The beginning of the end

From top to bottom: Giao Xuan clam flats; view from halfway up the waterfall at the Muong village; humongous tarantula we found on our way up to Cuc Phuong's prehistoric caves.

So strange to finally be in a place and know that I’m actually going to stay there for a full month. Actually, it’s kind of scary too. I’ve officially started my ISP (independent study project) period which essentially marks the beginning of the end. I’ve decided to stay in Hanoi for the month with Sara, another girl on the program. Prior to starting this ISP period we spent about a week in Hanoi, which lucky for us coincided with some of the most ridiculous rains I’ve ever experienced. From what we heard the rains were the result of a typhoon in China, but from where we were it felt like the typhoon hit us. At the end of my post about Cambodia I mentioned how we were unable to get out of the city, but luckily the next day we were more successful and even with the couple feet of water managed to get our bus through to Giao Xuan in Nam Dinh province.

Our trip to Giao Xuan was led by the NGO (non government organization) MCD (Center for Marinelife Conservation and Community Development--so the acronym doesn’t exactly match the meaning nor am I sure that the spelling is all right...). With the delay our schedule was slightly altered, with unfortunately a lot of the background information about the NGO and their ecotourism program cut out. However, we still got to go on a bike tour and try Vietnamese style “mountain biking.” Our bikes weren’t quite up to mountain bike status and still we managed to tackle some crazy terrain, which included everything from mud puddles, sand, rocks and cow pies. We rode out to the rice fields where they were just finishing up harvesting. The land is divided into squares in this community, with each family getting a portion, making for a very aesthetically pleasing and still affective agriculture system. From there we went out to the clam flats, which made for an interesting comparison with the clam flats we saw in Long Hoa (our first excursion down in the Delta). While still operating under a cooperative system similar to Long Hoa, this area was much larger and was dotted with stilted homes for workers to stay in. Whereas before we dug up clams using our feet, this time we watched as they dug up a layer of mud, put it on a net and then hosed it down. The mud fell through the net and clams were left inside. Our last stop was to see some black faced spoonbill birds which are an endangered species.

That evening we met our homestay families. Sara D., Katie and I were all staying together in the home of the woman who is head of the community’s Peoples’ Council. She was an incredible lady and even with our poor vietnamese speaking skills we managed to have some communication and taught her how to play a couple card games. Later that night we had a cultural performance after dinner, which was interesting, but difficult to sit through since everything being said was in Vietnamese. Of course though the night wouldn’t have been complete if my group didn’t get to do their own cultural performance in which we sang “Build Me Up Buttercup” (we realized that it’s one of the only songs we all know the words to.). We also received some lessons on a dance that involved three pairs of sticks and unfortunately some rhythm, which in addition to a singing voice we realized none of us possessed. The following morning we took a boat ride around the national park, climbed another tower from which we could see the ocean and then headed back to Hanoi in fear that we wouldn’t be able to get back in the city because of flooding.

We had another free day in Hanoi and then met up with the other SIT group to go to Cuc Phuong National Park, Vietnam’s first national park. Ok now for real, it was my favorite place we’ve visited in Vietnam. The park is about three hours away from Hanoi and in the mountains of Vietnam. Covered in rainforests and known for their butterflies, the park is incredibly beautiful. We spent the afternoon with a guide hiking through some of the park where we saw the 1000 year old tree and found out that leeches really like to crawl in between your toes. By the time we finished it was pretty dark, which according to our guide was the perfect time to go see one of the park’s prehistoric caves. With some headlamps and flashlights we managed to make the climb up some not so sturdy stone steps into a cave that was originally inhabited by the Muong ethnicity. There was a run in with a humungous tarantula, but otherwise the hike was pretty nice. Vietnam has 54 ethnicities, most of which are considered a minority in the country. There was a large concentration of Muong communities in the park, many of which were moved from the core area to the buffer zone when the park was created in the mid-1990s. The following day we actually visited one of these villages where we stayed the night in a traditional stilt home. Before going to the village however, we visited the park’s primate rescue center and their turtle center. The primate rescue center was started with the help of a French organization and is supported by a variety of international organization, one of which was the Philadelphia Zoo. The center takes in primates whose lives are threatened which is often a result of their habitat being destroyed or being illegally traded for their meat. Compared to the other National Parks we’ve visited, Cuc Phuong was maintained the best and for probably the first time we saw other tourists coming to visit. This however could be attributed to its location in the north, which is more popular for tourism than South Vietnam and the fact that it is Vietnam’s first national park.

Leaving the park, we traveled about an hour away to a Muong village where we would spend the night. The Muong’s live in the mid-lands (so neither the mountains nor the valleys) and many have their home tucked into the beginnings of mountainsides. Given some free time that afternoon I hiked along a waterfall and then explore the rice fields which were arranged in a step-like pattern. Despite having powerlines throughout the village, the waterfall is actually where the community gets its energy, which is provided free of charge. That night we were welcomed into the community with a performance of traditional Muong folksongs and dances around a bonfire. After plenty of rice wine both SIT groups had their own performances before settling down in stilt houses for the night.

Once we returned to Hanoi, Sara and I said goodbye to the rest of our group who headed back down to Can Tho to begin their ISPs. I realized I haven’t talked much about my ISP. For this month I’ve decided to look at environmental perspectives presented through Vietnamese folklore. At first I had wanted to focus on folklore involving the Mekong River, but after some preliminary research I found that there was a much stronger folklore culture in north Vietnam. After struggling to find resources on general Vietnamese folklore, I’ve decided to focus on the folk culture of the Muong ethnicity. The bulk of my research will come from interviews I’ll be doing with those in the Muong communities living in Cuc Phuong National Park.

Today I met up with the other SIT group (who hasn’t started their ISP period quite yet) and went with them to Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum and the Presidential Palace. I’d never been to a mausoleum before and the whole experience was a bit eerie and definitely reminded me that I was living in a Communist country. For the mausoleum there was a strict dress code, no cameras allowed, a specific path to follow and we were asked to walk in two single file lines. Talking was prohibited and the mass number of guards there had no problem in telling you so. The body had recently been away in Russia getting work done so Ho Chi Minh looked pretty good for a man who died in 1969.

This week has been pretty slow compared to the busy schedule we’ve had with the program, so I’ve been spending my time doing some preliminary ISP research and finishing up my final for our seminar course. I have just over a month left here in Vietnam, which is really crazy, time has gone so fast and there’s still so much left to do!