Silk Village

On Sudnay, Aug. 25, I went to the Silk Village, now part of Ha Noi. I went with another volunteer, Marilyn, and two Vietnamese students who volunteered to show us around. We took a taxi to the village, then just walked around. We stopped to see the silk being woven a mechanized looms. The sound was horrendous. Everyone must be deaf. Then we walked down the street, stopping in shops to look at merchandise made form silk, or silk material. The silk is very beautiful. I ended up getting myself a gorgeous pashmina in a red pattern (a suggestion of FAith's). I also picked up a silk sleeping bag for those trips I am planning to take.

Perfume Pagoda

On Friday I took a tour to the Perfume Pagoda in an a/c minibus with 10 others. We drove outside Hanoi for 2 hours, then we got into these very tiny flat bottomed canoe type boats. We were 4 tourists and a woman rower per boat. We did this for an hour down this lazy river. I thought of Faith!!
It was very hot, and I had forgotten to bring my umbrella. Once we stopped we had to take a gondola to the top of the mountain, climb up and down stairs into the pagoda which was in a limestone cave. The pagodas have figures of people, I'm not sure who they are. We did not get a good translation. Vietnamese people go to Perfume Pagoda and pray for a "son". It is very busy at Tet, but there weren't many people when we went.
Then I walked down with 2 guys from Australia. I think we all lost 5 lbs from sweating. We then had lunch. This consisted of rice, fish, beef with vegetables, springrolls and mystery dish. It gets put in front of you, and you take how much you want. The meal finished with a tiny banana.
After lunch we went to another pagoda, This was a more traditional pagoda in that it was in a building with the sloping roof, dragons on top, and many different shrines/alters to the Buddha or whoever. In this pagoda, they had a sign to cover up and not take pictures. There was a priest to make sure people did. You also had to take your shoes off before you go in.

then got back into the boat, and back to Hanoi. The trip back to town was interesting. I saw them building a road by hand except for the rock crusher. Can't image how long that would take.

Hanoi, Aug 19, 2008

After a smooth flight, I arrived in Hanoi early on the Tuesday. A lovely driver from Wusc picked me up and drove me to my hotel. The traffic was incredible. I saw lots of cars, motorcyles, bicycle dancing together on the streets. There was a rhythm to the traffic, as vehicles drove on any side of the road, around each other, past each other, came in from off streets. Needless to say the road rules are not the same here, but it seems to work wonderfully. My hotel is a budget one in the Old Quarter, small but adequate with a bathroom and shower. I have walked around the area trying to figure out where I am. John, a fellow volunteer, showed me a few places to eat, supermarket, bank machine and some coffee shops along Hoan Kiem Lake. The streets are named for the stuff they sell, so I am on Hang Bac which has all the jewellry, while others may sell shoes, or sports wear. I stopped at one of these to pick up a yoga mat and feel like I am doing hot yoga!!