After arriving at 11 pm, driving to the hotel to be told there wasn't room for all of us, and then having to walk 20 minutes down the road to another hotel, we finally were in Hanoi!
We classically woke up early and headed through the streets of Hanoi. On our first morning, we met a man named Mark Ashwill. Mr. Ashwill is the co-founder of Capstone Vietnam among many other things. We had a discussion about many different aspects of Vietnam, and talked a lot about his journalism and papers he has written in his life about many controversial topics. He really engaged us because a lot of it was centered around things we are all interested in. I was really captured by his view of the War, along with the books he recommended to us. He told us of the book titled Kill Anything That Moves, which is an extremely controversial book that reveals the horrors of the war in a way that explains parts of the war that many Americans did not want to know about. I haven't started reading it yet, but my friend just finished it and said it was extremely difficult to get through. I’m looking forward to reading it but I am not looking forward to being further exposed to the horrors of the war.
Another book that he recommended to us which I actually started a few days before we met him was a book called The Sympathizer. Though I am only one hundred pages in, I am already deep in it. Its not the actual story that I think that I am in love with, though a story about a communist spy in America is extremely fascinating. It is the language in which the author speaks that really pulls me in further. It actually gives me shivers when the author, Viet Thanh Nguyen writes. When he says things like, “As the debacle unfolded, calcium and lime deposits of memory from the last days of the damned republic encrusted themselves in the pipes of my brain.” The way he speaks is just astounding. The Sympathizer is fantastic that I think anyone who is interested in the War should read.
The morning with Mr. Ashwill was pretty inspiring. He has such passion for both the world and Vietnam. The pieces he has written are incredible. I will attach some of them to this post because I think his words are provocative and inspiring, and he is someone I hope to be like when I am older; he is so passionate about his work.
The next few days were filled with exploring different parts of Hanoi. It is a beautiful city that is vastly different than Ho Chi Minh City. I expected the people to be colder and for it to be more traditional, but I was only correct about the latter. Hanoi is an extremely warm city with its people passionate about Vietnamese culture and heritage. It is, however, much older than Ho Chi Minh City, so it is much more traditional. More people wear traditional clothing, the stores and restaurants and bars close at around 10:30, and there is much more architecture that reveals Vietnamese history. It is beautiful and a place I am so excited to explore more of as I spend my remaining time in my program here. One thing we did that was very interesting was see a water puppet show. If you dont know what it is, please look it up because it is one of the most befuddling things I have ever seen. The vietnamese people are such talented performers, and seeing this show left me in awe. I had no idea how any of these puppets were on water dancing and holding flames and fireworks and such and spent most of the time trying to figure it out, but then ultimately had to (embarrassingly so) google, "how the heck to water puppets work" only to figure out there are people behind a curtain with really long poles. It was a really fascinating and cool experience.
The next few days we are going to travel to Sa Pa and Halong Bay, so stay tuned!