A morning conversation beside Thiền Quang Lake in central Hà Nội
The last page offered an idiosyncratic view of
Edinburgh,
here attention turns to Hà Nội. The city has a particularly humid climate which owes much to being at just above sea level, although a 100 miles (160 Km) from the sea. The low level marshy area, on which Hà Nội was founded 1,000 years ago, means it is dotted with lakes: six of major size, scores smaller, and thousands of patches of water. The mile wide Red River, with virtually no drop in height, meanders around city, in the past this seriously restricted travel to the...
...north and west. Hà Nội is so full of corners of interest that a page, such as this, seems misleading by implying that the pool of curiosity is limited. Many other pages on aspects and parts of Hà Nội are planned, and a set of pages with photographs of the
Hoàn Kiếm
area is already in place. The selection is that of a curious, and very fond, ex-pat. Photographs can never burrow into the intriguing and complex social institutions which form the basis of this ancient community; a community of extraordinary cultural richness.
Getting a myth out of the way at the top of the page: the American attack on Vietnam (the Vietnam War as we curiously call it) was very long ago, and, in the collective young mind of Vietnam, belongs to previous generations. Further it was only for a very brief period (20 years during the war) that there was an imposed division of the country into north and south. So finding traces of the war and that division is not easy. But here is the main one in Hà Nội, the remains of a B-52 bomber shot down in December 1972 and which still protrudes from Hữu Tiệp Lake, (also called Đầm Tròn Lake) along with a plaque giving the designation of 'Historical Site'.
Ex-pat bars are plentiful. My favourite, when living in the Old Town, was the Half Man Half Noodle. Dimly lit, with an engaging menu on the wall; a continuation of which is...
...shown above: 'Open Very Late!', it includes a 'B 52', and an Orgasm, both no doubt with special appeal to the older age group attracted to such places
Hồ Chí Minh is still everywhere. Literally so in this, his mausoleum, where he sits embalmed by the people that also gave us Lenin
But some want to keep him nearer their hearts
This "Fine Art Workshop" has statues from many cultures, but dominant, at the right, is a bust of President Hồ
Almost every house and office has some representation of the leader, usually in the form of a portrait
In general there are few statues of dignitaries in Hà Nội. This giant is Quang Trung one of Vietnam's outstanding strategists who was emperor of the country in the late eighteenth century. It seems to make up in bulk what Edinburgh has in profusion
Again in contrast to Edinburgh, Statues of animals are unseen. Whereas animals are common. These cocks have their bills muzzled, showing they would be fighting if allowed
And this is no composite although I myself find it hard to credit this heard on the delicately tilled pavement near the tower blocks - the shadow of my crash helmet intrudes
Caging large cats in central Hà Nội is sadly still accepted, this poor tiger is kept in the zoo in Bách Thảo Park
I am in favour of tethering cats. Here the reason is not to stop birds being eaten, but to deter would-be cat eaters
A Bear Market. This one is on Lương Văn Can - a key shopping street in the Old Quarter
Stuffed bears to manikins. An ordinary shop selling gas hobs is fronted by a gyrating saxophone playing Santa Claus. Santa was originally Dutch, Anglicised by the American theologian Moore, here with a tree from winter celebrations in Siberia - so globalisation is made patent!
From the comfort of my room window, looking down on the sales people below. Here banana sales; produce brought in each day from the country, takes over a door step, the door's owner will carefully and politely step round the produce; imagine that degree of tolerance in the UK
A tethered man works on a board six floors up. At one person for every 30 square metres (6 times the density of London), and no buildings over about 6 stories, the old town of Hà Nội is packed. New developments are crammed in, all without any 'safety-at-work' legislation
Another downward shot. The hat has a foot behind it
- the plastic containers do not
And a slip while at work in high places?
Wreaths
on sale
Fortunately Vietnamese sense of balance is...
...extraordinary - here shown in the delivery of bowls of soup
Of course it is true of most oriental countries that nothing is as it seems to western vision.
A reversed world in transit
The Hà Nội to China main line
- otherwise motorbike park
That main train line over the river
- otherwise wedding shoot set
The normal frenetic four lane Đinh Tiên Hoàng street by...
...the city's main post office being converted to gardens, with (above) the resulting show. This display
marked the beginning of the year 2010
when Hà Nội celebrated its
thousandth birthday
But this crowd, on the same street - gardens yet to come - are celebrating a different sort of history: the defeat of Thailand at football in 2009
Here are a set of the numbers that were used for that 1,000 jubilation. The city
has changed its name a couple of
times since it was founded as
Thăng Long in AD 1010
Festivities over, calm returns. These two older women, like thousands of others, are sitting outside shops and cafes minutely augmentaing their income by selling small items. The near one, hat and hair, offers cigarettes from the box on her black bag
Trailers...
The next page
of this section dwells on the strange burdens seen on motorcycles in Vietnam.
The next page
of the Mosaic Section is headed 'Stories'.
Or go to the contents Go to the contents of the Mosaic Section. of the Mosaic Section.
Images from around the city of Đà Lạt in southern Vietnam
...guide to this site