NHA AM Coffee House - Vietnam War and LGBT headquarters.

Today as I am writing this article, I am sitting in one of my most favorite coffee houses in HaNoi which is called NHA AM COFFEE. NHA AM literary means the warm house coffee. This is my one of my best recommended coffee houses that I suggest for international students in HaNoi

So, why is this NHA AM COFFEE so great??? I will show you the reasons below.

First, I would like to introduce your guys with the coffee house culture in Vietnam, I might have been very familiar with Vienna coffee house culture. Perhaps something is quite similar in Vietnam, the country which is thousands of miles away from Vienna.

Coffee used to be the drink or kind of beverage which once is just for the nobility/ the elites or urban intellectual, otherwise in the past just rich people could have free time drinking and experiencing coffee.

Okay, you might feel weird that most of people think that in Vietnam or Asia, people would drink tea. Oh yes.

Many people in Vietnam, especially those living the countryside or far away from the city, or more specific in my hometown of Thai Nguyen for example, old generations still drink a lot of tea.

For example in my hometown, whenever someone visit my house, the parents will say:
Hoang, boil the water.
In this case, boiling the water does not just mean boiling the water but to make tea.
I will boil the water then take some dried tea to put in a tea pot, then put some boiling water.

During some special occasions such as New Year or Holidays, many relatives of my family such as grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins will visit my home. As a result I will have to make a lot of tea.

So that is a good instance of traditional drinking in Vietnam.

But now I will come back and talk about drinking coffee.

Coffee is a type of drink that has followed the French people to come to Vietnam in the 19thcentury, It is the fact that you will tell you thousands of Vietnamese people had to work at coffee plantations in the highlands of Vietnam. 
Then Vietnamese people started to drink coffee, at first in the highlands then spreaded to urban area or big cities such as Hanoi and Hochiminh city.

Over time, drinking coffee became an indispensable part of Vietnamese culture and life. So on many travel consultancy sites, many cafes become attractive destinations and it also has attracted many foreign visitors.

I can say that coffee in the early 1990s became a typical image of Vietnam's urban area - no name or signboard, only plastic chairs, random tables on the sidewalks. People like fancy cafes in quiet corners, under trees or on a busy street but still private enough. Some people read newspapers, watch cars, some drunk with coffee.

Hanoians or People living in Hanoi are those people who enjoy coffee phin most, each coffee house  has its own secret.

Some people think that it must be tightly tapped before the boiling water, while someone carefully scoop the spoonful of boiling water into the filter to make a strong taste.

So as a student having lived in Hanoi for 7 years, I am like other Hanoians loving to drink coffee at the coffee house.

So about NHA AM Café or NHA AM coffee house.

The first thing I have to mention is the atmosphere of the house. It was not very big, actually kind of a normal house in French Style in Hanoi. But when I came inside the space was very large.  

My first impression of the space was that it was a dark room with dim lights, each one of which was a long story about preserving traditional cultural values.

I can feel the air of a subsidized time re-enacted with "typewriter", "dial phone", "toad fan", "black and white television" ", Corner" sewing patch ". It is also the place where the generation of those who have gone through hardship has relived a part of their memory.

Have you ever remembered an ancient Hanoi with gray walls, tire signboards, scrawl food stalls, bicycles that were "patched up" by different parts?

Every little object in this place has a modest space of its own but brings in a breath of memories, a story of its own journey.

My first impression of the space was that it was a dark room with dim lights, each one of which was a long story about preserving traditional cultural values.

I can feel the air of a subsidized time re-enacted with "typewriter", "dial phone", "toad fan", "black and white television" ", Corner" sewing patch ". It is also the place where the generation of those who have gone through hardship has relived a part of their memory.

Have you ever remembered an ancient Hanoi with gray walls, tire signboards, scrawl food stalls, bicycles that were "patched up" by different parts?

Every little object in this place has a modest space of its own but brings in a breath of memories, a story of its own journey.

For example, I could tell a story about a red television

Go to Cafe  NHa Am, sitting on a wooden chair turned to the neck, the first thing that hit my eyes is the bright red TV right at the door.I said if anyone still remember the trade shops, the Rice stamps, solid dragon lineages, old food stalls, squatting on the tinkering train, the stuff of the 1970s-80s ... they are the memories of a Hanoi- The subsidy period, difficult but full of memories.

That is when the family owned a Japanese red Sanyo television produced like this is considered the "giants" subsidized. Every evening there will be people in the village, sometimes even the whole village to hold a place to wait to watch a movie, a newsletter.

I remember when I was little, near my house had a TV like that and every evening, our children rushed to watch television.

It is true that "look at each old object like this one makes people pay back," as a guest of the Cafe said.

What's more, that's the story of a bike

It is a contribution from Binh - one of the three founders of the organization. The bicycle from subsidized period, the 70's already.

Not from the beginning was complete like this, but rather rewritten in detail one. His parents worked at Van Diem factory, Phu Xuyen, Ha Tay drew lots for each one. Sometimes get the cake, when the saddle, or sometimes re-exchange with your colleague take the frame. Just like that, the bicycle was assembled bit by bit, was attached to his family. It is not a regular means, have a chance to go, go out, to spend so much to use.

One afternoon was sitting chatting with Mr. Binh at the Cafe Warm, he said: "I remember the time sitting behind the bear clutching the mother under the cycle of cycling that the red road around the village. But now think again as far away as a memory, a time ago.

Also, I remember the story of the artillery shells that Vietnamese soldiers used to shoot American aircrafts B52.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33766644

The B-52 Stratofortress is a strategic jet bomber used by the USAF since 1955, replacing the Convair B-36 and the Boeing B-47. Originally designed to carry nuclear weapons during the Cold War, it was only used to drop conventional weapons in actual wars. This aircraft is the longest non-refueling long-range bomber capable of carrying up to 27 tonnes (60,000 lb) of weaponry.

Most used in the Vietnam War (source wikimedia)

In the face of heavy defeats in both North and South Vietnam, on October 22, 1972, President Nixon ordered a cease-fire and bombardment of North 20th parallel.

At this time, the four-party conference in Paris has been meeting for nearly 160 sessions, but the United States is still melancholy. The General Staff commanded the armed forces:

"It is very likely that the enemy will fight back to the North with more severe use including the use of B-52 attack in Hanoi, Hai Phong. Therefore, the mission of the Air Defense-Air Force is to focus all capabilities on the right target B-52 destroy. "

It was a great victory for us in front of the Americans, and I remember that my grandmother was pregnant with my mother so she went up to the mountains in Cao Bang province bordering China to lay my mother.

My grandmother did that in order to avoid US bombing.

Yes, we learned a lot about this fight. I will briefly describe the following.

From 18-30 December 1972, the US Air Force launched air raids with B-52 strategic bombers in Hanoi, Hai Phong and some major cities in northern Vietnam.

For 12 days and nights, the US used 663 times the B-52 and 3,920 times the tactical aircraft flown to Hanoi, Haiphong and some other places with more than 100,000 tons of bombs.

The amount of cumulative power thrown by throwing 12 atomic bombs down Hirosima in Japan.

A horrible crime that our generation learned about American imperialism.

Particularly in Hanoi, with 444 times the B-52s and several tactical planes they dropped 10,000 tons of bombs, the equivalent of the atomic bomb that the United States threw down in Hiroshima.

The atrocities committed by the United States killed and wounded nearly 4,000 people. In addition, US bombs destroyed many neighborhoods, villages, destroyed 5,480 homes.

Barbaric, the US Air Force also hit on civilian targets. At 2:00 pm on December 22, B-52 bombed Bach Mai Hospital, killing many patients and medical staff.

At 22h47 on the night of December 26th, a B-52 squadron dropped nearly 90 tons of bombs down Kham Thien Town, killing 287 people and injuring 290.

The world pressed "wave" on the inhuman attract !!!

In the last days of December 1972, many international newspapers (including those within the United States) vehemently condemned the Nixon administration's brutal actions when it raided the North Vietnamese.

Le Monde (France) called the US bombing "a disgusting act comparable to the Nazi bombings." A Japanese newspaper commented that the US was a "blind giant".

Swedish Prime Minister Olop Palme even called the "American crime comparable to the Nazi massacres of the Nazis during the Second World War."

Our generations fought for the heroic 12 days to protect Hanoi and forced US President Nixon to sign a negotiated agreement to withdraw US troops from Vietnam.

I must stress that this is an important event, an important battle, and in every Vietnamese person, everyone knows about it. I personally am proud of it.

The propaganda poster in the walls of NHA AM Coffee.

You can probably read it – Cha Truyen Con Noi

There are also many poscards made by the Communist Party during the world

I will explain to you. It means kind of hereditary. More specific, this poster is used during the Vietnam war to show that Vietnam will fight with American for generations.
You can probably see the pictures of a man and his son.
It shows that when he dies, his son will replace him to go to war.

I think it could be a little different from Europe but in Vietnam, the war was the people war or the war between USA and Vietnam, so most of Vietnamese people would go to the battle fields.

Nha Am coffee house is the headquartes of the LGBT community in Hanoi.

Next story, I especially introduce NHA AM Coffee house  to  someone who belongs to LGBT community.

Many of my friends visit the Nha Am coffee house have said  for example: "Nha Am coffee is the headquarters of the LGBT community."

Why?

To this place, people not only feel like stepping into their house but also realizing that they are entering a miniature society where all people are equal.

It means whoever you are, you will receive fully respect in here.

In general I find out that this coffee house is quite open to LGBT friends, whereas  I would say that it was such a great coffee house in a conservative Asian country like Vietnam, where many people are discriminating against LGBT people.

I go through many other cafes in Hanoi, I've seen many LGBT people pointed out by other people secretly. They whispered.
"Is that son or daughter?", "Is it gay or transgender?",

My friend, an LGBT, was also annoyed at being the focus of the sight, as he is tasting or  sipping coffee. Even sometimes he was broken only by ... the curiosity of others.

Understanding that need, the NHA AM cafe has been built to be a comfortable space for LGBTs

So I love visitng NHA AM COFFEE, you can see the place of memory, the place of traditional values but still very open-minded.

Hope that you will visit this site somedays.
I felt very tired now. I will drink some more coffee. :v :v :v