What we did: Women's Museum and trip planning
Budget: 1,200,000 Dong/$60; Spent: 816,000 Dong/$39.80
I am stunned that it's post 50. And to think we would be approaching the last 3 week leg of our trip if we hadn't decided to spend Christmas/New Years away from home. Time is flying by faster and faster for us. And we're getting more and more focused on making this experience last til the bitter end which is tentatively May now. But I guess we'll see how things go.
Happy to report it was good day for the ol' bank account. We were under budget by quite a bit. From the get go today that was our goal. Luckily breakfast is free at our guesthouse. Mind you it's only an egg and a big white bun but the coffee is unlimited. And we've bought some fruit from several street vendors to supplement it all and now it's a perfect way to start the day.
We were hoping to get up earlier than we did but the pillows at our guesthouse are a little tall for our liking so it's been kinda tough falling asleep for both of us. We ended up downstairs for breakfast at around 11:00am and did some reading, checked e-mails, read up on some current affairs like the highly anticipated release of the Hobbit and off we went.
Our book described the Women's Museum in Vietnam as "excellent... and superbly laid out... it's the memories of the wartime contributions of individual heroic women that are the most poignant. There are regular exhibitions held on topics as diverse as human trafficking and street vendors." It caught both our attention and we were looking forward to going there first today.Turned out to be an excellent experience. As you come in there's these striking photos of Vietnam's wide range of landscapes and the various tribal women that work in each respective area of Vietnam.
There were lockers in the lobby free of charge so we dropped off our bag and stopped at the change room so Jeff could put on an indigenous dress and fully immerse himself in the experience.
The museum had three floors of exhibits. There was nothing spectacular about any of it. But it was it's simplistic approach that I found most refreshing. It's selection of information and the presentation was interesting and well-written. The first portion of the museum discussed female street vendors in the cities of Vietnam. There was a video playing which was the accounts of I think 5 different women who work as street vendors and have had little choice but to leave their families and villages to go work in the city. I remember one woman who had left her husband to care for their children, only went home twice a month for 6 years. Each week she would make about $20 to send home for her family. Her day started out at 4am in the market selecting the produce for the day's sales. Afterwards she went straight to selling it on the streets. If it was a good day, she would be done by 4pm. On a bad day by 7pm. And then it would start all over the next day. She did this everyday for 2 weeks until she would go home to see her family. Her board room cost her $0.35/day. And she did all this work, all by herself with no family to go home to everyday. One woman said her husband kept telling her "it's only for another couple years until the kids are old enough. Then we can be as poor as we want". She said it made her sad her that her husband had to live a part while they were young. Big sacrifices all to give their kids a better life. And you can find these women selling fruit and other things everywhere here on the streets of Hanoi. All of them with what I'm sure are very similar backgrounds to the women we learned about in the video.
The museum went on discussing cultural and tribal customs regarding marriage, having children, and womens roles in society. I got a chance to carry a heavy basket with only my forehead. I really don't get why they would choose to use their forehead for carrying heavy items. I guess it takes the stress off your back but it really hurts your head. For the record I am carrying it the way it's supposed to be carried:
The last portion of the museum on the 3rd floor touched on the lives of heroic women in the Vietnamese military who played many key roles during wars Vietnam fought. In fact, Vietnam has a long history of strong women, many who have won medals of honour and bravery. The section mainly focused on the Northern Vietnamese generation of women who fought in the Colonial war against the French and then the Vietnam war against the United States, all of which took place between 1940-1975. It was noted that by the end this era close to a million women had volunteered to fight for Vietnam. Many of these women were leaders of their teams and there were numerous sectors of the Vietnamese military that were exclusively women! And their contributions were not just limited to nursing, sewing, and cooking, they also fought with guns, killing enemies, helping disarm bombs, and even taking down enemy planes. I had never seen anything like it. Like Jeff said, it's no wonder the US lost the war, they were fighting an entire nation of soldiers. It was really interesting to see especially because there has always been a serious lack of strong female role models in North America. Many girls grow up idolizing the Kardashians and other mindless celebrities and always trying to fit the mold. Never coming across as too strong or too sure of ourselves for fear of judgement. It gets ingrained at a young age that girls and boys need to act a certain way. So to read stories of heroic women doing the exact opposite and volunteering to fight alongside men, and being honoured for their leadership and contributions and back in the 50's and 60's, was awesome! I think too many girls grow up thinking only men can be hereos. It made me think about how lucky I was to have parents who encouraged me to play soccer. A sport that I love. And as a girl to love a sport, you sometimes need to deal with an unhealthy amount of criticism for it. It's too bad even in today's world this is all too common. But it was these kinds of women that have made ground breaking progress on gender equality and I have so much respect for them. I felt empowered seeing women not afraid to be strong and brave enough to fight. Amazing women no doubt about it.
At the very end we also came across a very moving photo that was taken after the Vietnam war ended. It was of a mother and son embracing after 7 years of separation. He had been one of 36 people condemned death. What an amazing moment to have captured:
After the museum we were starving. We found what sounded like a very cheap and tasty place to find some street food and headed there. The place is called Xoi Yen and they specialize in sticky rice topped with things like Asian sausage, gooey fried egg, and slow-cooked pork. Jeff loved it, and I thought it was pretty good. The meal only cost us $5 and it included 2 beers! Here are some pics:
On our way back a lady carrying a big heavy balance and selling mandarins stopped us to try and make a sale. Have I explained how heavy those balances are?! Jeff posted a picture of me carrying one our first day in Hanoi and let me tell you that thing is crazy heavy. Without exaggerating I seriously think I could literally only carry one for no more than a minute. That lady put it on my shoulder in the picture for 10 seconds and I seriously hurt my shoulder. They carry them around all day!! Anyways so after learning more about these street vendors, how could we say no right? We bought 1kg of mandarins for $1.50 and hopefully helped her reach her target a little sooner. We went back to the hostel to drop off some stuff and decide on a place to grab something to drink and finalize plans for Vietnam.
We headed back outside to a cafe we spotted earlier. Jeff and I shared a slice of cheesecake and a mango-banana smoothie and ended up booking a 2 night stay in Ninh Binh which is a small city of about 130,000 people and located 2 and 1/2 hours away from Hanoi. It'll be our next stop in Vietnam. Apparently there's not much to see in the city itself but tons of beautiful scenery in the surrounding areas. From there we'll head to Cat Ba Island for 5 nights and then back to Hanoi for 2 before heading to Bangkok for a night as a stop over before Delhi.
Looking forward to spending another day in Hanoi tomorrow. We love this city!
Good night,
Patty
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