Dwarfs and coconuts - Merry Christmas 2008

Photo ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

This year Christmas began for me with a gang of Vietnamese dwarfs dressed up as elves and Santa's little helpers. No kidding. They had been hired by the Hotel Equatorial in Ho Chi Minh City to goof around in the lobby. The hotel receptionists and waitresses all wore little red and white mini-skirts and Santa hats and had a great time chasing the dwarfs around. The little people themselves seemed to be having a good time too, giggling and running about with high-pitched screams and kicking balls with all their might at the hotel guests. Outside in the 35° heat the city had put on it's Christmas best with lot's of colored lights and scrawny decorations. Motorcycles zipped by with their drivers hugging Christmas trees. When Christmas actually came around on Koh Chang Santa himself came striding under the coconut trees dispensing cookies and good cheer. Amazing how he gets around the planet.

Blessed, damned rain

Hoi'an, Vietnam ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

A Chinese poet, seated by a latticed garden window, might reflect upon the hypnotic quality the sound of raindrops makes upon the surface of a banana leaf, rhythmically transporting him to other worlds. In Laos Buddha statues have been created standing with their arms in a special position named "Calling for Rain". The Buddha's hands are held straight down, tightly pressed flat against his body with fingertips pointing to the ground, beseeching rain to come and help the people grow their food and survive another year. Thus the farmer considers rain a blessed thing, longed for and cherished. But too much of it can also be a curse - when it drowns fields and rots crops like the flooding that caused many problems in northern Vietnam this autumn. The tourist, on the other hand, seldom looks upon rain as anything but a bother. Something they definitely hadn't paid for when they booked their ticket (usually from very rainy countries) and an irritating annoyance put between them and unending leisurely hours in the sun - a precious luxury the tourist has come to expect and demand as his right when arriving at his (as portrayed in the travel catalogue) sunny destination. But where does the water come from that let's you take that wonderful freshwater shower in your hotel room?

Picture: The last days of the seasonal monsoon. November, Hoi'an, Vietnam. 

Vietnam FILM SUGGESTIONS

©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

When I lead a tour I often recommend movies that can be watched either before the tour or after as a way of deepening the travel experience and aiding in understanding a little more about the country, it's people and it's culture. It is also a way of extending the journey when you've returned home - the movie recapturing a mood, atmosphere or even a smell or taste sensation. 

The list below is by no means complete and I have not seen every movie so can't fully vouch for either the quality or the message sent. Vietnam is also unique in that most of the English language movies about the country deal with the Vietnam war, unfortunately tending to forget that Vietnam is first a country and a people and second the setting for two of the most horrible wars of the  20th century.  I caution readers to be prepared for some very disturbing and potentially upsetting scenes. If you have further recommendations please feel free to post any film names as a comment below. (Svenska läsare: många av dessa filmer kan lånas på biblioteken hemma och i princip alla kan köpas på webbbutiker. Fördelen med att låna filmerna i Sverige är att dem då är textade på svenska.)

Vietnamese (or foreign co-produced) movies:

Trilogy by Vietnamese director Anh Hung Tran:

The Scent of Green Papaya (Doften av grön papaya. Setting: Vietnam but filmed entirely on a soundstage in France! 1994)
Cyclo (Setting: Saigon, 1995)
Vertical Ray of the Sun (När solen står som högst, 2000, Setting: Hanoi, Halong Bay etc)

Three Seasons (1999, director: Ngoc Hiep Nguyen)

The Buffalo Boy (2004, director Minh Nguyen-Vo)

The White Silk Dress (2007, director Luu Huynh)

Oh, Saigon (2007, director Doan Hoang)

Journey from the Fall (2007, director Ham Tran)

Foreign produced movies set in Vietnam but not dealing directly with the war:

Indochine (1992, starring Catherine Deneuve, filmed partially in Halong Bay)
The Lover (Älskaren, 1992) (setting: Mekong Delta)

The Beautiful Country (2004)

Selection of foreign (non-vietnamese) movies that in some way deal with the Vietnam War:

The Green Berets (1967)
Go Tell The Spartans (1978)
Coming Home (released 1978)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Deer Hunter (1978)
Platoon (2002)
Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
Hamburger Hill (1987)
Full Metal jacket (1987)
A Bright Shining Lie (1998)
Siege of Firebase Gloria (1989)
Who'll Stop the Rain (1978)
Tigerland (2000)
84C MoPic (1989)
The fog of War (2003)
Path to War (2002)
The Quiet American (Den stillsamme amerikanaren. Setting Saigon 2002)
Hanoi Hilton (1987)
Forrest Gump (1994)
Heaven and Earth  (1993) 
Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) 
Casualties of War (1989) 
We Were Soldiers (2002)

Photo sales at CIWC Christmas Bazaar

I just came back from one month in Vietnam, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia and have a lot of catching up to do. Keep your eyes peeled the next couple of weeks to catch new photos, postings and travel info to these extremely interesting countries. I'll be writing about bamboo rats, grasshoppers and mouse deer, Buddhist caves and dancing apsaras, hidden rocks and shoals on the Mekong, sailing amongst the karst islands of Halong Bay, lingering sorrow in Cambodia and shy smiles in Laos, Laotian coffee versus Vietnamese and tropical fruits like Nipa palm, jackfruit and pink pomelo...

But first some good news: we had great success with selling photos at the Third Annual CIWC Christmas Bazaar: 32 prints sold! That means around 7,000 RMB (about 1000 USD) will be given to the two charities working with the Sichuan earthquake victims. If anyone still wants photos please feel free to continue placing orders. All money will go to the quake charities. Thanks for all the support!

Photo: An afternoon bath in the Mekong, Luang Prabang, Laos