Water Puppets (Museum of Ethnology)

Make sure and hit the HQ button at the bottom, it seems to improve the image quality.

Museum of Fine Arts--10 April 2009

This is a lovely old French Colonial building. It has a tiny collection. I went here on my own two years ago, and the highlights I remember haven't changed. Just a little sample--I think the Buddhas are my favorite.

Ha Noi Museum of Fine Arts

Museum of Ethnography-Catholics

Ethno-Christians

11 April 2009

I know I have been very remiss in updating, I'll try to do the days I missed in the next few. Today was lovely--I started off talking to Lucy online, and then got out of the hotel and walked down to get a Vietnamese donut--less sweet and oily than in the US---and some coffee. Inadvertently located the Hapro on the way, which is great--that means peanut butter! I got a taxi from there--and was temporarily halted by a funeral procession which traffic had to wind around--and went out to the Museum of Ethnology. I had heard it was incredible, and it certainly lived up to it. Viet Nam officially--yes, there is an official list--has 54 ethnic groups, and the Museum is devoted to showcasing their handicrafts, costume, rites, and buildings. It's not terribly large by American standards, but it's stunningly modern for a Vietnamese museum. The most amazing thing about it, though, are the gardens in back, which include full scale copies of significant building styles/types from various ethnic groups. I'm uploading photos as we speak. I also sat through part of a water puppet show there, which was neat, I have some video clips that I will try to post here.
One of the most fascinating exhibits at the Museum to me was one on Catholics in Vietnam. I'll upload pictures and you will see why. It's both odd and amusing to see your own cultural rituals explained ethnographically, and the Vietnamese adaptations of the religion are interesting, as well.

Museum of Ethnography Edited

It rained fairly hard for a bit in the middle of my visit, making it difficult to go out into the architecture zoo, so I went to get a bite to eat and check out the museum shop, and discovered the museum cafe is run by the same training school as the tiny little bakery/cafe I had lunch at yesterday near the Museum of Fine Arts, and the museum shop is run by the same handicrafts training school I went shopping at yesterday for presents, etc., down the street from the Museum of Fine Arts.
The replica buildings were fascinating, particularly the building techniques, which were very similar to those I am used to in New Orleans and other old buildings--in terms of joinery, etc.--but at least one building type actually strapped the roof onto the main body of the building with what looked like flexible bamboo strapping. Very practical.
Very like the rest of Hanoi, the Museum suffers from encroachment by new development--the whole garden/building zoo is hemmed in by newer townhouses and some truly large buildings are going up slap against it.
After the museum I hopped a cab to the bakery and embroidery shop run by the organization that runs the museum cafe, and picked up some baked provisions (bread) and a few really pretty embroidered things for Lucy. I think I'm going to stay in and get some work done, except for a jaunt out to the Hapro in a bit to get some peanut butter or jam or something to have with the bread for dinner.
Tomorrow I get up at oh dark thirty to catch a plane to Hue, the former royal capital under the Nguyen kings, I'll be there until Tuesday morning. It's only about an hour flight. There has apparently been an awful lot of restoration work going on there since I was here two years ago, and I'm eager to see it. I also have an appointment Monday afternoon with a man who is directing the development of a conservation master plan (architectural, historical, cultural) for the entire complex, which is a World Heritage Site, and I'm excited about that.

Will try not to let it go so long without reporting in.

Photos from wandering my first full day in Ha Noi

Ha Noi

Just in Case

Anyone is interested, this is a link to my page that includes the paper I am presenting: http://sites.google.com/site/histmapsnola/

The paper is attached on that page--look towards the bottom.

I'll try to discuss the interesting things that were discussed at the conference yesterday when I am more awake, but one of the things that really struck me as I thought about it this morning was that the Vietnamese "leaders" in the field who were on the dais yesterday were all men. This was definitely not the norm for the Western folks in the audience--although the older Vietnamese attendees were also almost entirely male--and the main representative from UNESCO is a very nice woman. I guess I'll see what the makeup of the Vietnamese presenters is today.

To Begin

I've never tried having a blog before, but I have so many thoughts going through my head this trip, I know I should write them all down. And this way, I can also share before I forget.

I got into Ha Noi yesterday, after the usual annoyingly long trip. At least there were no major snafus. The Ha Noi airport is still a tiny little place--even less traffic than the Little Rock airport, and only two baggage carousels. Oddly empty. I hadn't had much to eat on my trip--China Airlines basically offers congee or "Western" food, all of it based around scrambled eggs--so I ended up buying two unidentifiable slightly sweet roll things at the airport. Then on to my hotel, which is in the Old Quarter of Ha Noi.

The trip in was interesting--there is even more construction going on than last I was here--mostly residential--and most of it has a much more firmly French Colonial flavor than two years ago. This looks a bit odd, given that most of the houses are 4+ stories tall. Imagine incredibly narrow 50 foot high buildings in Beaux Arts or French-Tropical Revival styles. There is supposed to be a presentation on French Colonial stylistic elements in new architecture here Tuesday at the conference, which I am really looking forward to. Another interesting thing about the buildings, for any NOLA residents, is that they are built primarily of brick and lumber--mostly brick--and then stuccoed. Not quite brick between posts, but not a building method you usually see anymore in the US. I will try to get pictures of all of it.

I went down to Hoan Kiem lake yesterday, wandering about looking for coffee, and had a snack at a place on the lake edge. Then I located the closest little supermarket/department store and got water, a baguette, and a block of "strong and bitey" cheddar, as well as some sundries. On the walk back I noticed how much newer construction there is in the old quarter. You don't notice it so much at the street level, but if you look up you can definitely see how many of the buildings are less than 20 years old, definitely not the traditional 2-3 Sino-Vietnamese or French-colonial style buildings. I read an article on the way here by someone in the state planning office about the importance of limiting new construction to the old building heights--that doesn't seem to have happened, and frankly I'm shocked they are letting so much new go in at all. This is really the part of Hanoi (the 36 streets) that they seem to concentrate the most of, besides the large landmarks like the (french) Hanoi Opera House, Post Office, the Old Citatdel, the Presidential Palace, etc., and I'm not sure what they're thinking. But, again, that's on the conference program. Passing by some storefront renovations yesterday I noticed a couple of places with intact encaustic floor tiles and one place with terrazzo floors, so I suppose those are older buildings at least--got me wondering how many of the newer-looking buildings are large additions to older ones. Something to keep an eye out for.

I'm struck by how chaotic all the architecture/building height, etc., seems to me, but I realized today how used I have become, particularly living in the Bywater, to the remarkable architectural coherence of New Orleans, especially below Canal.

I had a particularly surreal experience on the way to the conference hotel this morning--there were banners hung over the street and on signposts announcing the conference I am taking part in. Whatever puffed-uppedness I might have been getting was somewhat deflated by getting to the hotel and seeing the banner outside annoucing other conference there--Thai Amway!

I need to go finish my powerpoint for my presentation now, so I can turn it in to the dragon ladies at conference registration, who sent me home for it this morning.