Europe and America always become first choices when selecting a destination to travel and holiday.
This, we believed, was a colonized-mindset, so weconsciously decided that Asia and Africa would be the places we would coverfirst. It was tough choosing a second destination after Xi’an in China.Kampuchea, Istanbul, Capetown, and Nairobi the choices were many. We finallysettled on Vietnam.
Vietnam is very much a nation in the making, still recoveringfrom the historic war against America whose vestiges blunt as well as heightenthe pathos of its present. Hanoi is beautiful and well laid out, the old Frenchquarter has derelict buildings paintedonce a sunny yellow but now faded broken and grim awaiting a restorationproject. The streets are busy with people cooking or squatting. And in suchsurroundings you are quite taken aback because there are absolutely no flies.
The Hanoi Museum of Fine Arts, with three floors and morethan 2,000 objects art close to the city centre has some insightful paintingshighly reminiscent of the positivist communist era: women harvesting, fieldsladen with crops and other visual slogans of the communist past loom large onthe canvases on display. It needs a modern touch. But for a country that had toadapt to guerilla warfare to fight a world superpower and triumph indeliblescars on its psyche, the negligible importance given to art is understandable.Either its museum dioramas express the pain and the triumph of war or depict apre-war colonial past, or emphasise the world war experiences of the Vietnameseprisoners.
The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum is another major attraction. Itwas constructed from materials gathered from all over Vietnam between 1973 and1975. In a glass sarcophagus is the frail, embalmed body of Ho Chi Minh, thenation’s hero and father figure. Visitors hang on around his memorial to seethe change of guards as they would Trafalgar Square in London. In the Ho ChiMinh Museum people take photographs with his life-size statue in the backdroplike a benign God or pose with their fingers intertwined in his sculpture.
The War Remnants Museum decidedly the most popular museum inHanoi has exhibits that display a nation’s history as victims of war. The exhibitsdemonstrate the effects of Agent Orange and Napalm and heighten the pathos ofan unequal war that blighted generations yet did not kill their spirit. The oldwar tanks in the entrance area stand mute testimony to the past. It was mysaddest visit to a museum, equal to the Nazi Holocaust museum in Washington DC.
Early next morning the coach drove through the countryside,dropping us off at the jetty from where twelve seater boat ferried us onto abigger ship anchored in deep sea. Thus began our experience of Ha Long Bay andwould last till the next evening. Ha Long Bay is an estuarine wonder of theworld and a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site (1994). This natural Heritageprovided the ultimate aesthetic experience. Folklore encapsulated the historyof its landscape and its name. It was believed that Vietnam had started todevelop into a country invaders threatened on all fronts forcing the gods tosend a family of jewel and jade spitting dragons as protectors. These jewelsturned into the islands and islets creating a barricade against theinvaders. Rock mountains sprung abruptlyin the sea grounding invading ships. After winning the battle, the dragonsdecided to live in this bay.
As the night darkens the huge limestone shapes that thrustout from the water loom larger and become menacing. The cabin a nice was one atthe farthest end of the ship whose L shaped window allows you to squat on thebunk bed and look out for the peaceful dragons hiding behind the protrusions inthe water.
Savia Viegas is an art historian writer andartist. Her recent novel ‘Let me tellyou about Quinta’ has been published by Penguin India
