Itinerary and Travel Journal

Picasa (Google) Album--Fixed

2008-04-21T14:27:47Z

I just realized I never posted my album of photos! Here it is.

Final Post

2007-03-19T13:29:58Z

Joe and I arrived back at Logan last night (Sunday night), more-or-less as scheduled.

I'll separately publish a link to a Picasa (Goggle) Web Album of photos. I'll also offer one or two lunch-time talks/picture shows about the trip.

Thanks to
* the wonderful staff of the Spring Hotel in Hanoi, and
* the great team at the Biomedical Libraries for their support of the visit.

Stay tuned!

Traffic

2007-03-19T13:24:17Z

Here a some movies of Hanoi traffic. These are .avi files and should open in Windows with either Media Player or QuickTime Player.

Keep in mind these were shot on a Saturday afternoon--multiply them by ten for the rush-hour reality.

Movie 1

Movie 2

Thursday, March 15: Final Dinner

2007-03-19T13:01:28Z

Thursday night, we--Dartmouth--threw a dinner to thank everyone--particularly our Vietnamese partners--for the successes of the two-week trip.

I made good progress with the library and information resources and services component of the project--I'll report separately, including on this site, about that.

The plastic and reconstructive, and craniofacial surgical teams did a total of more than twenty cases during their part of the trip (the second week).

Final dinner

Pagoda

2007-03-19T12:43:09Z

Turns out there is a centuries-old pagoda buried in the center of the block, behind the hotel where we stayed. Dr. Lily brought Joe and I to see it one evening.

Hanoi pagoda

Tourism

2007-03-17T23:24:24Z

Tourism is poised to be a major industry for Vietnam. There are offices all over Hanoi offering tour packages--some with very interesting itineraries.

Some adventure!

Thursday: Presentation about RICE

2007-03-17T22:10:21Z

Thursday, Joe and I presented to NHP's medical staff about the RICE project component of the visit--"Transforming Health Care in Vietnam." See http://www.william-garrity.com/goals-and-program/ and, especially, http://www.william-garrity.com/get-a-file-vietnam/ for a copy of the presentation itself. The physicians seemed to validate the project's intent and design.

RICE presentation

Joe presenting

Can you spot the visiting student from Ireland?

Friday: Old Quarter

2007-03-16T16:05:19Z

I walked around the Old quarter today. Under French rule, as an administrative center for the French colony of Indochina, Hanoi was built with French colonial architecture style.

Old quarter--this is a moto park

It's, like, valet parking: you pull in, give the guy some money, he gives you a ticket, and he marks the moto's seat with chalk.

Old quarter--a huge tree

Old quarter

The utility poles! They're festooned with hundreds of power and other utility lines--I don't know how anyone makes any sense of it all. I think whenever something breaks, they just string new cable, and leave the old there.

Old quarter--utility pole

Each street in the Old quarter has its own specialty. Here are a couple of shops on "candy and snack food" street. All the shops are for the Vietnamese for their every-day needs; they're not catering to tourists, necessarily.

Old quarter--candy stores

Old quarter--tin and sheet metal

Old quarter--jewelry stores

Old quarter--mother and child

And then I see this caravan of tourists--Germans, probably--coming down the street, each in their own little pedal cart.

Old quarter--tourists

Friday: Dinner with Dr. Lily and Her Mother-in-law

2007-03-16T15:54:57Z

Joe and I had dinner Friday night with Dr. Lily, her mother-in-law, and a friend of the mother-in-law. The mother-in-law lives in the Old Quarter, in an apartment in the family's stately, original home.

Dr. Lily's mother-in-law, her friend, and Joe

The mother-in-law is something close to 80 years-old and experienced the whole of Vietnam's recent history. She (and her friend) told us stories for hours about their lives before, during, and after the Vietnamese independence movement, including life during the French colonial area, the war, and afterwards. The mother-in-law's husband--Dr. Lily's father-in-law--became well established in Vietnam during the movement and afterwards.

Here's a photo of Ho Chi Minh--"Uncle Ho" to the Vietnamese--with people including the father-in-law.

Ho Chi Minh

Uncle Ho gave the father the shirt the mother-in-law is holding

Ho Chi Minh, of course, led the independence movement beginning in 1941, established the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945, and defeated the French. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ho_Chi_Minh.

A couple more photos of the ladies.

The ladies and gentlemen...

... and the family cat!

Friday: Markets

2007-03-16T15:44:19Z

I took Friday off. One thing I did was tour the markets. They present the most stupendous array of fresh food imaginable--vegetables, fruits, grains, fish, poultry, shellfish, beef, and things I couldn't come close to identifying. Much of the fish and poultry are for sale alive, and killed at the point of sale. Nonetheless--or because of the general sanitary conditions--we were warned to be careful what we buy.

See the photos below.

Hanoi market

Hanoi market--vegetables

Hanoi market

Hanoi market--meat is left out in the open

Hanoi market

Hanoi market--vegetables

Hanoi market--fish

Hanoi market--that's a *small* catfish in the center

Hanoi market--live, writhing eels

Hanoi market--more eels

Hanoi market--live frogs for sale