By Fayyaz Sheikh
When we think of Vietnam and Cambodia, rice fields and jungles come to mind but these are beautiful countries with rich history, that were unfortunately ravaged by wars. We started our travel from North ( Hanoi) and then traveled south. Our guide took us first to Hanoi Museum and we saw following pictures;
Buraq-It took Prophet Mohammad from Mecca to Jerusalem and then to Sky. It has Human’s head, horse’s body, cock’s tail and great wings
Attached to the picture was following description.
Quran in Arabic text
Quran in Chinese text
Raden Maulana (1465-1525) used puppets to teach Islam in Indonesia.
In Saigon we visited a Mosque. There were Halal food restaurants near the mosque.
Mosque in Saigon
RELIGION IN VIETNAM AND CAMBODIA
Majority of the population, about 90 %, is Buddhist. There is immense influence of Hindu religion and culture on the society. Religion is a big part of society and Buddhist Temples are everywhere, many converted from Hindu temples to Buddhist temples. As per our guide, Hindu religion came to this part in 1st B.C. when one Brahman came from India,married a local princess and then became a ruler.This whole region practiced Hinduism until 12th century and then started converting to Buddhism. There was some Muslim population, called Chams. There is a Muslim town in Vietnam called ‘ Mubarak’. At present there are about 70,000 Muslims and about 40,000 Hindu in Vietnam.Pictures bellow tell the story of Hindu religion in Vietnam. Some were part of Buddhist temples.
Brahmanist Goddess
Template in Sansikrat
An old Buddhist temple in Cambodia with large tree growing in temple. Movie ” Tomb Raiders” with Angelina jollie was filmed in this temple.
CULTURE
The northern part ( Hanoi) is more conservative with traditional family values and women mostly wear beautiful traditional dress. As you travel south, it gradually changes and in Saigon you see women mostly in western casual dresses. Men mostly wear casual western dress both in North and South.Food is mostly sea food and rice, but some of the dishes has Indian flavor and spices.Indian restaurants serve very spicy food. In general people are happy, very loving and welcoming. Some pictures:
Door attendant at Hanoi Sheraton with traditional dress.
Ladies posing for picture in traditional dress
Food served
Delicious Lamb Chops with Desi flavor
Delicious mangoes are also available
In old times Huts were used for living and has different shapes in different part of the country, and some with separate entrances for females.
Hut with separate entrance for male and female. Female entrance has Breast sign at stair
Now many Huts are being replaced by brick “skinny houses” with very small frontage, because lesser the frontage, lower the property taxes.
In future installments trip to beautiful Halon Bay, Hoi An, Hue, Saigon, Saigon Vietnam War Museum( local feeling and impression about Vietnam War) , Phenom Penh, Siem Reip, Singapore, Kualalumpur and Tokyo.
Thanks!
Fayyaz
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Yes, keep it coming