas. It is performed in chest deep water which hides the puppeteers and the poles that control the puppets. I didn't get any good photos of the performance but there are some videos on you tube that you can watch to get an idea.

Monday on the Perfume River

The Perfume River runs through Hue. We took a dragon boat up river towards Laos to visit the Celestial Lady Pagoda. The roads are really bad so the boat was our best transportation option. This temple's claim to fame is the monk who traveled to Saigon in a1963 and burnt himself to death in protest of the repressive South Vietnamese regime. They have the car he drove and a photo of the monk on fire at the temple.

We traveled further up river where we were picked up by motorbikes and driven to tombs of two Vietnamese emperors. Buses carried us to Thich Nhat Hanh's temple near Hue. He was exiled from Vietnam after the war and has only been allowed back into the country recently.

Sunday in Hue

A visit to a contemporary art space and talk with the artists, twin brothers Le Ngoc Thanh and Le Duc Hai. They did an installation about the starvation of 2 million Vietnamese after WWII. (see photo) There were 1945 lacquered rice bowls with chop sticks.

Got on pedi-cabs to the next stop, another lacquer artist who has just completed a huge 5 panel painting.

Here is a pic of me in my cab, plus one of another member of the group.

Saturday in Hue

Our first stop was the Citadel, the imperial palace from 1802-1945. Mostly destroyed in the war, it has been slowly restored. There is still a lot of work to do. It is supposed to be modeled on the Forbidden City in China, but on much smaller scale. (See photo)

We visited a historian at his home, had tea with him while he told us more about the history of Hue and Vietman. It is the custom to share tea when visiting, even with a group of 14. His home had been a temple and he explained the feng shui of the siting of his home and of the Citadel. One of the better descriptions I have heard of the concepts of feng shui.

After another Vietnamese lunch w ent to the market. I thought the market in HCMC was claustrophobic, but this one out did it. I had to get out of there! Narrow aisles, people pushing, vendors luring--more "Madame, madame..."

It was good to get back to the quit of our hotel (view from our room attahed)

Friday, Jan 6

Traveled by plane to Danang, viewed the Museum of Cham Culture and then went by bus to My Son, Vietnam's most important Cham monument. Crumbling ruins, jungle, mountains-all very atmospheric. Built in the 4th century and bombed in the 20th, it has been nearly covered by vegetation.

The Cham civilization preceded the Vietnamese in the central and south but were fully taken over by them by the early 19th century.

A long bus ride delivered us to Hue in the early evening.

Thursday in HCMC

We started the day with a tour of the Fine Arts University--the painting studios and the lacquer painting studio. The lacquer painting technique is laborious and time consuming. It involves preparing the board with layers of lacquer and silk and then several layers of lacquer that may have eggshell, mother of pearl, gold or silver leaf and pigment added. (see an example below)

Then to a couple of galleries, one of which served us lunch. Back to the hotel to regroup and relax before tackling the market for some cinnamon. The market is huge and when you step inside be ready to be accosted. "Madame, you want t-shirt?"; "Madame, see my watches".

Wednesday in HCMC

A day of art starting with the Fine Arts Museum. It has some of the best examples of Vietnamese lacquer painting. Contemporary art galleries followed. The directors of the galleries were forthcoming about the challenges of running contemporary art spaces in a communist country. With all the hustle and commerce of HCMC it is easy to forget that Vietnam is communist.

We had a great lunch that featured stuffed pumpkin flowers and steamed morning glory stems. Both were very tasty.

Cao Dai Temple and Cu Chi Tunnels

Day 2, Tuesday, January 3.

We were bussed out of town to the Cao Dai Temple and watched a service with a procession of monks and chanting. It is an inclusive religion incorporation several faiths. The temple was colorful and the service interesting,

The second stop was to the Cu Chi tunnels. This is the complex of tunnels the Viet Cong built during the 'American War'. It's all in your perspective...

We were able to go down into the tunnels and were guided through a portion of the vast network used during the war. It was an interesting experience to hear about our Vietnam War from the other side.