Hungry ghosts and the emerald island

Yesterday we went to see the National Museum of Vietnamese History. The building itself was an elegant, ochre-coloured structure completed in 1932 by the French, and incorporated a blend of Chinese and French design elements. Some of the museum covered ancient history but we went through the recent history exhibits which described the French colonial period, and the wars and insurrections with the French, Japanese, French again, and Americans. The exhibit had a large collection of artifacts over this period, including the flight jacket from a U.S. F-4 pilot named Colonel Norman Cagadixo who was captured when his fighter jet was shot down on May 12th, 1967. I found this disturbing and tried looking him up on-line to see what happened to him, but I couldn't find any information.

The Vietnamese people I've interacted with fall into three groups so far - people beeping at me to get out the way or at least not veer into their vehicle, hawkers trying to sell me something which I don't want, and a number of some female staff at hotels and restaurants who speak English very well and who are very friendly and helpful. I don't know if it's the culture or just good business acumen - probably both - but we've had a number of friendly encounters which have made for a pleasant time. They are often particularly interested in John and Elizabeth, and seem to really love their hair.

We've seen a lot of burning of paper in the streets the last couple of days. I thought this was just mad, considering how smoggy and hot the city is, and considering what a hazard this practise must be to people and property with all the floating embers flying about. I learned this is not an everyday event but is instead part of an annual Buddhist "hungry ghost" ceremony to feed and care for ancestors by providing them with paper forms of necessities in the afterlife. Necessities include paper models of cars, houses and cell phones. I saw one person today burning money, but I'm pretty sure is was fake money.

We walked around with a guide on a food tour today, and we stopped at a half dozen places along the way to try various dishes. At one place we watched the restaurant staff cook rice paper from rice milk, which is made from cooked rice pressed through cloth. The rice milk was spread out on a hot plate and covered briefly to cook. The paper was then used to roll some spiced pork, dried fried onions and other ingredients for our dining pleasure. Very good.

Joining our tour were a couple of young women from Ireland, who were taking a year off from teaching to travel around the Pacific region. It was an enjoyable day talking and eating with the guide and people from Ireland. The kids were interested in Ireland and the ladys' accents. The Irish girls complained about their cool and wet weather in Ireland and we reciprocated with stories of long cold winters in Canada. Then our guide Joceline piped in to complain about the Vietnamese cool and wet season in January and February, when nothing dries out for weeks at a time. What would we talk about if we couldn't complain about the weather?

Here's a picture of paper burning in the streets.