Hanoi

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After six weeks of travel and nights in 2-star hotels (all of them perfectly good, by the way), Tom booked us into a room on the Club floor of the five-star Sofitel Metropole Legend Hotel in Hanoi. Nice, but it gave us a good view of the different experience the hotel guests will have in Vietnam. There’s a central courtyard with restaurants, spa, and swimming pool that eliminates any noise from the surrounding streets. You could stay and eat here, travel outside in a big tour bus, and “see” Vietnam without learning any of the lessons we learned in this great country.

We spent one day walking to several of the city’s museums:

· Revolution/History Museum: Photos and documents describing the French, Japanese and US occupation of Vietnam and the rise of the Communist Party. Educational, not inspirational.

· Ho Loa Prison: Although also known as the “Hanoi Hilton”, most of the prison’s history is of the French colonial power’s treatment of the Vietnamese. Built in the 1800s, the prison’s brutal conditions, including stocks, dungeons and TWO guillotines, were used primarily to subdue rebellious colonials. The American POWs were just a footnote.

· Women’s Museum: They were opening a new exhibit dedicated to the Mother Goddess, a strong influence in Vietnam, while we were there. This museum has excellent exhibits and beautiful photographs and displays that reminded us of how lucky we were to have seen things in person, including a ritual worship service at a Mother Goddess temple in Lao Cai.

· Army Museum: Closed for lunch when we arrived, allowing us to actually meet another US traveler. Bill was fun to talk with and we enjoyed the small museum together. Displays inside were skimpy, but the hardware outside was impressive, including an AD-6 Skyraider. We also climbed a little way up an old flag tower.

The rest of our time in Hanoi was pure relaxation. We ate several times at the Nha Hang Ngon restaurant, one of the chain we’d tried first with Thanh Ha in Saigon. We recommend it! This afternoon, we fly to Kunming, China. Wish us luck.

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Photos

Hanoi Traffic
The rules are different, but it works. No US driver should try to survive here.

Luxury
Club level of the Hanoi Metropole

Tom, Can I Have One?
Loved this tub.

Isolated from Reality?
The courtyard at the hotel.

Army Museum
The flag tower

SA Missile
Tom calls them "telephone poles".

Skyraider
Wonder who was flying?