Today I went on an excursion to the handicraft villages nearby Hanoi. Each one was within a half-hour drive from downtown. I had a driver and a guide as these were definitely off the beaten path.
These "villages" are really just a street or two, or perhaps a house or two, dedicated to making one type of craft. The ones that I chose to see have pretty much been replaced by factory production, so it was slim pickin's to even find someone producing the craft.
First we went to two places that produce lacquer ware. The lacquer ware production was deemed to be hazardous to your health by the government and now is produced in a factory with better controls for the toxic resin. What I saw was the finishing process, the final hand sanding. These lacquered products are all over in the shops, so the factory must be turning them out by the boxful.
I did see a 12 year old boy working with hot resin in this workshop. I asked about why he wasn't in school and it was because he might be working there part-time in the morning and going to school in the afternoon, or if his family is poor and needs him to work, he's working instead of being schooled.
We wandered around some alleys and unexpectedly came on these beautiful papier mache figures. Evidently they are for some kind of a religious celebration and are burned as part of it. You can see the bamboo frame which is flamable.
My guide was interested in temples and it seemed that each community had their own. About a dozen elderly ladies dressed in black were seated in front of a Buddah chanting to a drum. Here's their shoes outside the back door. I thought it would be disrespectful to take their picture inside the temple.
In one alley, we saw some wooden products, mainly wooden candle holders.
The silk producing area was mainly shops selling silk clothing. There is one remaining factory here, and it's looms and other equipment came from Japan. The noise was deafening, but was ignored by the workers. Those of you familiar with silkworms know that the one filament from unwinding the silkworm cocoon is not strong enough to weave. One machine was taking several silk strands and winding them together onto spools, so that they are strong enough to be woven. The looms had stiff paper punched out cards that were the program for that particular woven pattern.
There was not very much bamboo basket weaving going on, but we did see some materials and finished products. Each one of these baskets takes one man 1 and 1/2 days to finish, with the lid and coloring, a full two days handwork for one basket.
It was a search to find anyone working on conical hats, but at last we spotted two places. It is either young or older women who make these by hand, everyone else has a better paying steady job.
In one home that works on bamboo items there was a really friendly, proud older woman who had amazing all brown teeth. Notice she's keeping her mouth closed when she had her photo taken. I wished I had a Polaroid to give her to keep.
It was a fun and informative day. I think that the Vietnam tourist board could beef up these areas a little and make them destination spots for tourists. It would improve the local economy of those who participated.
What I was really interested in, but is not offered anywhere is a tour of the many factories that we passed by. Those "made in Vietnam" labels are produced right here, but the factories are not open to the public.
Merry Christmas to everyone! I'm off to Hue on Thursday.
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