Hanoi flooded in downpour

The largest and longest downpour since the early of the rainy season has flooded Hanoi this morning, July 13.

First US Ambassador recalls a much different Hanoi

VietNamNet Bridge –  “I wondered if the Vietnamese people would accept me. Would the soldiers who fought against us believe that we now wanted to shake hands and work together?”

Clinton’s daring decision

Former Ambassador Peterson and Senator John Mc Cain in Hanoi (photo Reuters).

Pete Peterson was an American congressman. Before that, he was a naval pilot who was shot down over Vietnam and incarcerated as a prisoner of war for several years. And then, in 1997, he returned to Hanoi as the first American ambassador after the US established relations with the Democratic Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

He’s back in Hanoi again, this time at the invitation of the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry to attend a seminar reviewing fifteen years of Vietnam-US relations.

VietNamNet reporter Xuan Linh made an appointment with Peterson via email. The former ambassador still stays at the Hilton Hanoi Hotel whenever he returns to Hanoi. “I don’t remember how many times I’ve stayed here now!  It seems almost like home!” he said.

On his first ‘visit,’ Peterson was a guest of the State for six and one-half years, held with other captured pilots at Hoa Lo prison in downtown Hanoi. He made a second visit in 1992. Getting here the second time, thirteen years ago, wasn’t so easy.

In the early 1990’s, Peterson was among the handful of American congressmen who campaigned for normalization with Vietnam while the US political environment was still cool to that idea.

In 1994, President Bill Clinton lifted the economic embargo against Vietnam. “That was a historic decision,” Peterson said, “and a risky one. We couldn’t be sure if the American people would accept it or not, but it was necessary to put the US-Vietnam relations on the right track.”

Would he be welcomed?

Peterson was nominated to serve as America’s first ambassador. After his appointment was approved by the American Senate, he had to face a lot of challenges. His biggest worry? “I wondered if the Vietnamese people would accept me.”

“How could I tell Vietnamese veterans of the war that the US still cares about Vietnam? That we wanted to shake hands and work together, after we brought so many soldiers to this country, after we dropped so many bombs here, after millions of casualties? Would they believe me?”

Peterson recalls his first impressions of Hanoi: citizens all using locally made goods like inexpensive sandals; everyone on bicycles; a bicycle repairman on every corner, perhaps selling gas on the side in litre bottles. “Nothing was modern at that time. Hanoi in 1997 was not much different from 1992,” he said.

The former ambassador recalls travelling to 58 provinces and cities in Vietnam to meet with Vietnamese people.  He recalls going to his to his office on Hanoi’s Lang Ha street by bike and later by motorbike, just like the Vietnamese people.

The greatest accomplishment of Peterson’s tenure as American ambassador was the signing of the Vietnam-US Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA), the pact that opened the doors of both nations to each others’ goods.

Since those difficult times, the US has become Vietnam’s most important export market. Post-war issues like Agent Orange/dioxin have been progressively solved based on constructive attitudes by both sides.  Many big American investors are now established in Vietnam.

“The changes in the two countries’ relations in these 15 years are really impressive,” Peterson says. “As Foreign Minister [Nguyen Co] Thach used to say, Vietnam is at last in the eyes of Americans “no longer a war, but a country.”  Vietnam’s role in the world is growing steadily. Now it is serving both as a member of the US Security Council and as the current ASEAN Chairman.  Americans have a broader view of Vietnam now.  Even the views of our Vietnamese-American population, people who emigrated at the end of the war, have become broader.”

“There are still challenges in the relations between US and Vietnam,” Peterson stressed. “We shouldn’t fool ourselves that everything is just perfect. However, trade disputes over things like catfish and garments will be solved. The US needs to export more to Vietnam.  There’s no hurry. We’ve got a big launching pad and there’s plenty of energy on both sides. Future generations will sustain this building process.”

Young overseas Vietnamese talent

Many overseas Vietnamese are talented youths that are also the golden hope of their countries in fields like literature, music, arts and sports. VietNamNet makes a review of these outstanding faces.

Natalie Xuan Lane

Natalie Xuan Lane, the daughter of a British construction engineer and a Vietnamese intellectual property lawyer, wowed the jury of the Hong Kong Young Writers Award 2010 for writers under 14 in her English-language article about Vietnamese pho.

The topic of the competition is “Impressions of Southeast Asian Countries” and it attracted students from 54 schools. Natalie Xuan Lane, a student from the French International School, was among nine winners. She received first prize for contestants aged 10-11. A collection of winning works was published in late April 2010.

Lane likes pho very much. Whenever she returned to HCM City to visit her grandparents, she asked her grandmother – “the best cook of Vietnamese cuisines in the world” as she described - to make pho for her.

At every place where she went with her parents, the girl tried to find a Vietnamese pho restaurant and she realized: “Phở represents the unique Vietnamese culture and has become popular around the world. When I travel with my family, we can find Phở in many large cities such as Paris, London, and Sydney. There are many Phở restaurants in Hong Kong. The Vietnamese food culture is strong and Phở helps connect people of different nationalities and inspires them to learn more about Vietnam.”

She decided to write about Vietnamese pho for the competition and called her grandmother to find out how to cook pho. She also searched for information about pho through her parents and the Internet. With her command of English, French, Guangdong and Vietnamese, Natalie can explain the cooking process and spices to her overseas friends:

“A lot of people pronounce Phở as “po” or “foe,” but the correct pronunciation is similar to “fuh”. There are only two types of Phở: Chicken Phở (Phở Ga) and Beef Phở (Phở Bo). For some reason, pork or other kinds of meat are never used in Phở. The noodles are white, soft and smooth, topped with thin slices of onion and herbs like coriander, sweet basil, spring onion and bean sprouts. The ingredients must be very fresh. The chicken is cut up into small pieces while the beef is cut into large thin slices. The soup is the most important part of the dish.

The soup must be served boiling hot. It is a very clear colour and tastes like the meat has been boiled in the soup for a long time. I was told that in fact a lot of bones, not meat, have been boiled slowly overnight to make the soup. They also infuse a lot of herbs such as star anise, cinnamon, and ginger in the soup. The sweetness comes from the bones and the herbs as there should be no MSG in the soup. No wonder I found the soup very tasty and healthy.

Phở was created in the north of Vietnam around the early 20th century. In the old days the Phởseller would carry a large bamboo stick about one metre long, and at the two ends of the stick would be a rope attaching to two large boxes. One of them would contain the noodles and the other would contain the special Phở soup. Nowadays, Phở is sold in restaurants but in Vietnam, Phở restaurants sell Phở and nothing else. You can eat Phở for breakfast, lunch or dinner. It is a very versatile dish.

I think non-Vietnamese people like Phở because it is a good combination of soup, meat, herbs and noodles. It is not spicy, easy to eat and healthy since it has very little oil or fat. The look of a bowl of Phở is also inviting. The brown and pink of the meat, the white of the noodle, and the green of the herbs make the dish attractive. When a bowl of Phở is placed in front of you the aroma of the herbs and sweet smell of the meat makes you feel like you want to eat it immediately.

My Grandma told me that Phở is very much like Vietnamese people – simple, cheerful, warm, yet at the same time delicate and artistic. Eating Phở is part of the regular routine for many Vietnamese. Life in Vietnam is less hectic compared to Hong Kong and people have more time to gather and have meals together. I have always enjoyed having dinner with the whole family, my grandparents, my auntie, my cousins, my parents and my sister. When we have a party, there will be singing and music playing by my family members or the guests. We rarely do this in Hong Kong because we are here on our own, and space is limited.   

Phở can also be a way of expression in art. I have heard about an art exhibition called “I Love Phở” in Vietnam and Australia. The logo “I Love Phở” has been printed on T-shirts just like the way the logo “I Love Hong Kong” is used.

As they always say, where there are Vietnamese, there is bound to be Phở. Phở is something that the Vietnamese cherish and hold on to, wherever they live. I think that Phở is a great gift from Vietnam to the world. Therefore, people around the world should treat it as a valuable heritage and should maintain the traditional original recipe. When you have a chance to visit Vietnam, do not forget to enjoy this famous national dish!”

Natalie wishes to become a social activist or a politician.

Nam Nguyen is 11 years old and lives in Burnaby, British Columbia in southwestern Canada.

Nam Nguyen

At just eight years old, Nam was the youngest skater ever to become the Canadian National Juvenile Men’s Champion. For the past three years he has won gold medals at various Canadian Figure-Skating Tournaments. This gold medalist is a promising seed for Canada at the 2018 Winter Olympics.

He is the youngest athlete to be selected to carry the torch at the Olympics 2010 Opening parade in December 2010 and at the opening ceremony of the Speed-Skating tournaments to be held in Richmond City.

Dinh Dinh Hai Hoang, 15, is a martial arts instructor living in Mecklenburg, Germany. He was the youngest karate teacher to be certified at the age of 13, when he won the title the youngest martial arts instructor of Germany by getting a black belt in karate.

Dinh Dinh Hai Hoang

Hai Hoang has won the gold medal at the World’s Karate Tournament for U13 and the silver medal at the World’s Karate for U15. He was part of the German National Karate team.

Vu Dang Minh Anh, 15, has been known for her promising talent in Poland since the age of 6. Having won several international prizes in France, Spain and Poland for talents under 16, Minh Anh was awarded the third prize at the Val Tidone Piano Competition held in Italy last year at 15.

Vu Dang Minh Anh

Minh Anh is now studying at the Karol Szymanowski Conservatory in Warszawa, Poland. Last December, she had her first performance at the Hanoi Opera House. Not only gifted in music, Minh Anh is also very eloquent in six languages: English, French, German, Polish, Latin and Vietnamese.