More to Explore

 

We chose some more history to expose our junior missionaries to for this week's p-day: The Imperial Citadel of Thang Long. The last time we were here, it was just Allen and me, and we were caught in the rain by the end of the day. It turns out we missed a few things that time, but this time we discovered the extras.

We always begin with lunch, but the most important part of today's lunch was dessert. 

What a fun group we have! Even buying tickets at the Citadel...

The Imperial Citadel of Thang Long was built in 1010 a.d. and was originally the seat of power in Vietnam, but in 1789, that seat of power was moved to Hue, in the center of the country. And around 1885, when the French took over Thang Long--whose name was changed to Hanoi--they destroyed much of the Citadel, sadly. It now is mostly just an archeological and historical site, and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There's a lot of history associated with this place, if any of you want to learn more. 

The flag tower

This was a royal stamp. It was displayed above a mirror so you could see the underside, but it didn't show up well in a picture.

This dragon head is featured in the video above it. It was discovered as part of the archaeological dig.

This is one thing we missed last time. This is the entrance to a bomb shelter, or bunker, used during the "American War", that is, the Vietnam War. Very interesting.

This is the beautiful view from the top of another building. The grounds have trees with large yellow lotus blossoms--metal, I believe.

And the stairs were very steep...

This is another entrance to the citadel, but very old and blocked off.

This is across the street at the archaeological dig site.

This is another of the things we discovered this time. This is a part of the North Gate, which is only accessed by going outside the citadel and in again from the outside. This is up some stairs to the top of the gate; the view below is in the next picture.

This is a view of the huge entrance behind us.

And this and the next picture are of the entrance from the street.

It was another good visit to the Citadel.

Our next adventure, which couldn't include the young missionaries because the destination was slightly outside of the Zone, was a visit to Chua Thay. This was a beautiful place we had heard about from some missionaries who went there BEFORE they realized they weren't supposed to go! We invited the other senior couples to go with us on our adventure; it was about an hour from home.

Chua Thay is the name of the pagoda in this little community, but it was a complex of buildings, and then a few more pagodas on a hike up the Sai Son mountain. I say hike, but it was actually about 270 stone steps going quite steeply up the mountain and it was beautiful.

This "map" shows the lake at the bottom, and then different pagodas and caves to hike to on the mountain. We explored the large pagoda complex near the lake first, and found multiple buildings to go into, with many, many figures and statues that were very impressive.

This was a water puppet theater. We don't know if it's still in use, but it's very typical of these types of theaters we've seen around the country.

And then the stairs began which would take us up the mountain!

It gave us a great view of Hanoi off in the distance.

More and more stairs. Part way up, there was a woman who offered to be our tour guide for 200,000 dong--about $8. She was 63 years old, so I figured if she could go up and down all those stairs, then I could, too.

Behind this curtain of tree roots was a cave, and just like many caves in Vietnam, it was made into a pagoda, with shrines and displays. Our tour guide is the woman in blue.

This turtle is part of the legend where he loaned his sword to the king to defeat his enemies.

Another great view--Hanoi is 30 km away.

Back down at the lake again...  And we found a hobbit hole!

We continued to explore around the village at the bottom of the mountain and we found a few more pagodas and caves that were built up on the side of the hills.

We had to climb to them... and got another great view.

Here we are inside another cave; a few different passages led to at least 2 small shrine/pagodas.

I like this happy Buddha. He must like Coke.

And back on the ground, we found more things to look at in and around the pagodas.

It was really a beautiful place.

We had our regular activities for the week, and added a couple of walks for good measure. On Friday, we discovered an underground market. It was once above ground, but when a large building was built on that spot, the market went underground. 

It is a huge market, with lots of clothing shops, and fabric shops where you can choose your fabric and take it to the tailor next door for a custom dress or suit.

That market was a stark contrast with the shops on the street, where their wares spill out of the shops and onto the sidewalks. Every store above ground seems to bring all their belongings out during the day, and then take them inside again at night. 

Even the meat markets, which have their goods out where you can see them. I'm afraid I don't trust them when I don't know how long they've been out, but they are very interesting.

They fill the sidewalks so completely that we are often forced out into the streets to walk.

Many places do their cooking on the street for the restaurants inside. We were advised to only eat at restaurants that had at least 3 walls. We didn't understand that at first, but we do now!

And the restaurants spill out onto the sidewalks, as well. Not all of them do, but many of them. We don't usually eat at these places, but sometimes the missionaries take us to some of them. If they've eaten there safely and say it's good, we are brave and give it a shot.

We made it to the big park and lake 3 miles from home.

This is how we sometimes see advertising in Vietnam--creatively out in the open where the most people will see.

And we ended this walk at another outdoor market, or street fair?

We had a free evening, so we invited the other senior couples--all 3 other couples made it this time--out for dinner. This is only about the 2nd time we've all been out together since we came to Vietnam, not counting the trip to Danang. Other missions have lots of senior couples; we have 4 couples in Hanoi and one in Saigon, and we rarely spend time together. We will see each other at zone conferences and district meetings, but we don't often get to go have fun together. This week was unique for that.

Saturday night saw a celebration outside of our apartment building put on by the elderly association. I guess it was a chance for old people to strut their stuff.

We ended our week, the 3rd Sunday, with our regular Potluck lunch. This is always a very fun time to get together and relax and enjoy a meal together. Our branch always buys a birthday cake for all the birthdays for that month, so that's always a fun thing.

And we had a special chance to write a note--a Christmas card, actually--for 2 sisters who are serving missions in the U.K.

Dishes are always done by the young people, and by the missionaries (one current and one former) when they are near!

Speaking of young people cleaning up...  These 2 were having a great time! Allen and I joked that they're starting them young before they learn that they don't like it. But actually, I think the Vietnamese teach their children well that they are to serve others, especially the elderly. (Read: me.)

We had a good week. We try to fill our days with good things, and when we go for walks it's to be seen and maybe be remembered when people see the badge again. When we were at the park, we met a former USMC, who is going through some serious struggles. We hope he'll be willing to connect with us again and have some friends and find some purpose in life. 

We are so happy to be here; serving a mission in Vietnam is not easy, but it certainly is worth it.

Have a great week!