Pop-up Mountains and Legends
Trip Start
Jul 10, 2007
1
16
46
Trip End
Mar 11, 2008
Ha Long Bay, Vietnam
Monday, August 27, 2007
Some of the prettiest places we visited in Vietnam were often near or on the water. My favourite was in Ha Long Bay (a Unesco world Heritage Site). We went on a boat cruise and were glad that we paid for a good one. It was magical, relaxing and absolutely spectacular. The boat was a riot! We did however manage to crash into another one on our way out to sea. Again, the driving here?
We met the greatest tour guide called Viet. He was kind, with a very gentle personality and the boys loved his company... another one on my list to adopt. Viet had so many stories to tell us about the Vietnamese religions, and their folk tales. After each meal, we sat together and I wrote quickly to record his thoughts. Please take into consideration that he spoke with a heavy Vietnamese accent and that my mother tongue is French. Something could have been lost in translation...Ouen là!
In Ha Long, a mother dragon descended upon its bay to prevent the enemy from invading and to protect its people. The dragons in Ha Long have five claws and fly on the wind and the clouds but have no wings; unlike other dragons from different regions. The mother dragon brought rain and water for the survival of its people and created the Bay and allowed the mountains to rise up from the sea.
Here, the dragon is made from parts of eleven different animals. Viet could only recall of nine since this story had been told to him when he was a young boy... if you saw him, you would think he still looked too young.
According to legend, the dragon's horns come from the deer, the teeth from the tiger, the eyes from the eagle, the whiskers and skin from the carp, the hair from the lion, the claws from the phoenix, the mouth and tail from the crocodile, the feet from the turtle and the front horn from the unicorn. Dragons are a symbol of luck, protection and strength.
Another mythical, spiritual and sacred animal is the turtle. Its carapace represents the sky and its body the earth. It is the perfect symbol for balance; Yin and Yang. The turtle and the crane are good friends as one has saved the life of the other. During a flood, the crane stood on the turtle and survived, during a drought, the crane flew away by carrying the turtle elsewhere They can not survive without the other ...creating another Yin and Yang relationship. Balance is very important in the Vietnamese culture, it is seen everywhere from buildings, to religion, to medicine, to tales. It is the foundation of their entire universe.
During the evening of the cruise, we went fishing under a full moon. We did not catch anything as the sky was lit up by a beautiful round white sphere. We clearly saw the rabbit in the moon.
Hoy An
Also worth the trip there. Small streets adorned with historical homes and buildings - a lot of French influence. Best place for tailors, silk and great food!
Mui Ne
Great little beach town, friendly staff; the bartender performed magic tricks for the boys. Food was inexpensive, especially across the street from our "chalet" and the geckos very happy. Saw a very special Blue Monk.
Hanoi
An attractive and lovely city. There is about 1000 years of history here and much of the past few century old buildings are still well preserved - a lot of French is still spoken here. We met a seamstress/designer who owned her own store and who also works as a translator when dignitaries come to Vietnam. She was Jean Chretien's translator on one of his trips here as we saw on a picture on her wall. There are a lot of little lakes set inside the city. It did remind me of Paris around les Bois de Boulogne.
The restaurants cook up wonderful meals.
Comments
vietnam
Didn't Vietnam used to be a French colony? I seem to recall that some Vietnamese people I knew in Toronto spoke French and Viet. I take it this isn't still true? (Or perhaps only the well-educated speak French?) Or am I just losing my mind?