Our 6 am early morning wakeup call is to prepare us for “The Essence of Hanoi” excursion. The weather is cold so we wrap up against this unseasonal temperature. They assure us that it will get warmer as we cruise south. Bill and I are rather ill prepared as we had packed for the tropics. Unique to Seabourn we travel in Mercedes Mini Vans which seat no more than 8 passengers not including driver and tour guide. This is more personal and the van can get from A to B quickly to maneuver through the scary Hanoi traffic. We had a great group Ourselves, Ray and Carmen from Miami Florida, Dominique who is a French Australian travelling on her own and Bill and Debbie from Perth .Our tour guide was King who resides in Hanoi. He is a real sweetie and he does a great shoulder massage. He called me Marm which I deemed appropriate.
The trip to Hanoi from Cai Lan takes 3 ½ hours because of the horrendous traffic and the things that are carried on motorbikes must be seen to be believed. The photos tell their own story.
A little bit of information unique to Vietnam. Vietnam has a population of 84 Million. It is predominantly an agricultural nation doing wet rice cultivation. It is very dusty and is a victim of air pollution. 20,000 Dong = 1 US $. Vietnam was invaded in 1850 by the French who occupied the country for 70 years. In 1954 Ho Chi Minh took power. The US troops moved in to stop the spread of communism along with Britain, Australia and NZ until the 1973 Paris Accord, where the US and their allies withdrew their troops. The US resumed diplomatic ties in 1995.
Hanoi (translated the Place of the Ascending Dragon) itself is a city of 6.5 million people and sits on the banks of the Red River. Our first stop was Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum. It is on a grand scale and is a replica of Lenin’s tomb. Ho Chi Minh’s dying wish was for his remains to be split 3 ways to go to the 3 parts of Vietnam. After he fell off his perch there was so much dissention amongst the ranks that they have left him intact at Hanoi. The interior was closed to the public so this was purely a photo opportunity.
Our next port of call was to the One Pillared Pagoda. This was constructed in 1049 and destroyed during the French occupation. The existing one is a replica and is supposed to resemble a lotus flower that represents purity.
Our next visit was to the temple of literature. It was the first university and was created for Vietnam’s elite. It pays homage to Confucius. There were 2313 graduates whose names have been immortalized on 116 Stele. It is apparently good luck to rub the head of the turtle in order to impart intelligence. Sadly it is too late for Woody. It is a serene place of water and flowers to stimulate learning.
Then it was a sobering visit to Ho Lau Prison. This was built by the French and was also where American POWs were held during the Vietnam War. It was sarcastically known as the Hanoi Hilton. Apparently Senator John McCain was a “guest” there. It was really horrible. It was a hotbed of propaganda and a lot of misinformation was fed to the public and media as to how the prisoners were treated. American Celebrities like Jane Fonda(“Hanoi Jane”) were used to portray the fact that the prisoners were well treated which was indeed not the case. It was a great relief to leave and be treated to a sumptuous Vietnamese lunch.
Following this we went to the Lake of the Restored Sword. This has a pagoda in the middle of the lake and is regarded as the “Central Park“ of Hanoi. The completion of our tour involved strolling through the old French quarter. Carmen particularly enjoyed crossing the road looking death out of the corner of her eye and gloating about it afterwards. She had never had so much fun since her early days as a Private Eye. It was then the long trek back to Cai Lan arriving back at the ship at 7-45pm. Ray, Carmen and ourselves had a great late meal together. Carmen is so funny, wears her heart on her sleeve and we now know the ins and outs of long suffering Ray’s Colonoscopy photos which have been shown to friends and family and have achieved almost cult status. Bill’s painted smily toenails are a now distant second in popularity. We crash in our beds to a day at Halong Bay tomorrow.
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