Vietnam: Day 2

Itinerary:
Day 2 (Monday, Jan 5, 09): Hanoi (B,D,G)
This morning, we visit the Vietnam National University, Film studies department to attend a class day.
In the afternoon, we call in at the excellent Ethnology Museum for an overview of Vietnam's 54 distinct ethnic groups in anticipation of our trip to Sapa. Later, we have tickets for a performance of traditional Water Pupperty, an art form unique to northern Vietnam, and a light-hearted introduction to its rural culture. In the evening, we have a 'Welcome' dinner at a restaurant in a restroed French colonial building. We'll spend the night in Hanoi.
Art 487: Vietnam Location Photograph, 3 credits;
Art 382: Alternative Photographic Process, 3 credits.
Syllabus and Topics

Journal:
5 Jan 2009 9:59am Hanoi
On the bus, en route to VNU. Amazing, fasinating city. Transportation here is brillant-everyone is on motorbike, moving, flowing, dodgeing around each other, cars, our bus, pedestrains. The amount of items people stack on these things is amazing. Crates of alcohol, water, juges, produce, bages and bags and bags. All the shops are pratically outdoors. People sit outside, on stools, on sidwalks, eating breakfast. Everyone seems very open and relazed in their enviornments. I'm realizing that you can strap anything to a bicycle and still be able to travel and maintain balance. Traffic flows wonderfully; cars motorbikes, buses, bicycles. It makes the street feel so alive and organic. Another note: its about 65 degrees Farhenhit here and the locals are in winter wear.

Looking back:
That was a pretty cool day. The VNU students were great. The class meeting was ify, as P cut most of my work out of the slide show and they all looked like shit. Wilson, the students' prof, also called a girl out for being in the class when she wasn't even taking the class. It was pretty serious. We ate Pho for the first time of many and the students taught us how to eat. Wilson also tried convincing me to get an internship in New York doing film or something. We didn't go to the museum because it was closed, so we had a cyclo ride instead. That was really cool because we got to be in the middle of traffic and still be able to safely (mostly safely) shoot it. We were all still really tired and many of us almost feel asleep during the water puppet show.
That night we recieved a lot of suprise information about our travels for that next 7 days. Really, I was supposed to bring a smaller duffel bag? Well, these trash bags will have to do. And there seemed to be a serious lack in those who were supposed to have the info having no clue as to what we going on. Suspicions begin to grow starting....now!

Random shot of the day: Hanoi. And check out that totally safe telephone pole and all those wires.










Good shot of the day: Hanoi street, random hip shooting with auto focus. People eating lunch on the street.