by Tre O'Neil
Diary
Jan. 30 00 I'm in Hanoi every minute outside I har at least 5 honks. Almost everybody rides bicycles here! Stores and Vietnamese homes are shabby but hotels are used to Americans coming and there very clean and fancy. The Vietnamese make rice by drownding the rice paddies knee high!
Jan. 31. 00 Every minute outside I hear at least twenty honks I made two friends! I got to see Ho Chi Minh's body! I went to the old quarter of town there were these small tunnels with doors into a single room each and one family lived in each room. Everybody is getting ready for Tet. One of the things they are buying a kumquat trees they look like little orange trees. They're practically that but they're about 5 times smaller.
Tet is the lunar new year which is the real new year. They also buy peach blossom branches to celebrateTet. Each year Tet is on a different day. This year it is on Feb.5 which is my mom's birthday. I met my 2 friends hen I was going on the tour of ho chi minh (the man) complex. They were following me around and I was too shy. But then when we came to a pagoda, one of my friends was lifting weights so I did it too. Then we had a weight lifting. They speak Vietnamese so I couldn't talk to them and ask them what we were going to play.
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Hanoi
Hanoi is the capitol of Hanoi where the government is. There are also many museums and embassies from all over the world. There are many trees in this city -- it is very beautiful and unlike anything at home. It is also very cold!
Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum
The cool, cultural, political and former Capitol of French Colonial Indochine. I met these two nice soldiersoutside the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum.
Heavy Lifting
I met this boy at a pagoda near the mausoleum. He was very poor and wore only rags but was friendly and we played lifting weights.
Offering Prayer
At the One Pillar Pagoda we saw this girl praying for the new year. In her hands are burning incense which she will place into a pot in front of her as she leaves.
Kamquats
Or "quats" as they are known in Vietnam are very popular during Tet. Trees are sold everywhere. Here is a photo of a few I picked at a quat farm near Hanoi.
Kamquat Delivery
All over Hanoi we saw kamquat trees being transported by bicycle.
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