Sarah in Hanoi: Bat Trung

Today we took our first field trip. At 9 am we all piled into a public bus, on watch for pickpockets, and took the 10 km trip to Bat Trung, a small town just outside of Ha Noi. Bat Trung has specialized in handcrafting beautiful pottery since the 14th century. It was a fun, tiring day. Take a look:

Woo with his pink umbrella

beautiful persimmons

more persimmons!

qua nhan (longans), my favorite fruit.

Come on, Jaya, smile for the camera!

Waiting for the bus.

Nan!

Protect those backpacks.

Annaleah, Woo, and Abby squished together on the bus.

handcrafted pottery

clay paintings

so much pottery!

even more pottery

I love elephants! Only animals besides humans that mourn for those who have died.

so colorful!

Incredible hand painted vases

Coconut spoons! What are these doing in a pottery village...?

Max, Andrew and I.

What would you put in a vase this big?

Hey, look! It's me with a giant vase.

So, so, so beautiful! It's incredible that they have been doing this for 600 years!

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Taking a break.

Making pieces to decorate the pottery.

So detailed and precise.

Huge pile of clay (not dinosaur poo, as many of us assumed)

The beginning of a clay buddha

HUGE vase, 1 of 18 that are being made for the restoration of an important temple in Viet Nam. In the spring, they will have a huge ceremony that will be broadcast on live television as they unveil the vases (we, being the important teenage diplomats that we are, were personally invited by head honcho to attend the ceremony).

Working on the huge vases

Thay Chuck checking out the mold for the vases.

dinosaur poo

Just messing around with my camera a bit..

More coconut spoons!

What are you doing Maddy?

Lunch time!

We got to make our own pots! It was a lot harder than it looks. I squished my pot on accident at least a dozen times. The women who were helping us made it look so easy!