Vietnam Travelog

I have a steady freelance gig writing for My Little Swans, an online travel resource. Most of the time I write about our founder’s travels (she goes everywhere, and in high style). But sometimes I get to write about my own adventures, under my own name. I recently contributed a travelog from my highly memorable 2006 trip to Vietnam. Check it out here!

Unearthing New Theories

In the last month I’ve read two interesting articles about archaeological finds that are completely overturning long-established theories. The first, in the May issue of Smithsonian, talks about El Mirador, a massive Mayan complex in Guatemala. According to conventional belief, the Classical Mayan era began around 250 AD – the “pre-Classical” ruins at El Mirador are 1,000 years older, so would be presumably much less sophisticated. But to the surprise of the excavators, the architecture, carvings and pottery are just as advanced as any Classical site. This discovery could change the whole model of Mayan cultural and social history. The archaeologist in charge of the project, Richard Hansen, is hoping the newfound importance of the site will help protect it and the rainforest surrounding it, which is being threatened by deforestation.

The second article, in the June National Geographic, is about Gobleki Tepe in Southern Turkey. Dating back 11,600 years, this site is the oldest known temple as well as the first instance of manmade monumental architecture. The importance of the site has only been known since 1994 or so. The age and complexity of the temple is remarkable, but the really big discovery is that it was built by hunter-gatherers. This puts a new light on the conventional belief that agriculture was the first step in developing complex societies. According to the old theory, it was the ability to grow large crops that allowed nomadic societies to form permanent communities and develop new skills. Religion developed partly as a way to settle the tensions that came from living together. The Gobleki Tepe ruins suggest that social evolution happened in the opposite order – religion and settlement came first, and agriculture was developed as a way to feed the growing population. Klaus Schmidt, the archaeologist who started the excavation, thinks the site will soon be more famous than Stonehenge.

Sometimes, it seems like there is nothing new in the world to be discovered. Then, you read articles like these, and realize the world is still full of mysteries, and we can never assume we’ve got it all figured out.

Journal Diving #4

It’s time for another installment. Here goes:

After breakfast we head for the DX market. We’ve heard it’s the biggest in Hanoi – when we get there, it’s large all right. 2 stories of multicolored plastic crap. We’re pretty disappointed and done looking after about 15 minutes.

So off to the HCM [Ho Chi Minh] museum. It’s pretty surreal. There are plenty of letters, photos and quotes, but no narrative, so I still don’t really know about his life. There are a lot of symbolic exhibits: “This stylized giant brain symbolizes the cave where Ho Chi Minh hid.” “This cubist table and chairs covered with gigantic fruit symbolizes our commitment to the environment.” Huh?

It’s definitely an experience. Afterwards we wander up to West Lake and have coffee at a fun restaurant/boat overlooking the water. [Surrounded by a flock of plastic swan boats, as I recall.] Then back to the Old Quarter for an authentic lunch experience. We find a bun bo nam bo bar and sit at the long tables on narrow, tippy benches. They plop down bowls of noodles, lettuce, beef, peanuts. It’s good stuff!

This is from my November 2006 trip to northern Vietnam (Hanoi, Halong Bay, Sapa, Hoi An) and Siem Reap, Cambodia. A really wonderful trip (especially the food!).

Saving the Reputation of Preservation

Preservation of heritage sites is one of those tricky conundrums – without such efforts, important cultural and ecological sites may be lost forever, but if the restoration is done poorly, cultural and/or natural value is lost anyway. Restored sites can help the local economy by increasing tourism, but accommodating tourists too often means uprooting locals, or destroying the modern communities around the heritage site, or turning historic buildings into hotels. Tourist traffic creates its own problems, if not well-managed – countless feet walking over the site can sometimes cause more damage than leaving it alone. According to this article, China in particular has a bad reputation for turning its heritage sites into theme parks, “improving” historic buildings or replacing them with replicas. China has the most UNESCO World Heritage sites of any country, and when a site receives listed status, tourism increases exponentially. Though UNESCO mandates caps on the number of tourists to its sites, the power of the tourist dollar is trumping the UNESCO rules. That article was dated 2007, but according to this more recent Economist article, politics are still tarnishing the noble principles of UNESCO – and with 911 sites on the list, the organization doesn’t have the resources to adequately monitor them all.

So I was heartened to hear about a different approach to heritage that’s currently being used in Aleppo, Syria. This ancient city, dominated by a medieval Citadel, is the focus of a major preservation project that doesn’t just restore the historic buildings – it also offers incentives to local residents and businesses, encouraging them to stay, and confines tourist zones into two areas, anchored by beautiful new public spaces. Modern buildings aren’t destroyed, but interest-free construction loans are being offered to help ensure that renovations follow preservation guidelines. There’s a conscious effort to create a true sense of community and ownership – a shared history that’s not just focused on the ancient past. Here’s hoping other preservationists will take note.

Journal Diving #2

I’m going to make this a regular thing, if only because it’s an excuse for me to dig out the journals I haven’t looked at in a while. Here goes:

We started to walk in – a fit-looking man asked us, “Fish Market?” We said yes, he said “come on” and led us up a ramp. Motorized carts (flatbed in back, driver standing upright before a big steering wheel) buzzed around us. At the top of the ramp, the man led us – to our surprise – to one of the carts and told us to get on. Standing on the flatbed, we held onto a metal frame just behind the driver. He whizzed us along at a pretty good clip, maneuvering around other carts and small vans. Quite a ride. We passed through the main warehouse where men rushed by with styrofoam boxes of fish, and stalls were layed out in rows under a high, arched roof.

Our guide stopped at the visitors entrance to the tuna auction. We were led inside a chilly enclosure with vinyl walls – in row after row on the floor lay enormous tuna the size of seals, frozen solid.

This is our pre-dawn visit to the Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo, from my 2009 trip to Japan with my now-husband. I don’t know if it’s usual for visitors to get rides on the carts, or if we just got lucky. The market is amazing for its sheer scale, though rather disturbing from a sustainability perspective.