-Travel journal Vietnam-

The beginning. Rich life of coastal Vietnam

    One can say that Vietnamese traditional water puppetry is one of the most famous show for tourists regardless of their travel purposes. Puppeteers show various performances using puppets with the traditional music and melodies, showing lifestyle of the Vietnamese from all aspects. Audiences can see a farmer riding a buffalo, farmers who are cultivating their land, planting and cutting crops, celebrating harvest festivals, hardworking poultry farmers raising their domesticated birds, fishers in the sea, childbirth customs and death rituals in Vietnam as well as perform lifestyle of kings, aristocrats and rural areas. Generally, they perform how the coastal life goes in Vietnam through the folktales and ancient myths as if it is real.

    We watched the puppet show at the Thang Long water puppet theatre located at Dinh Tien Hoang street, nearby ancient Hoan Kiem lake, in the centre of Hanoi Capital. It is said that the water puppetry dates back to over 1000 years. It peaked in popularity from the 11^th to 12^th century. At the beginning, the water puppetry was played when prince was born. Later, it was developed as a form of traditional art.

Watching the show made me want to learn about life of the Vietnamese and their history of thousands of years.

It also made me think that the Vietnamese are so heroic people and so many notable and various events happened throughout their history. They made a rich history fighting against colony and empires, facing many natural challenges and disasters and adapting their life to those events. Therefore, the Vietnamese people created today’s developed country.

Presently, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is one of the leading countries on both regional and global levels with its development and it has population of about 95 million. The average life expectancy in Vietnam is 74 years old, retirement age is 60 for men and 55 for women. And very soon, Vietnam is going to raise the retirement age by 3 years for men and 5 years for women.

The Vietnamese men get married at the age of 30 on an average while the women at 27. Most families have two children.

AROUND HANOI CITY

    Set foot on Vietnamese soil with my back pack

At the invitation of the Vietnam News Agency, we got an opportunity to visit Vietnam on journalist exchange program. We spent 22 hours to reach Hanoi from Ulaanbaatar/ Specifically, we spent a total of seven hours in the air: flights from Ulaanbaatar to Beijing takes two hours, then from Beijing to Hanoi five hours. And the remaining whole 15 hours was spent in the waiting area of the Beijing airport.

Felt so tired due to the long hour journey, we finally landed at Noi Bai International Airport or Hanoi Airport on September 16. Senior officials of the Foreign Affairs of the VNA news agency Nguyen Cong Tam and Vu Viet Trung welcomed us at the airport. Afterwards, we  couldn’t find our luggage. It turned out our luggage addressed from Ulaanbaatar to Hanoi were left in Beijing. So, I set foot on Vietnamese soil as how I left Mongolia with my back pack. The officials who welcomed us, had registered our missing luggage at corresponding office. They said that airport employees would inform once the luggage arrive.

When we got out of the airport, it was very humid and hot outside. Since it was chilly in Ulaanbaatar, the hot weather was not too bad. We were said that it takes 40 minutes to get to a hotel from the airport. As it was early in the morning, it was not too crowded so we arrived at the hotel on schedule. Mr. Nguyen Cong Tam and Mrs. Vu Viet Trung were there with us till we checked in to the hotel.

They said, “Have a breakfast now and take a rest well. Have your lunch here as well. We will be back at 2pm and travel around Hanoi city according to the visiting program.”. The time difference between Mongolia and Vietnam is just one hour. We felt a bit nervous about our luggage and had breakfast. After resting for a while, we two had lunch a little bit earlier.

Seeing both men and women riding motorcycles everywhere in the street of Hanoi was notable. I heard that almost everyone has two motorcycles. Most of the Vietnamese now wear motorcycle helmets instead of their traditional conical hat.

About Vietnamese massage and Vietnamese national currency (Vietnamese Dong)

The two guides arrived on time then we hit the road. Although we were scheduled/ had to visit Sword Lake located in the heart of Hanoi, we stopped by a massage center. Our guides wanted us to release our fatigue with Vietnamese traditional massage and likely lift the mood of the two who lost their luggage.  Four of us entered into one room. As we entered into a room, we sat on long chairs. Then, we took off our shoes and soaked our foot in warm water, most probably with herbal decoction. Four women performed the foot massage. Soon, the men and women were separated in different rooms. The two men entered into a different room and got changed their clothes. It felt like the travel fatigue being released after the whole body massage. They also treated us with soft drinks while giving us a massage. We expressed our thanks and left the Ngoc Son temple.

Now it is high time to exchange dollars in my wallet for Vietnamese national currency.

Certainly, I would buy some souvenirs and other stuff while travelling through the streets and markets. I told the guides about it. So, they immediately took us to a currency exchange bureau. National currency of Vietnam is called Dong (VND). 500.000-Dong note is the biggest banknote. They also have notes of 200.000, 100.000, 50.000, 20.000, 10000, 5000 and 1000. Most of the notes had a portrait of Ho Chi Minh on the cover whereas historical, cultural heritage places and natural scenery are on the back side.

MNT 1 equals to VND 9. Thus, I calculated and memorized that MNT 1 equals to VND 10. If I make a purchase amounted to VND 500.000, it is MNT 50.000. While, USD 100 is around VND 2 million 330 thousand. However, it doesn’t mean the value of VND is so weak. Prices of products and services are almost the same with the ones in Mongolia and some of them are even cheaper than in Mongolia. For instance, a cup of coffee costs VND 60.000 in Vietnam while a cup of coffee is MNT 6000 at Mongolian coffee shops on an average.

History of Hoan Kiem Lake and Turtle Tower

After changing the currency, we went to historical and famous attraction named Hoan Kiem also known as Sword Lake. On Sundays, the streets around Sword lake are closed to traffic. So, foreign and domestic tourists, with families, children, relatives and friends, people from Hanoi city spend their weekends in the area. The area is so crowded and there is a lot of hustle and bustle in Sword Lake area. In the left side of the lake, there is Indira Gandhi Park in which a large Statue of Lý Thái Tổ (1009-1028) located, who was the founder of the Later Lý Dynasty. There are many restaurants, cafés, theatres and hotels in southern and northern parts of Hoan Kiem Lake. Whereas the right side is the center of market and services in which many shops and booths located. Street vendors are here and there selling water, drinks, snacks and souvenirs.

Not big in size, the Sword Lake contains an ancient stupa in the middle. It is the stupa named ‘Tortoise Stupa’ (Thap Rua). According to a legend, in the XV century, Emperor Lê Lợi was given a magic gold sword by gods and with the help of it, he defeated his enemy. When he returned homeland, a giant golden turtle came out of the lake and snatched his magic sword and swam off into the depths. The emperor considered that the god took the sword back and built a stupa, giving to the lake the name Lake of the Restored Sword.

With Mr. Tam I had an opportunity to enter the Temple of Jade Mount and took a glance at the taxidermy of the Hoan Kiem Lake turtle. Because the Temple of Jade Mount was closed due to reconstruction work and it was available to see the temple only from outside.

Afterwards, we went to a café located in northern coast of the lake and after drinking coffee and juice we watched puppetry. Not only foreigners, but also the Vietnamese people watch the play. They even buy a ticket before hours and wait staying around there.

 About Vietnamese products and cuisine

We headed out to the shops along the right side of the lake. There was a chain store for Vietnamese export products called M2. As we had no clothes other than we were wearing and we were scheduled to visit the Vietnam News Agency (VNA), having a meeting with the directors the day after. We decided to buy at least one set of clothes. We had planned on visiting the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) and having a meeting with the directors the day after. So, we bought a few items of clothing, such as shirts and pairs of pants. We were surprised to find out how cheap they were, as we could easily buy with only half of the price in Mongolia.

From exclusive products, such as liquid mint and white tiger balms to gold and silver items, artificial pearls (as natural pearls have become quite rare, we didn’t find any), silk, clothes, tea, coffee—people who come to Vietnam seems to buy a wide variety of items. We bought a few things as well.  As of 2017, Vietnam is ranked third for its textile and apparel industry, after China and India. For that reason, you could see an apparel store at every corner. All the Vietnamese products, especially the clothes seemed cheap, on top of having good quality and design. Journalist D.Sainbayar was also commenting on how reasonably priced the gold, silver items and the pearls were despite being well made.

In general, Vietnam is the place to go to do good bargaining. If I get the chance to come again, I even thought of coming back with more money, so that I can do more shopping. In a way, Hanoi is a city of trades. Most of the streets are full of shops and services. And they can even be categorized as well. For instance, one street would be full of jewelry and souvenirs and the next would be full of clothes. Shoes, books and magazines, bags and wallets—each would have its street. It’s apparent that the main source of citizens’ income comes from these markets. 

The Hanoi Night Market was bustling. Aside from all the stalls, the cafes and restaurants are also full of people. You can see people sitting on chairs on the four sides of a small table. We bought a few souvenirs and gifts for our family and children back home. As for myself, I went on to look for a unique bell, because I’m a collector. I was able to find a bell with ‘Vietnam’ written on it that had a lady holding the local conical hat.

Our guides told that we would have dinner at Vietnamese traditional food restaurant. The restaurant was also close to where we were shopping. When we entered into the restaurant, Mr. Bui Duy Trinh welcomed us. He graduated from the Moscow State University. He was one of the person who served Director-General of the MONTSAME Agency Mrs. B.Ganchimeg when she visited Vietnam last year. Besides having knowledge about Mongolia and its people, the man visited Mongolia before.

As they live along the ocean, the Vietnamese cuisine mainly consists of seafood. We had a fantastic meal, that had many types of seafood, such as fish, oyster, octopus and crab, with side dishes, that included rice, noodles, fruits and vegetables. There was nothing that we couldn’t eat. So, we did eat whatever they offered us. For drinks, we had red wine along with Vodka Hanoi that was made from rice. Perhaps, it might have been because of the French influence, but the wine tasted really great and seemed to be good quality. All the kinds of fruits and nuts…Vietnamese cuisine is definitely a carrier for one of the many incredible culture and traditions of Asia.

We received news about our “missing” luggage after the meal. Our luggage was finally found. But there was a catch. The luggage would arrive in Hanoi the day after tomorrow.

“Vietnamese style”

The next morning, Mr. Nguyen Cong Tam and Bui Duy Trinh took D.Sainbayar to a manicure salon. Then, they said they would introduce me a morning routine of the Vietnamese men in ‘Vietnamese style’.

‘Vietnamese style’ means starting the day with Vietnamese traditional coffee which has ingredients of alcohol, wine, egg and so forth. We entered one of thousands of coffee shops. It was simple and comfortable one, crowded with men having breakfast. It seems they charge themselves with energy and feel pleasure at coffee shops before starting the work.

I felt so cheerful since I got a massage yesterday and heard about the missing luggage of us. Our two guides looked at me jokingly. Then they gave me the menu and asked what coffee I would like to order.

I thought that it is inappropriate to drink strong coffee with alcohol and wine on an empty stomach plus in such hot weather. So, I ordered lighter one with egg. When I tasted my coffee, it was so sweet, soft and thick like a condensed milk. The size of the cup was not small as well. After breakfast, I took a stroll through the street and took some pictures. As I got back to the manicure salon, journalist D.Sainbayar was waiting for me, so satisfied with the manicure service she got there.

From the first day of our travel, I noticed that the Vietnamese are hardworking people who do things with sincerity and good attitude. Just a day ago, we talked about it after getting a massage.

In the late evening, we, the delegation of the MONTSAME Agency, visited the Vietnam News Agency. A group of officials headed by Deputy Director-General Le Quoc Minh welcomed us warmly and introduced the VNA operation. We had dinner with Director-General of the VNA Mr. Nguyen Duc Loi. During the dinner, we discussed relations and cooperation between our two agencies, and Mr. Nguyen Duc Loi wished us to have a wonderful travel.

Through the street of Old Hanoi with a history of 1000 years

After dinner, we took a pedicab outside of our hotel and traveled around old streets of Old Hanoi. A driver of the pedicab was a friendly guy. It looked like he already mastered how to guide tourists and introduce Hanoi city to them. While pushing the pedals, he asked where I am from?

“I am from Mongolia.” After hearing my answer, he said, “Oh… Ulaanbaatar…” and showed me thumps-up. In a little while he pointed out at front side of the road and said church…church”.  In the dark, I saw a gigantic Catholic church. I tried to memorize the location of the church, although I am not a Christian, I planned to visit the church the following morning.

A city which has history of over 1000 years, Old Hanoi was not far from the hotel where we were staying. It is one of the main tourist attractions. In Old Hanoi, one can see so many hotels, restaurants and market places. Tourists bustle in this area. Keeping characteristics of out-of-date building, they made it one of the main tourist attraction spots where tourists can spend most of their time and rest.

Next morning, I woke up early. Having breakfast, I took my camera and walked to the Catholic church that I saw the previous day. It had been raining all night in Hanoi. Luckily, it had stopped when I went to the church. It was neo-gothic style St. Joseph`s Cathedral, was built in 1886 during the French colonial rule in Vietnam.  A beautiful statue of Regina Pacis is in the front yard of St. Joseph`s Cathedral. The church opens at 8am and before leaving the church I bought a carving of Mother Mary holding her baby. The souvenir contains Vietnamese style in a way Mary holds the conical hat of Vietnam.

Symbol of Hanoi city. Temple of Literature

Hanoi city has become one of the Asian leading cities with its development and constructions of modern style offices, apartments, beautiful gardens and parks, roads and squares, which represent image of contemporary Hanoi took place within the last 50 years.

Hanoi city became one of the Asian leading cities with its development within the last 50 years. At present, Hanoi city has over 10 million population. Van Mieu or Temple of Literature is a symbol of the city. The Temple of Literature is a Temple of Confucius in Hanoi, northern Vietnam founded in the 1070s and is the first university of Vietnam.

In the old times, scholars and students used to study for the state-examination at Van Mieu. Once they passed the examination, they were promoted to imperial dignitaries. According to the rule of that time, well-educated dignitaries were able to get a promotion. So, it is sacred place and center of knowledge where many Vietnamese scholars, noblemen and wise dignitaries were trained.

As we entered through the temple gate, there was a little pool where little fishes in various colors swim in tranquility. In western side of the pool, you could see 82 turtle steles divided into two rows. on which names of successful scholars were densely written with Chinese characters. The best scholars’ names were written at the top of the steles.

Moreover, there are many interesting things kept at the Temple of Literature such as altar for Confucius, his scholars, rector of the Imperial Academy, attires of Confucius’ scholars, gold-colored porcelain turtle that is a holy deity of the temple. There is also a music hall for Orchestra. Unfortunately, we couldn’t watch the concert there.Apart from tourists, you can always find the temple busy with local students and children.Mr. Bui Duy Trinh gifted a Chinese design bell for me and explained that its meaning is to support intelligence. He also gifted one, which has a symbol of happiness to journalist D.Sainbayar.

We also watched the Vietnam National Museum of Fine Arts which located in front of the Temple of Literature. The Museum displays many rare exhibits and artifacts that relates to the lifestyle of the ancient Vietnamese such as ancient weapons made of stone, bronze and iron, cup and plate, vase and container, deities.Moreover, paintings, embroideries and sculptures that represent the modern art are on display.

After three days we finally received our missing bag from the staff of Air China at the Vietnam National Museum of Fine Arts. When I opened my luggage, a bottle of vodka was broken. Luckily, the liquid was absorbed in my clothes and didn’t damage the souvenirs.In the evening, before we headed out to Ha Long Bay, we stopped by Ho Chi Minh square having our pictures taken. We drove over the bridge built above Red river and drifted from Hanoi to Ha Long Bay.

IN HA LONG BAY

Ha Long City

It takes approximately two hours to get to Ha Long city that is a 130-km away from Hanoi. Recently, a new paved road en route Ha Long put into operation. Ha Long is the capital city of Quang Ning Province which has a population of about 230 thousand and rated as the first-class city. This city is home of Ha Long Bay, one of the most famous tourist attractions and the city also has coal reserves of Vietnam. Moreover, it is a seaport city.

Exhibits at the Quang Ninh Museum show that people began to live here from ancient times, the region is rich in sea species and minerals in addition to coal deposits. Today, construction works are still intense in Ha Long city. For instance, a giant park, new apartment blocks, hotels, market and entertainment places are being constructed.

Since Ha Long City is located in the middle of water, it is always surrounded by ferries and boats.

All tourists visit Ha Long for a short or long time regardless of their travel purposes. While smoking outside the hotel, I noticed too many tourists come and go. In connection with the constant tourism flow, Ha Long city is developing the quality of service and market. Just like Hanoi, market, trade of food and drink and amusement places are everywhere in Ha Long.  It is possible to find all kind of souvenirs made of shell and oyster, coral, pearl, jade, gold and silver as well as other items. According to the numbers, in 2017 over 10 tourists visited Vietnam, 3 million of whom travelled in Ha Long.

The tourists get onto a ship to travel between islands before noon and come back midday. In the evening, they spend time drinking beer or sipping wine and dancing at night clubs. The favorable environment for relaxation will certainly attract more tourists further.

Travelling through the land of the dragon

All of the 1969 islands located near Ha Long city are called as the Ha Long Bay, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that is one of the most popular tourist spots of Vietnam. The symbol of Ha Long Bay is the Kissing Chicken Rocks. One can really see the two rocks as a pair of kissing chickens from the north side of it. From the south, however, it looks like the two chickens are with its baby chick.

As we sailed between the beautiful green islands, I couldn’t help but think that God has truly given the Vietnamese people the beautiful nature generously. Sailing through the many different islands was a wonderful experience.

According to the legends, it is said that way back in time, a great dragon came down to the lands near the Ha Long Bay, becoming the many beautiful islands. The word ‘Ha Long’ means ‘the land of the dragon’.

While staying for 2 days at Ha Long Bay, we spent the first day exploring Ha Long city and the next day sailing along the Bay. The weather was so good, no clouds in the sky. Despite the hot sun rays, there would be wind to cool us off every now and then.

Most of the boats that take people for tours seem to be owned by families. The father would be the pilot and the mother would be the manager. The children would take care of the food and services. There are also some souvenirs that are sold on the boats. Once again, another type of livelihood, dependent on the ocean.

The ship that departed before noon arrives at the Sung Sot cave around midday. The Sung Sot cave is considered as the biggest and the most beautiful cave near the bay. The cave is divided into three parts. There is an illuminated path created for tourists, which you can follow along till you come out. Though it is very hot and humid inside the cave, it is always great to discover and learn about new things.

We then got back onto the ship to have lunch, which mainly consisted of seafood. After sailing through the many beautiful islands, we finally arrived back at the harbor at around 5 pm.

The ending of our travel in Vietnam. Thank you, friends.

The Vietnam News Agency is a government agency of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. It has more than 2500 employees, over 1200 of whom are journalists, translators and editors. Apart from their national language, the VNA provides news in English, French, Spanish and Chinese for readers and listeners, having 30 journalists overseas who are in charge of its 63 countries around the world. The National News Agency MONTSAME has been developing cooperation with the VNA since the 1960s. The two agencies renewed their cooperation agreement last year.

The MONTSAME and the VNA organize journalist exchange program every year.

This year, Deputy Director-General of the VNA Le Quoc Minh received the MONTSAME delegation at the VNA headquarters. Then, in the evening, we had friendly conversation with VNA Director-General Nguyen Duc Loi while having dinner.

Both the Director-General and Deputy Director-General of the VNA reminisced their visit in Mongolia. In particular, Mr. Nguyen Duc Loi said that he attended meeting of the Executive Board of the Organization of Asia and Pacific News Agencies (OANA), which was hosted by the MONTSAME Agency in Ulaanbaatar in 2011. Whereas, Mr.Le Quoc Minh visited Mongolia in 2016 when he took part in the 8th ASEF Editors’ Roundtable Meeting, which was organized on the sidelines of the ASEM Summit, in 2016.

The delegation of the MONTSAME Agency congratulated the authorities and employees of the VNA on hosting the OANA Executive Boards Meeting and its Technical Committee Meeting in 2019 and wished success. We also expressed our thanks to them for giving us opportunity to travel around beautiful Vietnam. The friendly relations will definitely continue.

On the last day of our travel, we checked out at the hotel around 1AM and headed out to Hanoi. After a two-hour drive, we reached to Noi Bai International Airport and checked in. Before we went to the waiting area, Mr. Nguyen Cong Tam and Bui Duy Trinh expressed their wish to see us again and sent us off with smiling faces, waving their hands.

Sh.Batbold

D.Sainbayar