Continued from
Chiang Mai - Hanoi Back Part 1
and
Chiang Mai - Hanoi Back Part 2 Sapa
and
Chiang Mai - Hanoi Back Part 3 Bac Ha
DAYS HANOI
Semi-rest day & tourist time...
2 nights in Hanoi & a small respite to look around the city
DAY 1 a couple of "compulsory tours"
Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum
we passed on this, & the above is as much as we saw.
Next stop were the lakes.
Silverhawk in front of John McCains memorial crash site.
Hanoi's lakes in he middle of the city are beautiful
Next stop was a little more serious: The Temple of Literature
From Wikipedia
The landmark was founded in 1070 as a Confucian temple. Only parts of the V?n Mi?u complex date back to the earliest period, although much of the architecture dates to the Lý (1010 – 1225) and Tr?n (1225 – 1400) Dynasties.
In 1076 Vietnam's first university, the Qu?c T? Giám (???) or Imperial Academy, was established within the temple to educate Vietnam's bureaucrats, nobles, royalty and other members of the elite. The university functioned for more than 700 years, from 1076 to 1779. Given the extreme difficulty of the doctor laureate tests, few students passed final examinations. The list of names engraved on the stone stele every year during this period is very small. The stele records 2,313 students graduating as doctor laureats.[1]
Emperor Lê Thánh Tông established the tradition, dating back to 1484, of carving the names of the laureates of the university on stone steles that were placed on top of stone tortoises. Of the 116 steles corresponding to the examinations held between 1142 and 1778, only 82 remain.
We weren't alone
Hello farang
Free classical VIetnamese music & singing
En route to the next attraction
The infamous "Hanoi Hilton" prison
From Wikipedia
The name Hoa Lo, commonly translated as "fiery furnace" or even "Hell's hole", also means "stove". The name originated from the street name ph? H?a Lò, due to the concentration of stores selling wood stoves and coal-fire stoves along the street from pre-colonial times.
The prison was built in Hanoi by the French, in dates ranging from 1886–1889 to 1898 to 1901, when Vietnam was still part of French Indochina. The French called the prison Maison Centrale —literally, Central House, a traditional euphemism to denote prisons in France. It was located near Hanoi's French Quarter. It was intended to hold Vietnamese prisoners, particularly political prisoners agitating for independence who were often subject to torture and execution.A 1913 renovation expanded its capacity from 460 inmates to 600. It was nevertheless often overcrowded, holding some 730 prisoners on a given day in 1916, a figure which would rise to 895 in 1922 and 1,430 in 1933. By 1954 it held more than 2000 people; with its inmates held in subhuman conditions, it had become a symbol of colonialist exploitation and of the bitterness of the Vietnamese towards the French.
The central urban location of the prison also became part of its early character. During the 1910s through 1930s, street peddlers made an occupation of passing outside messages in through the jail's windows and tossing tobacco and opium over the walls; letters and packets would be thrown out to the street in the opposite direction. Within the prison itself, communication and ideas passed. Indeed, many of the future leading figures in Communist North Vietnam spent time in Maison Centrale during the 1930s and 1940s; in the end the prison served as an education center for revolutionary doctrine and activity, and it was kept around after the French left to mark its historical significance to the North Vietnamese.
The Hanoi Hilton was merely one site used by the North Vietnamese Army to house, torture and interrogate captured servicemen, mostly American pilots shot down during bombing raids. Although North Vietnam was a signatory of the Third Geneva Convention of 1949, which demanded "decent and humane treatment" of prisoners of war, severe torture methods were employed, such as rope bindings, irons, beatings, and prolonged solitary confinement. The aim of the torture was usually not acquiring military information; rather, it was to break the will of the prisoners, both individually and as a group. The goal of the North Vietnamese was to get written or recorded statements from the prisoners that criticized U.S. conduct of the war and praised how the North Vietnamese treated them. Such POW statements would be viewed as a propaganda victory in the battle to sway world and U.S. domestic opinion against the U.S. war effort. In the end, North Vietnamese torture was sufficiently brutal and prolonged that virtually every American POW so subjected made a statement of some kind at some time. (As one later wrote of finally being forced to make an anti-American statement: "I had learned what we all learned over there: Every man has his breaking point. I had reached mine." Realizing this, the Americans' aim became to absorb as much torture as they could before giving in; one later described the internal code the POWs developed and instructed new arrivals on as: "Take physical torture until you are right at the edge of losing your ability to be rational. At that point, lie, do, or say whatever you must do to survive. But you first must take physical torture."
The Solitary Confinement Cell
The sentry box
A monument to the sewer escapees
16 Vietnamese prisoners escaped from the French through this "rat hole" on the night of 14 December 1951.
The view from the other end
And then it was the turn of the Americans to be imprisoned by the Vietnamese
McCains captured airman's suit (I think it was.) McCain seemed to get a lot of the glory, but you have to wonder about all the other guys who suffered & died.
A photo of damage from an American bomb
Uncle Ho's Happy New Year message from 1969
and still in pristine condition.
The death row cells
and if it was the French who had you locked up - this was your easy way out
After visiting this site I could not but help think, how cruel life can be & how cruel man can be to fellow man.
Why do we do it & how do we trap ourselves in such terrible situations.
It is really necessary?
Back on the road, more Hanoi traffic
it was a wise thought, organising the day sightseeing in an aircon mini bus & not doing it on the bikes fighting your way throiugh the traffic - just to get lost?
Whilst seeking out a restaurant for lunch, we spotted a couple of big bikes on the street & I could not resist not getting a photo
And this one was the winner
go here
what-bike-is-this-t7506.html
to find out what it is.
Just next door a street side artisan
One of his masterpieces?
Lunch was at a hole in the wall cafe
and it was incredibly delicious
food fit for a captain?
After lunch it was back to the lake area
and a serious tourist jaunt through the old French Quarter
The pressure's on & who's going to make a decision
Overall the rickshaw ride was certainly interesting, but you could have walked faster & you did not need an hour.
Back lakeside
Joe wanted some chain lube for the AX1 & the F650, so the hunt was on
walking was the only way to go & find the right shop in this traffic. We found some & retired to the hotel, somewhat stressed out with the frenetic pace of Hanoi, plus knowing that tomorrow was yet another push on day.
However before we left Hanoi, one more celebratory banquet dinner
I have no complaints whatsoever about the food in Vietnam - absolutely delicious everyday, not that I knew exactly what it was I was eating all the time!
Then before we hit the sack, a night cap at the 17 Cowboys Pub
needless to say I was again highly impressed, with the staff, service (& bill, very impressive.)
Two nights 1 day in Hanoi was nowhere near enough & I want to return for a few days R&R with Happy go-lucky...
GO TO NEXT PART (5) HANOI - XAM NUA (LAOS)
Chiang Mai - Hanoi Back Part 5 Hanoi - Xam Nua
Chiang Mai - Hanoi Back Part 1
and
Chiang Mai - Hanoi Back Part 2 Sapa
and
Chiang Mai - Hanoi Back Part 3 Bac Ha
DAYS HANOI
Semi-rest day & tourist time...
2 nights in Hanoi & a small respite to look around the city
DAY 1 a couple of "compulsory tours"
Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum
we passed on this, & the above is as much as we saw.
Next stop were the lakes.
Silverhawk in front of John McCains memorial crash site.
Hanoi's lakes in he middle of the city are beautiful
Next stop was a little more serious: The Temple of Literature
From Wikipedia
The landmark was founded in 1070 as a Confucian temple. Only parts of the V?n Mi?u complex date back to the earliest period, although much of the architecture dates to the Lý (1010 – 1225) and Tr?n (1225 – 1400) Dynasties.
In 1076 Vietnam's first university, the Qu?c T? Giám (???) or Imperial Academy, was established within the temple to educate Vietnam's bureaucrats, nobles, royalty and other members of the elite. The university functioned for more than 700 years, from 1076 to 1779. Given the extreme difficulty of the doctor laureate tests, few students passed final examinations. The list of names engraved on the stone stele every year during this period is very small. The stele records 2,313 students graduating as doctor laureats.[1]
Emperor Lê Thánh Tông established the tradition, dating back to 1484, of carving the names of the laureates of the university on stone steles that were placed on top of stone tortoises. Of the 116 steles corresponding to the examinations held between 1142 and 1778, only 82 remain.
We weren't alone
Hello farang
Free classical VIetnamese music & singing
En route to the next attraction
The infamous "Hanoi Hilton" prison
From Wikipedia
The name Hoa Lo, commonly translated as "fiery furnace" or even "Hell's hole", also means "stove". The name originated from the street name ph? H?a Lò, due to the concentration of stores selling wood stoves and coal-fire stoves along the street from pre-colonial times.
The prison was built in Hanoi by the French, in dates ranging from 1886–1889 to 1898 to 1901, when Vietnam was still part of French Indochina. The French called the prison Maison Centrale —literally, Central House, a traditional euphemism to denote prisons in France. It was located near Hanoi's French Quarter. It was intended to hold Vietnamese prisoners, particularly political prisoners agitating for independence who were often subject to torture and execution.A 1913 renovation expanded its capacity from 460 inmates to 600. It was nevertheless often overcrowded, holding some 730 prisoners on a given day in 1916, a figure which would rise to 895 in 1922 and 1,430 in 1933. By 1954 it held more than 2000 people; with its inmates held in subhuman conditions, it had become a symbol of colonialist exploitation and of the bitterness of the Vietnamese towards the French.
The central urban location of the prison also became part of its early character. During the 1910s through 1930s, street peddlers made an occupation of passing outside messages in through the jail's windows and tossing tobacco and opium over the walls; letters and packets would be thrown out to the street in the opposite direction. Within the prison itself, communication and ideas passed. Indeed, many of the future leading figures in Communist North Vietnam spent time in Maison Centrale during the 1930s and 1940s; in the end the prison served as an education center for revolutionary doctrine and activity, and it was kept around after the French left to mark its historical significance to the North Vietnamese.
The Hanoi Hilton was merely one site used by the North Vietnamese Army to house, torture and interrogate captured servicemen, mostly American pilots shot down during bombing raids. Although North Vietnam was a signatory of the Third Geneva Convention of 1949, which demanded "decent and humane treatment" of prisoners of war, severe torture methods were employed, such as rope bindings, irons, beatings, and prolonged solitary confinement. The aim of the torture was usually not acquiring military information; rather, it was to break the will of the prisoners, both individually and as a group. The goal of the North Vietnamese was to get written or recorded statements from the prisoners that criticized U.S. conduct of the war and praised how the North Vietnamese treated them. Such POW statements would be viewed as a propaganda victory in the battle to sway world and U.S. domestic opinion against the U.S. war effort. In the end, North Vietnamese torture was sufficiently brutal and prolonged that virtually every American POW so subjected made a statement of some kind at some time. (As one later wrote of finally being forced to make an anti-American statement: "I had learned what we all learned over there: Every man has his breaking point. I had reached mine." Realizing this, the Americans' aim became to absorb as much torture as they could before giving in; one later described the internal code the POWs developed and instructed new arrivals on as: "Take physical torture until you are right at the edge of losing your ability to be rational. At that point, lie, do, or say whatever you must do to survive. But you first must take physical torture."
The Solitary Confinement Cell
The sentry box
A monument to the sewer escapees
16 Vietnamese prisoners escaped from the French through this "rat hole" on the night of 14 December 1951.
The view from the other end
And then it was the turn of the Americans to be imprisoned by the Vietnamese
McCains captured airman's suit (I think it was.) McCain seemed to get a lot of the glory, but you have to wonder about all the other guys who suffered & died.
A photo of damage from an American bomb
Uncle Ho's Happy New Year message from 1969
and still in pristine condition.
The death row cells
and if it was the French who had you locked up - this was your easy way out
After visiting this site I could not but help think, how cruel life can be & how cruel man can be to fellow man.
Why do we do it & how do we trap ourselves in such terrible situations.
It is really necessary?
Back on the road, more Hanoi traffic
it was a wise thought, organising the day sightseeing in an aircon mini bus & not doing it on the bikes fighting your way throiugh the traffic - just to get lost?
Whilst seeking out a restaurant for lunch, we spotted a couple of big bikes on the street & I could not resist not getting a photo
And this one was the winner
go here
what-bike-is-this-t7506.html
to find out what it is.
Just next door a street side artisan
One of his masterpieces?
Lunch was at a hole in the wall cafe
and it was incredibly delicious
food fit for a captain?
After lunch it was back to the lake area
and a serious tourist jaunt through the old French Quarter
The pressure's on & who's going to make a decision
Overall the rickshaw ride was certainly interesting, but you could have walked faster & you did not need an hour.
Back lakeside
Joe wanted some chain lube for the AX1 & the F650, so the hunt was on
walking was the only way to go & find the right shop in this traffic. We found some & retired to the hotel, somewhat stressed out with the frenetic pace of Hanoi, plus knowing that tomorrow was yet another push on day.
However before we left Hanoi, one more celebratory banquet dinner
I have no complaints whatsoever about the food in Vietnam - absolutely delicious everyday, not that I knew exactly what it was I was eating all the time!
Then before we hit the sack, a night cap at the 17 Cowboys Pub
needless to say I was again highly impressed, with the staff, service (& bill, very impressive.)
Two nights 1 day in Hanoi was nowhere near enough & I want to return for a few days R&R with Happy go-lucky...
GO TO NEXT PART (5) HANOI - XAM NUA (LAOS)
Chiang Mai - Hanoi Back Part 5 Hanoi - Xam Nua
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