I am Elaine Elizabeth Jinto, and I am 13 years old. I am from India, and I love to travel. Along with traveling, I enjoy reading, writing, eating, and innovating. I dream of becoming a writer and a business woman. In my blogs I am going to write about some of the trips, books, restaurants, and unique experiences that captivated me. I hope my blogs will encourage you to experience new things too. So, recently I went to Vietnam, which is a country in South East Asia, and I want to share my experiences. But first I have to tell you that before I went there I had no idea that Vietnam was such a beautiful place. As far as I knew, it was a place where people ate Pho noodles and made Pho noodles all their lives. Luckily, the moment I got there I realized that it was one of the most amazing places I have ever been to. Vietnam has a lot of nice places you can choose from, Halong Bay, Hoi an, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and De Nang to name a few. My family chose De Nang city. (You might have heard of it because Bill Gates has been there.) Anyway, De Nang is really nice, and it is close to many of Vietnam’s tourist highlights. First let me tell you about all the places you can visit. Hoi An- A UNESCO World Heritage Sight. Hoi An is an ancient city close to De Nang. It was a busy port in the 15th-16th century, and now it is a busy tourist spot. The area is famous for its historical landmarks, cultural vibe, shops, and most importantly—lanterns. A whole day would be required to take in and experience everything at this unique tourist spot. A walk around the ancient city should be the first thing to do. The street food and shopping is really delightful, and there are many museums and temples you can visit. You can get the tickets at the Hoi An tourism desk and wander around and see what you like at your own pace. There are also cultural performances, near the riverfront museums in the evenings, and you can spend a wonderful hour there, seeing Vietnamese culture at its best. The best part of the show is when you can join the performers and play Bai Choi, which is a traditional Vietnamese game, which is a lot like bingo and housie. At night you can see the lit up, iconic lanterns which make Hoi An famous. A good place to observe the beauty of these lanterns would be at the riverfront, where you could also go on a mini-cruise or ride on a cycle rickshaw, and take in the wonders of Hoi An. Whatever your age, interests, likes and dislikes, you will definitely find something you like at Hoi An, a UNESCO World Heritage Sight. P.S: I would suggest that you prepare an itinerary before you go. Also remember the afternoons can get really hot. Take me to Sun World, Ba Na Hills Ba Na Hills used to be a French settlement in the 18th-19th century, built because the Europeans could not bear the Vietnamese heat. It was bought and renovated by Sun World, who made it a theme park. A lot of the original buildings are still there, and now they house restaurants, shops, theatres, gaming arcades, and much more. After a 45 minute drive from De Nang city, you have to ride a record-breaking cable car to get to the top of the hill. Literally record breaking, because Ba Na hills had the longest, unsupported cable car system for many years. The views from the cable cars are spellbinding, especially the waterfall, and the small streams that lead up to it. Once you get to your desired cable car station you can grab a brochure, and spend the day doing what you like, where you like, and when you like. I enjoyed Luna Castle, the Atlas Statue, the French village, pagoda and the Debay wine cellar. (It is really cool, and you can get child-friendly wine there!) The gardens were epic, and there was one I really loved with Roman columns, French mills, and ballerina topiaries. Another awesome part was seeing actual suits of armor, with griffins emblazoned on them. I must warn you that there is a lot to see, and you will have a lot of walking to do, so it would be a good idea to use the quaint, old fashioned Funicular trains whenever you can. The highlight of the trip was seeing the golden bridge, which is held up not by pillars, but by two giant hands made of rocks. Ba Na Hills is just the place to spend a hot afternoon exploring a fine fusion of Vietnamese and French culture. Marble Mountains The 5 Marble Mountains are sacred places of worship, and only one is open for tourists. The 5 mountains are named after the elements and are filled with beautiful Buddha shrines, statues, and tranquil areas for meditating. There is a lift that goes all the way up, and you can use the stairways on the way back, and see everything. There is a beautiful view, and you can see the beach and the city from up there. You do not need much time at Marble Mountains, but whatever you do don’t miss it. P.S: There are many beautiful souvenirs made of marble which you can get there. De Nang City Amidst all this beauty there is a big city, with a plethora of sky scrapers at the center of the city. The place looks amazing at night, and there are cruises along the river at night. The main attraction there is the Dragon bridge, which is, no surprise, shaped like a huge golden dragon. At night it breathes fire and water, and it looks totally amazing. A good place to eat dinner when you are at the city would be the
vietnam
Writing Activity: powerful expression through unique style, with “We Are Looking for Freedom” by Marigian Muhammed, 12
Introduction to This Stone Soup Writing Activity “We Are Looking for Freedom” was written by Marigian one-and-a half-years after she arrived in the United States. It is a true story about the recent history of her family. At the time Marigian wrote this story she was still learning English. We have printed it just as she wrote it, so you will find the English is not perfect. But after you read “We Are looking for Freedom,” I think you will agree with me that the style of writing is itself part of the story of Marigian’s life and the terrible problems war caused her family. Marigian’s story is an example of a work written in a style that tells us something about the main character, and which increases the power of the story. This technique of writing stories in an unusual or imperfect English in order to show the special way the main character sees and thinks about the world is one used by many of the most famous writers. Project: Adopting a Style Create a narrator (the person who tells the story) who thinks in and speaks in an unusual English. Think of a character—a child, a recent immigrant to the United States, a person who is sick in bed with a high fever and a bit woozy, or even someone who is a little crazy and talks funny. The fun of this project, and the challenge, is to adopt the language of your character, or to express your own language in a way that will convey meaning to your readers. Imagine you aren’t you, that you think and speak an English different from your own; or that you are trying to write from the perspective of a different you hidden inside your imagination. Who and what do you see? How do you describe it? And what is the story you have to tell? We Are Looking for Freedom By Marigian Muhammed, 12, Fort Collins, Colorado From the March/April 1986 issue of Stone Soup I live in Vietnam. I went to school in Saigon. I has one cat. I has four brother, no sister. My mother selling in her own store. My father was working for C.I.A. before 1975. After 1975 my father stop working for C.I.A. One night at eight o’clock in August 30, 1978, the Viet Cong come and caught my father to put in the jail. Because my father work for C.I.A. At 1979 my dad is dead. One night my mother put the clothes in the bag. I was ask my mother where are we go? My mom said, “I take your brother to visit your grandma.” I so small didn’t know my brother and my mom escape. I saw her sitting on the table with my aunt, and my mom was crying. I came next to her and she said, “You have to live with your aunt.” I don’t know why. My mom gone about a month and my aunt tell me, “Your mother escape.” At one time my cousin, my aunt, and me try to escape, but we can’t because they caught two of my cousin. And they let them out. One day after school, I went to my house. The Viet Cong came and tell me that they have to take my house, tell me to go live at my aunt house. I ask them why I have to live in my aunt house, they tell me that I under eighteen years old, that right now I have to live with my aunt. At April 7, 1982 I escape with my aunt and her daughter. When we went to Cambodia, we there for week. The half way to the camp my aunt and her daughter go another way, and I go another. We don’t see each other for week. I went to the camp name Nong Samet. I live there for three day and my aunt try got in there. We don’t see each other for ten day. I live with woman. She so nice to me. When I and aunt together in Nong Samet for one week we went to the camp name N.W. 82, which is half in Cambodia and half in Thailand. When we live there they don’t has anything much food. Every day they cook rice for us lunch and dinner. We has to cook our own food to eat with rice. Every day we only has eight liter of the water, every day in the hospital has people sick and almost dead. In our tent it so big we live with two hundred people in there. If the tent dirty the Thailand man call the tent people. They came out, stand there, another Thailand man get a stick to hit the Vietnamese, they don’t care about old people or young people. We live there for a year and we went to Pamatnikhom. Our family live there a week and we went to Philippines, we live in Philippines near the mountain. Every day I went to school there. We live there, we got a lot of water, every day they gave the food to us to cook and eat. We very happy. But I miss my grandparents and aunt. One day in Bataan, Philippines, has hurricane, some of the big tree was fall down, some of the ceiling was flying, we so scary, just for few minutes, then hurricane was gone. One day, our name was call to travel to America. On September 29, 1983 in the morning we drive the bus to Manila. We went to the airplane, we fly all the way to Los Angeles. We stay there for five hours and we fly all the way to Denver. And I see my mother and my brothers. Now we together.
Writing Activity: defining character with non-standard English, with “My Country and the Way to America”, by Huong Nguyen, 11 (a harrowing tale)
Map of Vietnam This is one of the most extraordinary stories Stone Soup has published in its long history. This activity focuses on how to effectively use non-standard English to define your character. “My Country and the Way to America” is a difficult story to read. It describes awful situations in which people die. The story is best read with an adult. If you are not familiar with the Vietnam War and the so-called “Boat People” who fled the country in the years following it, then please also read this introduction to that war before reading the story. Project: Using non-standard English to define your character. Huong had something to say. Despite the fact that she didn’t know English well at the time she wrote this story, she said what was burning in her heart with the words and grammatical skills in her possession. Huang’s story is written in what we call non-standard English. In other words, it is full of grammatical “errors.” But, in this case, the grammatical errors contribute to the effectiveness of the story. The language in which the story is written lacks many of the small connector words that we usually use when we speak or write English. The verb tenses are also not always correct. But, in this story, these “errors” focus our attention on the actions that are most important, giving the prose an incredible sense of rawness and urgency. “After three days or four days out the ocean, the boat have a hole and the water coming,” conveys the isolation and fear that overwhelms this boatload of people stuck in a sinking boat in the South China Sea more effectively than a perfectly written sentence would have. In the case of Huong’s story, her unusual way of writing English makes her story all the more memorable and, as a work of literature, all the more effective. This story was written in 1985. In 2017, as I write this, children and families are once again fleeing in small boats from wars and mistreatment. This time, these frightening, and often fatal, voyages are taking place in the Mediterranean Sea as people flee the wars of Afghanistan, Syria, South Sudan and trouble in other countries, such as Eritrea. Huong’s story brings the reality of the boat trip alive to us in a way that news articles do not. How can you use this idea of non-standard English? For most writers, it is in writing dialogue that non-standard English is most useful as a literary tool. I suggest two projects. In one, create a character whose English is almost normal, but has a few small quirks that makes it unique. Once you have mastered a character with a few eccentric turns of phrase, write a story in which the whole story is told through a character whose language, like that Huong, is different from normal. If you choose a very young child as your character, then that story might explore the difference between what the child can say and what the child can see and understand. To prepare for these projects, listen carefully to how people talk. Listen to people talking the way you listen to music. For teachers, you might refer to William Faulkner’s “Sound and the Fury ” for a sense of how an adult writer uses non-standard English for expressive intent.
