visiting libraries in Vietnam, day two

Day two of visiting libraries in Vietnam was our easy day for libraries but a loooong day overall.  I’ve already posted about the travel to Ho Chi Minh City in the afternoon and evening last Wednesday.  The morning, though, was devoted to a meeting at the National Economic University in Hanoi

and the hosts led by Ms Bui Thi Sen, Director of the Information and Library Center.

I will definitely talk about the facility for this library, but first, I have to say that, after a first day of meetings where we were getting our sea legs, so to speak, this was an easier conversation.  Again, that’s not a reflection of the hosts on the first day by any stretch.  I think that on the second day our delegation was relaxing into how the conversations might go and feeling more comfortable with engaging.  We had a nice amount of time with the library team, and we managed to move beyond AI and into other topics.  If I remember correctly, it was with this meeting that we started experiencing more discussion of staff development, and I was glad for having Denelle with us so that we could draw on her expertise.

Now let’s talk about that facility.  My gosh, what a fantastic place.  That staircase!  Wow!  A well-used space, too.  

But what blew us away was the president’s room.  Used for special occasions and photo sessions, it was magnificent.  

Imagine having something like that in my library.  That would be something.  What a treat to visit the university and see their space, and how good to talk with our colleagues there.

From the university it was back to the hotel to retrieve luggage and the spouses, and then on to lunch.  Ah, lunch.  A weird place with a kind of cafe on the sixth floor along with six floors of shopping.  And they really encouraged the shopping!  I did buy two chocolate bars, and I can’t say that the one we’ve already eaten was all that good.  Ah well.  Nice views and decent pho, but something of a tourist trap.  I never did get the name of it.

Airport, flight, dinner, hotel.  A last day of library visits, this time in Ho Cho Minh City, was still to come.

a museum and more

Monday evening in Sattahip as I write this.  Happy Thanksgiving!  Although I will likely post this on Tuesday in Thailand, so perhaps belated happy Thanksgiving.  Conrad and I are relaxing in bed after dinner and before lights out, so what perfect time to check in.

I was up early as usual, before 6AM, and I headed out to the common room for hellos and coffee.  No one was around, however, and I eventually came back to our part of the villa to blog a while.  Conrad got up, we joined everyone for breakfast, and planned the day.  A boat trip was not to be, alas, due to the high tide and water conditions following the overnight storm.  That being the case, J-J took us to the Sanctuary of Truth Museum.  Resembling a Buddhist temple, it is a glorious structure, all of wood.  Beautifully carved, still in process, a challenge to maintain.  

The funny thing is that it is not actually a temple.  Maybe a place for contemplation, but it’s really a tourist attraction at heart, and we were mandated to wear helmets inside and for Conrad and J-J to don some pants because their shirts were disrespectfully short.

Just the same, though, we had time to wander and take shots after the obligatory guided tour group was done.  Better still, from the time we arrived to the time we finished the tour, skies were turning blue.  A fine morning for seeing it.

We were home by 1:00, in good time for Vanda to have a very satisfying lunch for us.  An assortment of things to fill betel leaf pouches and a pomelo and dried shrimp salad to start.  I think pomelo may be one of my new favourite things.  That and longkong, a very tasty fruit with a nice balance of sweet and sour.  Vanda also had a duck curry, rice, and vegetables saiteed with shrimp.  And wine!  A huge meal, a filling meal.

While we ate lunch, the rain came on along with thunder.  So much for an afternoon dip in the pool.  Conrad and I retested to our space and napped a goodly while instead.

We rejoined the others after 5, darkness coming on.  There was much discussion of dinner options before we settled on pizza at a nearby place in their town.  

Yes, we had non-Thai food.  The people here do like eating other cuisines, after all.  The pizza was fine, the salads were alright, the wine was decent.  It was a fine enough meal, and perhaps a welcome break from all of the SE Asian cuisine before we re-immerse ourselves in the days ahead.

Tomorrow promises more rain at times, and we think exploring markets will be in the works.  A last full day with our lovely hosts, and then on to the fourth stop on this trip.

visiting libraries in Vietnam, day one

Last Tuesday (6 days ago - yikes!) the work began.  Conrad and the other spouses were whisked away for a cruise of scenic Ha Long Bay.  The librarians, though?  Library visits.

(A small, cool thing about the visits, by the way, is that we saw the non-tourist parts of the city!)

First stop:  Phenikaa University.  

We were greeted by Dr. Hien from the Faculty of Public Health.  She was the one who set up all of our meetings in Vietnam, and for that, I am so very grateful.  What excellent work she did in providing us with a variety of libraries to visit and share experience with.  She led us up to one of the floors that the  Information and Library Center occupied,

and there we found two things.  First, an incredibly well-designed modern but very inviting space.  Second, a very formal set up for presentation and meeting.  It was a little intimidating, especially for our first meeting,   This was no casual visit, and I admit I was a little shaky in how well I spoke.  I think that improved through the trip.  I hope it did!

But let’s talk about that space!  

Credit for the design goes to the director, Ms Nguyen Thi Dung.  

We could not compliment her enough on how marvelous the library looked.  It was a delight having her come with us to the later meeting that day as well.  She, like Dr. Hien and the others we met, was so very enjoyable a host.

After formal presentations about the university and library (from them) and the delegation (from me), we launched into discussion.  What struck me was how very far ahead of us they were when it came to use of AI, and we spent a lot of time on that.  They, in turn, had questions about cataloging, and thank goodness for having Ann in our cohort.

Following the discussion, there was a tour, and then we headed to the planetarium on campus.  

There we were given a show, not a long one, but a relaxing little end to the first visit.  Back to the city with us!

We had lunch at the same place Conrad and I had gone to two days before.  I think I surprised the two Vietnamese guests with us when I ordered the dish of eel and young banana in a green sauce.  Yes, I told them, I eat eel.  A very tasty dish, one of my favourites to that point.

I don’t have photos from the meeting from from after lunch, but I do have photos from the tour.  We met with colleagues at the National Library of Vietnam, including Mr. Nguyen Xuan Dung, director of the library.  If we felt intimidated by the first place, we felt genuine awe at the second.  I’m afraid it might not have been the most fruitful conversation, as kind as everyone was.  We sort of found ourselves going down a rabbit hole on AI again, and they had questions about cataloging on a scale that was beyond what Ann was doing.  There was more enthusiastic discussion of national associations, though.  But for most of us, working at smaller academic instigations, the issue of scale and mission was too different from what the National Library folks were doing.  The tour brought a welcome end to the meeting.

The National Library was an older building with a newer but not new building attached.  The library functions in a public capacity, and that was clear from the spaces and the people using it.  The preservation of Vietnam culture is key to their mission, and we appreciated seeing some of the efforts toward that.

That ended the day, and we headed back to our hotel where I took the team to the poolside bar for a drink (a sloe gin and tonic) and a debrief.  

The others felt similar to how I did, impressed by what we saw, appreciative of the discussions, a little intimidated by the formality.  All in all, though, we agreed that it had been a very good day.  I fielded questions about itinerary as best I could, and then we all went to rest and refresh before dinner.

A group dinner that night, reunited with the spouses.  We dined at Épices d’Indochine, and I recall liking the soup with sea cucumber and the fried pork with pineapple the most from among the huge and delicious meal.  

We headed back to the hotel to ready ourselves for a library the next day and for travel south in the afternoon.