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Some people rank climbing Mount
Everest among the great triumphs of mankind, but few have dared
to ride a bike from Hanoi to Hoi-An. Traveling with a group from
"Cycle The World" – an outfit out of Portland, OR –
generous donations from General Motors gave me the opportunity
to tape an hour long documentary of our rigorous ride. Airing
this fall on WDIV, you will have the chance to witness the fascinating
culture of the land made famous by a war.
Starting in Hanoi - or as we grew
to know it, "the land of many bicycles" - my video photographer,
Kevin, and I quickly found the vehicle of choice to be the Cyclo.
A three-wheeled bike peddled by a driver, this mode of transportation
was the perfect way to become acquainted with North Vietnam.
Hanoi is a region surrounded by
many parks and lakes. Founded in 1010 AD, the city retains the
title of "the oldest capital in Southeast Asia." There
are two very unique areas: The ancient city of Hanoi near Hoan
Kiem Lake, and the French Quarter, built during the reign of the
French during 1880 – 1930.
Chef Didier, of the five star
Metropole Hotel, served as our entertainment director. For cuisine,
our dining options were endless. We sampled everything from local
Vietnamese to Mediterranean to even Pizza, to cure our brief spells
of homesickness. The nightlife offers hangouts like Apocalypse
Now and the Spotted Cow. At each unique watering hole, conversation
was plentiful as Brits and Aussies guzzled the locale ale of Tiger
Beer - A fun lot of folks, to say the least.
If you find the crowded streets
of Hanoi too smothering, a day trip to Perfume Pagoda might cure
your temporary claustrophobia. After you jump aboard the low,
steel riverboat, it'll only take a matter of minutes until the
winds blowing from the rice fields paired with the brilliant mountain
vistas quickly alleviate your stressors.
For those of you not up
on your "pagodas," think of an alter inside a cave,
on top of a mountain, surrounded by the hypnotic fragrances of
wild flowers, and then you'll get a sense for the beauty of Perfume
Pagoda. Upon climbing the stairs carved in to the mountainside,
you'll also soon realize why locals consider this altar the most
out-of-the-way place to find tranquility.
I found the people of Vietnam to be some of the friendliest
in the world. Aside from numerous attempts made by market merchants
luring me to sip snake-wine and nibble on a "thousand-year-old"
egg, my memories of the once war torn country are fond. Vietnam
is a place anyone would appreciate as an adventure trip. |
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After our trip to Vietnam it was
very apparent that what we had just experienced over our two weeks
would stay with us for the rest of our lives. Kevin Hewiit my
Video photographer and I made so many new friends and learned
so much about this place that is thousands of years old.
As we sat on the plane flying
back some 25 hours of travel to Detroit it seemed sad in a way
that we would air the 25 five hours of footage in a short one
hour show and that would be it.
So an idea came to me why not
hold a preview party at the largest Detroit venue the Fox Theater
and turn the evening into a tribute to Vietnam and its people
of today.
Arranging an event of this nature
with multi level food stations for tastiness of Vietnamese far
is difficult onto its own but when you add the political dynamics
of the evening its even harder.
But with the bold support of some
great companies and local folks we were able to hold our first
International Evening.
With Carmen Harlan as our Mc and
Stewart Francke closing the evening accompanied by the Detroit
Choir and the children of Burton International school singing
we are the world the evening was nothing short of magical….
The evening turned out to have
so much meaning to so many. We received e-mails and letters from
attendees that either were Vietnamese had adopted Vietnamese children
or vets that thought they could now look at Vietnam in a different
way.
For me it was a great learning
experience to have been able to have some way had such a positive
effect on so many lives for different reasons.
Below
is a story written by one of Detroit's most notable journalist,
Chris Kassel, who
attended the evening. |
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August 28th 1999 - So many ghosts
linger within the hearts and minds of Vietnam veterans that any
food-oriented documentary attempting to treat Southeast Asia as
just another exotic travel destination is facing a major uphill
firefight. Fortunately, rather than tiptoeing through the
PC minefields, Chef Keith Famie and Visionalist Entertainment
Production tackles the assignment with candor, respect, and a
genuine sense of poignancy. The result, previewed at the
Fox Theatre on August 28, 1999, transcends the hyperactive ‘pork’
that might have characterized such a project.
Key to the success of A
Journey To Vietnam is Famie’s premise; he operates with an earnest
belief that ‘food is culture’, and that no comprehensive exploration
of a region’s history can avoid that simple philosophy.
Yet, his focus with the special is a cathartic, ‘return to ground-zero’
bicycle trip from Hanoi to China Beach made by several Vietnam
veterans (celebrity chef in tow). Tom Morgan, who’s last
image of the country was as a GI grunt in ’65, highlights the
one-hour documentary “ From Honoi To China Beach” by meeting,
and embracing, a former Vietcong soldier.
Faced with such tuggable heartstrings,
the culinary how-to of the film necessarily plays second fiddle,
and neither intends, nor pretends, to steal scenes. As such,
the gentle profundity of Vietnamese cuisine winds up being the
more intriguing. It’s a delicate juxtaposition that could
easily have gone awry. Yet, it does not. Famie, buff-enuff
to sport skin-tight biker shorts throughout the film; confident
enough to squat in a rice paddie and plant shoots alongside locals,
has a natural-born charisma which is perfectly suited to the mileux.
It’s easy to predict that future projects, tackled with the same
single-mindedness, might begin to re-invent the culinary travelogue
format.
The evening at the Fox, emceed
by WDIV’s classiest act, Carmen Harlan, included a multi-level
cultural exhibit and buffet pre-glow featuring the exotic
flavors of Southeast Asia. Later, entertainment by cancer
activist
Stewart Francke.
augmented the event’s emotional
impact. Still, in a certain sense, even the documentary
itself was matched by Chef Famie’s dedication: ‘To the men, women,
and children who lost their lives during the Vietnam war…’, a
clear reference to targets on both sides of the semi-automatic.
Rather than a run-of-the-mill romp through exotic markets and
foreign kitchens, A Journey To Vietnam comes off as a touching
tribute to a remarkable (and remarkably misunderstood) corner
of the globe… proving the adage that you can lose the war but
win the peace.
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