Yesterday, Brady, a Canadian Volunteer who has been here for about 8 weeks, took us for a bit of site seeing. I cannot believe he is driving a motorbike here in this crazy traffic – I feel like calling his mother!
Brady was a great tour guide. We visited a huge catholic church in the old quarter with some fantastic art surrounding it. It was sweltering hot so Brady suggested a small coffee place that was nearby. How he remembered where it was is a miracle to me. We walked down a narrow alley that looked like something from a very bad movie and then travelled up a narrow flight of stairs that were also the stairs to small apartments where people were living. Dark and dreary with laundry on lines hanging to dry. Low and behold we made it to a quaint and authentic Vietnamese coffee shop that caters to locals. We were the only ones there and were treated to yogurt coffee and fruit juices. It was absolutely fabulous!
After a brief rest we took a cab quite a distance from Central Hanoi to the museum of Ethnology. A fascinating collection of art and everyday objects gathered from Vietnamese tribal people. There are outdoor exhibits, displays of weaving and fabric, videos depicting traditional ceremonies – totally fascinating!
Hanh our WUSC coordinator finished off the day by taking us shopping for eyeglasses. They were so cheap that Linda, Dorota and I all bought prescription glasses. They were only about $30 cdn per pair. I got prescription sun glasses and I just love them! They can be ready in as little as two hours. Amazing!
Lat night there was a typhoon. (I totally slept thru the whole thing, not unusual if you know me at all!) The street were flooded this morning so travel was a bit slow. We had to wait for the water to subside so our meetings started a bit late.
We met with Geza Radu from CIDA and another gentleman who’s name escapes me right now. Dorota, Linda and I each explained our assignments and both gentleman offered us some advice on working in Vietnam.
After that we had a delicious lunch back at the WUSC office and met with Hanh to discuss our individual projects. Everyone has a better idea of the goals and objectives for their individual projects. We leave tomorrow morning for our individual destinations. I will be in Hai Phong, delivering a series of workshops to elementary school teachers. Linda will be in Hai Duong and Dorota will remain in Hanoi.
We were getting a bit hungry so we thought we would try a very popular restaurant that is quite well know for it’s fish. We walked in and were guided upstairs. (It goes without saying that no one spoke English). After we were seated, our waiter came over and handed us a piece of laminated paper that said in English “We have only one dish:Fish. 100,000 Dong. So you guessed it, we had fish!
Off to Hai Phong tomorrow!
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