The Temple of the Hung Kings and the ancient pottery village of Bat Trang.

There was a very lucky consequence of this years Tet, Thanh's village was close to the temples of the Hung Kings. The Hung Kings are a mystery, wrapped in an enigma with a heavy sauce of mysticism and mythology. First it is not exactly clear how many there were, some say there were 18 of them but then they cover some 2,000 years at least so there is room for growth. There are no written scources or references until the 1200CE. The stories coming down through time by word of mouth have all kinds of legends and mythologies. What I know is that the Viet peoples came out of the mountains onto the Red River valley and flatlands sometime around 3,000 BCE. They brought dry rice farming and bronze and copper forging. By 2,500 BCE they were wet rice farming and had become very good at bronze forging and working the metal. They made these incredible bronze drums that were covered in amazing figures and patterns. This period is known as the Dong Son period and lasted from 2,500BCE to 1,000 CE. Somewhere amongst all of this the Hung Kings lived and died. There was one story about them.... There was once a prince/King who was a dragon. He came down from the mountains. When he became king he fell in love with a beautiful maiden from the sea. He took her as his wife. She went on to lay 100 eggs (yes this is the story, stay tuned it will make sense). As time went on the newly weds fell out. They realised they could no longer cohabit. So the dragon took 50 eggs to the mountains and the maiden of the sea took 50 to the sea. The 100 eggs represent the first Viet families. That is why in Vietnam there are fewer family names. I spent a lovely morning with Thanh's family touring the temple site. This involved a walk of about 3 kilometers up a very steep hill. Many stairs and many people made the experience fun. My studies of vietnamese history continue a pace. I have visited Co Loa, I have been to the "Hung Temple" or as I prefer to call it "the Temple of the Hung Kings". Now I was back in Hanoi I was going to visit a village that has been making porcelain and pottery for at least 1,000 years and longer! The road from Hanoi to Bat Trang is a special adventure in itself. First you ride through the old Quarter a maze of narrow streets and lanes. Then you breakout onto the huge main road and make the journey across the Chuong Duong bridge across the red river. This bridge has always terrified me. At rush hour you can experience gridlock of motorbikes. It is very intimidating, fortunately I am the biggest around so people literally bounce off me. After the bridge you turn right and travel along what appears to be a very substantial flood levy. In fact it goes the whole 20 kilometers to Bat Trang. It affords impressive view of the surrounding suburbs and country and is in itself an archeological artifact in that it is part of the original earthworks built to defend Hanoi from Red River flooding. You get to see another airport in Hanoi. It is a military airport so security is tight. The trip to the village of Bat Trang prepares you in a way for the village itself. It's abit like taking a step back in time. As I said before the village has been making pottery, porcelain and ceramics for at least a 1,000 years. They are still doing it. Every house and building in the village is dedicated to making things ceramic. Most houses have display rooms with all kinds of work, some with different glazes, some with different styles. The variety is amazing. The colours and designs are a real treat,more like a tour de force. Making my way through this maze of galleries, potteries and houses, I finally make it to the market where there are at leasr 200 stalls selling everything ceramic and porcelain. I spent about 2 hours wandering around looking at the most astonishing collection of pottery, porcelain and ceramics. I was unable to resist the lure. I ended up buying a Tea set complete with tea pot and six cups and saucers, a covered coffee cup and a bowl soon to be my sugar bowl. It is lined with copper and has a traditional blue glaze. As I say I could not resist and here is the reason why.... 2 years ago I was in Singapore for more than a night, I was there for 2 days. I had finished my business and had an afternoon to spare. I went to the Museum of Asian Civilisations, I wanted to see what they had on the Khmers and the empire based on Angkor. I was disappointed in what they had and said. But that's not the big thing about the museum. They had a special exhibition of a Sailing ship that had been raised from the sea floor off the coast of Java. The boat was intact as were the contents of the hold. They had dated the boat from the timbers. They knew when and where it was built. It had been built in Bagdad in 400 BCE. The timber planks were joined by sewing them together with hemp and then sealing the hull. Inside the hold it was full of porcelain, pottery and glassware from northern Vietnam and southern China! So that means sometime around 400 BCE a boat had sailed from Bagdad to northern Vietnam and China to buy porcelain, pottery and glassware for the export market in Bagdad!The designs and motifs on the pottery and porcelain were from Bagdad not northern Vietnam or southern China. The glazes in the main were blue, green and brown but some pieces were quite colorful with red and gold. The meaning of this absolutely floored me. This boat was not alone, there were great numbers of them from India and Bagdad etc. And they had been doing it for a long long time, perhaps thousands of years! That awareness has plunged me in a new direction.Find out about Vietnam and its ancient history. I have been reading books and now I am starting to visit things. Co Loa, The Hung Temple and Bat Trang are but the start. Soooo the reason for my interest in this village is that they have been doing it for a very long time maybe even when the boat turned up. I want to buy some stuff and have them export it to me in Aust just like they were doing in 400BCE. It is archeologically unsound to acquire artifacts from that old time according to my youngest daughter, but there is nothing to stop me getting new stuff made in the same village, in the same way as they did back then. The photos below are a bit of a mish mash. The first ones are family groups at Tet. Then there are photos of the Hung Temple and then the last night of Tet banquet with family photos. I am honored to be seated with the old men. The last two are of my friend Lan in the "Home 38" Cafe and my fav cocktail at the New Day restraunt.