October 5th – Our day started with a city tour. One of our tour options was to visit Ho Ch Minh’s tomb and childhood home. However, the queues for Ho Chi Minh can be several hours long especially on weekends so we swapped out the tomb for the well-respected ‘Vietnam Museum of Ethnography’.
The museum is dedicated to the 54 officially recognized ethnic groups in Vietnam. This includes the majority Kinh (Viets) and 53 minority groups, each with their own unique language, culture, and traditions. The museum has both an interior and exterior exhibition space. Interior space is dedicated to each minorities customs and clothing. The outside has reconstructed buildings from many of the tribal groups. Some of the historical structures had separate spaces depending on your sex and standing within the family group.
After the museum we visited the ‘Hoi Lo Historical Prison Relic’ (aka the ‘Hanoi Hilton’). The prison was originally built by the French between 1896 and 1901 and was called the ‘Maison Centrale’ (Central House) for Vietnamese political prisoners who were subject to torture and execution. It was known as ‘Hell on Earth’ to the Vietnamese. Prisoners were held in sub-human detention, and a wide variety of inhuman torture was performed by the French. It was built for 600 inmates and by 1954 it held more than 2000 people. After the French defeat in 1954 the prison came under the control of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and was used as an education center for revolutionary doctrine.
In 1964, the prison was used for captured American pilots who were shot down. From the beginning they endured miserable conditions, were interrogated and brutally tortured at the facility. Even though North Vietnam had signed the Geneva convention of 1949, they argued the conventions did not apply to U.S. pilots who were classified as war criminals instead of POW’s. Most of the facility has been torn down and converted to high rise office buildings. A small section of the original prison remains as a museum, including the torture chambers. As an American citizen it was very disturbing to see the propaganda that informs the visitor to this place. It is entirely from the Vietnamese perspective and denies any potential of wrongdoing on behalf of the Vietnamese government. They bill the museum as “a fascinating attraction for people who love peace”. They show pictures of captured American pilots raising chickens for extra food, attending church and decorating for Christmas as proof of the wonderful conditions the prisoners were held in. It was quite disgusting to be honest.
After the city tour, we returned to the hotel for a nice lunch of seafood fried rice for me and ‘Noodles with Seafood and Soya Sauce’ for Dick. Really good.
Our evening excursion was billed as a walking tour of Hanoi’s old quarter. There has been significant rain over the last few days and it was very hot and humid. We started with a walk along Hoan Kiem Lake where there are a lot of people hanging out and enjoying the day. There were a number of young ladies posing for photos in traditional garb. Bob seemed to think they were tik-tockers which is evidently a ‘thing’ here. There was also a book fair going on with vendors stretching for many blocks.
The Old Quarter is still the commercial heart of Hanoi and is very crowded with narrow streets. Buildings are quite narrow (think 20 feet wide) and very long. One small building might have 12 ‘apartments’ in it. Bob is quite energetic and wants us to see how the real people live. He takes us through alley ways that might be barely wide enough for a scooter to drive through. Many people live here, some in what looks to be one room housing for an entire family. Of course there is no air conditioning and the electrical hookups look like 15 extension cords plugged into a socket. Inside the walls of the Old City and it’s alleys are churches, temples, schools and food vendors.
The main method of transportation in Hanoi is by scooter and there are thousands of them. It is a challenge to try to cross a street, traffic laws are considered suggestions and ignored in most cases. The rule is – find an opening, head forward, and walk at a deliberate pace so the mob of drivers can anticipate your moves. Amazingly, it works!
Hanoi is famous for egg coffee. Bob took us to the original egg café, Café Giang. The drink is hard to describe but contains very strong coffee, whipped egg and condensed milk. It is wonderful, almost like a dessert.
On the way back to the hotel, Bob stopped us at a street vendor selling one of his favorite desserts – something that looks like donut holes. It involves sticky rice and fillings and are deep fried. I declined as I was determined to make it through this trip without any major gastro issues and eating street food is not on my list of approved activities. Dick decides to split the order of 6 with Bob. It was been a full and very hot day, sleep comes easy.
October 6th – Rains
We scheduled a down day for today and it is a good thing we did. Remnants of the latest typhoon are passing through and the rain was steady all day. In addition, Dick was dealing with some gastro issues after his street food experience last night.
We spend some time working on the blog and hanging out at the hotel. We do eventually brave the rain to find an ATM machine and then just hunker down and rest. Naps are good.
Mary