Vietnam on Two wheels: Hanoi

Day 4- Hanoi Hilton and The Streets Of Hanoi

Vietnam

Friday, March 11, 2011

Today we walked the few blocks from our hotel in the French quarter of Hanoi to the infamous HoA Lo prison. Better known to US pilots who were shot down and captured during the Vietnam war as the Hanoi Hilton. I am sure that there are worse places in the world to spend a few years in captivity but probably not very many. This prison was build by the French colonial government to house, torture and kill political prisoners who opposed French rule in Indochina. After the Vietnamese won the famous battle at Dien Bien Phu, the prison was taken over by the Vietnamese. The maltreatment of prisoners did not end there. John Macain's flight jacket, parachute and other items taken from him are on prominent display. A number of propaganda photos showing the captured US pilots playing volleyball and having an all around good time are displayed in one of the original rooms. You cannot tour this facility with out it moving you emotionally. I also understand that the propaganda from one side is as bad as the propaganda from the other. With every passing day, it becomes more and more clear to me, the very grave mistake the we made when we invaded this amazing country in the 60's. We take a short drive to visit Ho Chi Minhs mausoleum in central Hanoi. Here we find all the pomp and ceremony befitting any fallen communist leader. Just behind the mausoleum, we tour a place that has "Uncle Ho's" original stilt house and a famous one-pillar pagoda. A quick walk brings us the the famous water puppet theater. Several acts depicting rural life in Hanoi with live music round out entertainment. One of the band members was a beautiful Vietnamese gal who played A single stringed instrument called a Dan Bau. The sound can at times be haunting from this monochorded instrument but is always beautiful and takes a lot of skill to coax such an evocative sound from a single string. We took a cyclo ride back to the hotel through the busy streets of Hanoi. A cycle is like a rickshaw except the driver is behind you on a bike and you are in front. The view is total unobstructed and you are at the complete mercy of the driver as he bobs and weaves between hundreds and hundreds of motorcycles, pedestrians and tour buses. You would think that he would need all of his faculties to make sure that he does not make any mistakes but my driver could not think of a better time to pull out his long single-chambered pipe, load it up and take one quick hit and then quickly tuck it away all the while pedaling and avoiding traffic down the narrow streets. Hanoi is a city like no other. The stamp of a communist controlled country is evident everywhere I this small city that never dabbled in the freedoms and openeess of it's southern counterpart, Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). Hanaoi, is austere, crowded and noisy, but is is also vibrant, colorful and absolutely teeming with a population that is busy working an eagerly taking advantage of recent economic reforms. There is not a corner of Hanoi, that does not reflect a burgeoning enterprise of one sort or another. There are no beggars and no one looking for a handout in this very poor city. Rather, people everywhere have started to build their own sources of income from vendors selling traditional Pho soup to bike tire repair shops to small appliance vendors. Everyone seems to have a specialty and everyone is hard at work trying to build a better life.