Hanoi, Oct 6,7,8

The Women’s Museum had an exhibit of costumes worn by people practicing a kind of performance art in which they channel the spirits of aspects of the Mother Goddess, who (according to the caption on the exhibit) has four embodiments and a cast of characters including mandarins, princes, princesses and a domestic servant or page (his costume is the first on the left). People dress themselves in these costumes and perform dances that interpret the spirit, and they distribute “benefits’ which can be money, lottery tickets, fruit, etc. The audience gathers — according to a video of one such event, it’s a small room in a temple or even someone’s house — and it goes on for 6-8 hours, after which participants feel refreshed and relaxed. A small industry employing 3,000 people makes these costumes.

On Friday we went with the Hanoi Bike Collective folks out some 20-25 K to the NW of Hanoi, through the flower villages and a lot of other small towns, to the village of Chu Thay where there is the Thay pagoda, up on the steep mountain above this lake. The very top is crowned with terraces and small temples and carvings of dragons.

We used google maps “walking route” to set out going back to Hanoi, and found ourselves on streets like this one. That’s Dang, checking my bike. Pronounced Dzjang.

Google maps also put us onto streets like this one. I learned something about the Red River Delta mud: it is active mud that actually grabs you and sucks you down. This is Guil, owner of the bike shop, from Catalonia.

Rice noodles, drying.

More checking of bike performance issues, after we got past the mud.

Rice, not ready to harvest yet.

Saturday afternoon, following up on an email from Chuck Searcy, we found our way to a cafe over near the Opera House. It’s called the Salon Van Hoa, Ca Phe Thu Bay, 3 Pho Ngo Quyen, Ly Thai, To Hanoi tel 098 535 0598.

Upstairs is a small meeting or recital room for cultural sharing. The participants were people interested in film generally, and included some well known directors. The man with the microphone, speaking, is Duc Hoa, who was the Vietnamese partner of Lynn Novick from the Ken Burns movie. Most of the people in the room had not seen the movie, although it is apparently available on Youtube.