When I set my sight on the boats that lay soulfully on the seabed of Pulau Bidung years ago, I never thought I would be interested in how they were sunken. A man called Alcoh Wong, whose son I’ve come to befriend after his demise, was instrumental in detailing the lives of the VBPs – Vietnamese Boat People. I paid a tribute to him here. It would have been great to sit down & detail his experiences with the VBPs had he been alive.
Knowing the journey would have to take me to the roots first, I had to make a trip to Vietnam to soak in whatever I could. Last year in November, I booked ahead for our flights to Hanoi to spend a week discovering the political city ruled by communism. Little did I know what I was in for when we got there. The traffic had its sovereignty given to motorbikes as thousands of them preside over other vehicles. Crossing any road was a nightmare, never had I been so challenged in what seemed to be a part of life, became a kindergarten affair as I screeched across the streets. I soon learnt that you must walk slowly across and the motorbikes will avoid you.
My pivotal point was to take notes as Chien recited the history of the wars that put Vietnam regressively backward as their neighbouring country, Thailand, progressed far ahead. The tours we took to Halong Bay & Tam Coc caves, although they were no connection to what I was looking for, provided a glimpse of how life had been, were in huge vans with an ex-army tank drivers who drove as if he was still at war! Each time I looked ahead, there would be a truck/bus/tanker coming straight at us as he overtook like a mad man. Trotting off the main road to some short cut right next to some padi field was a norm by their standards and the lawlessness of their drivers put some of our Mat Rempits to shame. By the time I got to the World Heritage Site, I was disoriented and stupefied. To say the least, harrowing was an understatement but Chien seemed to have enjoyed the ride, maybe even enjoyed watching me squirm.
Taking the boat ride out, what stunned me was the view, and posing for Chien drew more than illicit attention from other shutterbugs who fired away before I made faces to express my unwillingness to be a part of someone’s accessible data in a storage hard drive. Surely coincidences are part of God’s plan when we met a couple from England who happened to be VBPs!!! Story on that later.
Back in the city, I wanted to savour everything on the streets, stopped only by his decision to eat something ‘safer.’ Sugar cane juice infused with lime was a refreshing thirst quencher as we walked the streets of Hanoi, shooting everything in sight. To astound me further, I was shouted at when my subject disapproved her picture being taken. Come to think of it, Vietnamese women are not very courteous nor timid by any standards. The war was won & fought by these deceptively, demure women too.
We watched the World Heritage Art – Water Puppet show and it was every bit thrilling for me. To see a dying art with a traditional story line enacted by puppeteers who steer the wooden puppets submerged in water from behind the panels, made it all the more appealing to my hunger for traditional arts. An orchestra of musicians playing traditional instruments akin to those found in China, was even more impressive.
As each day held different surprises, I’d detail them over the next one week, if I have internet access.
Pam, I try to link it on my Blog.