Vietnam is proud of its artists and craftsmen in ceramics. The village we visited, Bang Tràng is devoted to ceramics. The workshop down a mysterious set of alleys was expecting us. The owner showed us his workspace and we met his son who was learning the both the trade and was a student at the university of art.
A remarkable part of the visit had to do with a landowner who was badly treated during the communist takeover. Land was redistributed as a means to equalize means of production. A very poor job it was done and Ho Chi Minh himself said it was his biggest mistake.
The couple who so obviously loved each other spoke of their times. Each came from land owning gentry and so were despised by most communists. They married at night secretly by light of burning bicycle tires and the wife says she still gets scared when she smell burning rubber. Her husband had work at whatever he could find to support the family. They had three children and he was not there for any of the births because he was somewhere working. He had worked as a street sweeper, a water carrier, a garbage collector. Whatever he could find. They had no house and lived under a bridge at one point.
daily woodring 