Hỏa Lò Prison (Hanoi Hilton)

Well, let’s just say that it wasn’t a pleasant place to stay. It appears that Senator McCain didn’t have a particularly enjoyable time as a prisoner of war. While the exhibits in the prison suggest that the men and women engaged in activities like playing basketball, celebrating Christmas, joking around, having family dinners, and sending and receiving mail from home, that is propaganda and this was a prison and they were prisioners of war. 

It’s a former French colonial prison in Hanoi, built in the late 1800s to lock up Vietnamese political prisoners. 

Later, during the Vietnam War, it was used to hold American POWs. Today it’s a museum: small cells, iron shackles, guillotines, and interestingly, plenty of info about French brutality and resistance. 

Women's Museum

This museum gave a very nice history of the people of Vietnam and their customs. It focuses on women’s lives across Vietnam—family roles, marriage, childbirth, fashion, work, and especially their roles in war and resistance. 

IIt was a pleasant experience because it offered a glimpse into Vietnam’s daily life rather than focusing solely on emperors and generals. 

This perspective prompted me to reconsider my approach to exploring new cities and countries. It wasn’t until now that we discovered a museum like this in Hanoi. 

As we travel into cities and countries, particularly the first city we visit, We’ll make it a point to find a logical list of museums that can guide us through the cultural nuances of the respective countries. 

This approach should help my understanding of the people and their way of life. 

Hoàn Kiếm Lake at night

We found out two things yesterday, one was that the French Quarter is a lot easier to walk around than the Old Quarter. 

Secondly, the streets around the lake are closed off to traffic on the weekends and you are able to promenade around the lake and enjoy the lights and other tourists walking around.

Additionally, I suppose a third thing is that the city appears to be less crowded on weekends. The roads are not as congested, and even the Old Quarter is not as challenging to navigate. 

A bit of foreshadowing 

The Imperial Citadel 

Kerry and I navigated through the smog and traffic, making our way to the Imperial Citadel in Hanoi. This ancient walled palace area served as the residence and workplace of Vietnam’s rulers. 

It’s more than 1,000 years old and used to be where the rulers of Vietnam lived and worked. We walked through large gates and wide open spaces, following stone paths past old ruins with a few renovated areas. When we were there, they were getting ready for Tết, so people were planting lots of flowers and setting up a folk fair. There were booths from all over Vietnam selling local food and products from their home regions.

It’s much quieter than the busy streets outside(more on that later), so it feels like a break from the chaos. A lot of it was under construction for Tết, and just under construction in general. Some areas were blocked off because they’re still doing archaeological digging and working on the site.

There were exhibitions that showed the different dynasties, which were done really well, and then the surprise Vietnam secret bunker where they planned to defeat the Americans. This was a super interesting exhibit which was taken from a different perspective than we know it. It was pretty weird walking through the bunkers that were used during the Vietnam War. 

Back to the Turtles!!

And Back to the Traffic!!

While fun, the traffic poses a constant feeling that you are going to be hit or otherwise injured. This makes walking here very stressful and tiring, once we arrive to the location we are looking for, we are fine. It just makes us very tired by the end of the day, as does the smog. Clouds = Smog 

 Hello Vietnam!!

We are now in Hanoi, and what a city! I am still suffering from my illness, though I thought I was all better in the morning and tried out some Vietnamese coffee, and it put me on my back the rest of the morning. 

We got started slower this morning, but still managed to walk around Hoan Kiem Lake, see some sights and get some more rest. The streets are very chaotic and we have been enjoying the busy vibe and learning to cross the street. The air was rough, though, and a reminder that clean-air standards matter. 

Hoàn Kiếm Lake and the park around it are in the middle of Hanoi. The lake is famous for the legend of a giant turtle that took back a magical sword from an emperor after a war, which is why the lake’s name means “Returned Sword.” The small temple on the island, Ngọc Sơn Temple, is run by local authorities and honors a mix of traditional beliefs and a Vietnamese national hero. It’s not really a place for deep religious practice, it's just a deep lake with a scary turtle. 

Maybe not so scary.

All along the lake for Chinese New Year are women dressed in traditional outfits having their pictures taken. 

We made it all the way around the lake and back to the hotel. 

We took a rest and went out to the train street to sit at a cafe and have a train crush our toes, but we learned that the bridge was out and no train for us. We are here for a while so we will see the train. It was fun to just sit and take in the vibe. 

The Temple Of Literature

The Temple of Literature is one of the few quiet places in Hanoi built almost 1,000 years ago to honor learning. It became Vietnam’s first university, where top students studied to become government officials. Today it’s a calm spot with courtyards, gardens, and stone slabs listing the names of scholars who passed hard exams. and a whole bunch of these girls getting their photos taken. 

The stone turtles carry tablets carved with the names of scholars who passed the royal exams hundreds of years ago. The turtles stand for wisdom and long life, while the inscriptions celebrate learning and hard work. 

The temple follows Confucian ideas, which stress education, respect, and moral behavior as the foundation of a good society.

Of course, Col. Sanders watching over things, wait, is that a hammer and sickle?

So let's take a second and address the girls around the lake. While you didn’t see any in the pictures above, they were all around the Temple of Literature. There are troops of girls with photographers and usually a person with a reflection screen for the perfect light. I understand that it is a recent happening, probably a combination of Instagram, tradition, and influencers. They can hire a photographer for between $40.00 and $80 a day and a make-up artist at 6:00am for the big shoot. I will post a picture later to show the gravity of it. There are so many, one can barely get a picture off or move through an area without getting into someone's picture. In fact, it is many times difficult to move through an area because there are so many pictures being taken. 

Luang Prabang 

Kerry has never met a mount, something or another, that she doesn't like. She found one here in Luang Prabang. 

Mount Phou Si is basically the small hill in the middle of Luang Prabang that everyone climbs, so of course we did too. 

It’s not a long hike, just a lot of steps, with little shrines along the way that make you slow down whether you mean to or not.

From the top, you get the full picture of the town wedged between the Mekong and the Nam Khan.

We went to a couple of more Wats and a bit watted out. However, there is always something interesting to see. 

Here we have a dragon boat, which may not seem so surprising. 

But, here we have the holiest of holy Volkswagen Beetles in a glass garage. One of the famous monks owned this, and it will sit here for thousands of years. 

We capped off Luang Prabang with a sunset cruise on the Mekong. It was really a nice time, and we met some Wisconsinites from Kenosha. We sat and chatted with them all night and enjoyed the most magnificent sunset. 

Monks on the shore of the Mekong.

Not our boat, but it looks like it. 

Our friends from Kenosha. Los Capitánes!!

Vientiane

Another city, another night market. This particular area of the night market has all you can eat hot pot or grilled seafood for $ 20.00 USD, all you can eat, no time limit. 

I guess alligator is seafood? Well, so are river prawns. 

Careful with the beer nuts..

Salty and crunchy as you would imagine.

Another day, another Wat.

We went back to the seafood place and had an amazing Hot Pot Seafood experience. We entered the outdoor restaurant and for $20.00 we got a hot pot and we could walk all around where they had fresh oysters, squid, sliced pork, vegetables, and other amazing things including fresh alligator or crocodile, I am not sure. 

When we first arrived, we had no idea what we were doing, and a couple of waitresses took pity on us and showed us the way. The food was amazing. We cooked it after all.

We went to the Laos Art Museum, and while pretty amazing, it's not finished and fairly weird. First, you have to walk across a lake to get to it. 

It is filled with reclaimed wood carvings. They are against clear cutting and have reclaimed wood that someone or many people have carved into beautiful sculptures.

This is the entry hall. 

These line the entry hall kind of like the National Statuary Hall. 

Then down to the lower floor on an elevator that is not functioning and dark. Also, I didn't mention that the whole place is dark. No lights on anything except for the lower halls. The big hall on the upper floor is completely dark, no light, no power. Not even in the bathrooms. 

On to the National Museum

Yes, the whole thing is practically empty except for this exhibit that explains the war where the American imperialists came and invaded, which was very interesting to see from their perspective.   

We also went to the Textile Museum.

Then we got sick for a day and a half (36 Hours) and moved on to Vietnam after adding another day to Laos and Changing the flight.