My forelast day to explore Hanoi. If this blog comes out a little garbled it is due to the hotel manager bringing out the rice wine, 45% alcohol. It tastes like Pear Schnapps. I am with two German couples. One from Muenster/Wahrendorf, the wife is from Gothenburg. So, similar to my twin brother who is married to a Swedish woman from Malmoe. And just to make the world even samller, the other couple is from near Hamburg and she used to be involved in politics in the town my twin brother lives, Reinbek. Margarite Hoffmann, Stadsraeter fuer die Gruene. And she knows Kueckallee where my brother lives. My first stop, on the bicycle, was the Temple of Literature ( Van Mieu ), dedicated to Confucius, was founded in 1070 by Emperor Ly Thanh Tong. In 1076, Vietnam’s first university was established here to educate Vietnam’s administrative and warriors class. Parts of the university date from this earlier time period although the large complex has undergone many changes over the centuries. But recent archaeological study indicates that the architecture of this site belongs primarily to the Ly (1010-1225) and Tran (1225-1400) Dynasties. The complex is in a tranquil park-like site in the heart of central Hanoi. The most important artefacts in the temple are the ‘stelae’ , stone tortoise pedestals, which list the names and birthplaces of scholars who recieved doctorates.
Here is what I found on the internet on the oldest universities: By continent, the oldest universities are headed up by the University of Nanjing, in China, founded around 258 BCE. It was only formally termed a “university” in 1888, but it has offered education to Chinese without the issuance of formal degrees for centuries. Next, representing Africa, is the University of Al Karaouine in Fez, Morocco, founded in 859, followed by the University of Bologna in Bologna, Italy, founded in 1088 by students who recruited instructors. Next stop the “Hanoi Hilton”, or Hoa Lo Prison. This is were a few hundred American pilots had free Hanoi lodging in the seventies. The best known of them senator John McCain, he was plucked outof the lake I showed on the web site yesterday, Truc Bach Lake. The third sight was the Quan Su Pagoda. Quan Su is one of the most important temples in Vietnam. Constructed in the 15th century along with a small house for visiting Buddhist ambassadors, in 1934 it became the headquarters of the Tonkin Buddhist Association and today it is headquarters for the Vietnam Central Buddhist Congregation.

After our Botoms up “Gian Van Chian!??” with the two German couples I ended up going for dinner with my three new French friends, Maud, Martine and her daughter Caroline, all three from La Rochelle. And a Bearnaise, Lea. Maud was born in Vietnam, and repatriated with her French father and Vietnamese mother to France when she was 5 years old.