Hanoi, Vietnam - Day 1

On March 21, 2009 we headed to Vietnam to visit Hanoi, Sapa and Halong Bay. All these cities are located in North Vietnam. Hanoi is the Capital of Vietnam and means "bend in the river" as the city is located on the Red River which comes down from China and runs through the city. Hanoi became the Capital in 1010, so they are planning a big 1000 year celebration in 2010. Vietnam has many influences having been ruled by the Chinese and French and politically guided by the Russians. The French took control of Hanoi in 1888 until 1954 and portions of the city's architecture has a French influence. The population is about 3.5 million people with about 2/3 of the people using a motorbike as their primary mode of transportation. It is organized chaos like you have never seen! There are no road rules so drivers of motorbikes and cars drive in every lane, every direction, turn from anywhere they want - it is unbelievable!! You don't go a minute without hearing honking from a car or motorbike as honking is viewed as a reminder to others that you are approaching rather than an angry motorist.

On our first day we visited the Hoa Lo Prison, known to us as the Hanoi Hilton - the prison that housed US airman during the Vietnam War. It is located in the French Quarter of the city. It was built and opened by the French in 1896 to imprison anti-colonial movements. There were many Vietnamese patriots and revolutionaries imprisoned there by the French during their occupation. Vietnam became liberated in 1954 and the prison housed American pilots from August 1964-March 1973. There is a section dedicated to the American Pilots that includes many of their personal belongings such as clothing (even John McCain's Fighter Pilot suit), photos of them being captured from their planes, Everett Alvarez's belongings (first US pilot shot down and captured). The propaganda is unbelievable. A plaque is posted with regards to the treatment of the US pilots stating " During the war, the National Economy was difficult but the Vietnamese Government had created the best living conditions to US pilots for they had a stable life during the temporary detention period". There are pictures of US serviceman decorating xmas trees, making dinner, playing basketball, laughing etc... We met a woman there who good friend's husband was a prisoner there for 6+ years. She said he talked mostly of the tapping on the walls to communicate with fellow serviceman, not any of the "parties" shown in the pictures. In John McCain's book he writes of similar situations and stated that they would take them out of their cells to photograph them having a normal living situation but that was not the reality. The cells were small and dark and the building that remains today is about 1/3 of the actual prison as the rest of it has been torn down for office buildings.

The visit was very interesting and the Vietnamese like the Americans suffered greatly at the prison. The original guillotine is displayed that was used by the French against Vietnamese activists. Admission to the museum was 5,000 dong - 17,000 dong = 1 USD. The Vietnamese accept the US dollar as much if not more than the Vietnamese Dong. Many of the items we purchased were listed in US dollars.