Advertisement
Published: June 15th 2015
Edit Blog Post
The busy, lively capital of Vietnam- Hanoi, has been a perfect place to finish our adventure in Vietnam.
We bussed from Ha Long Bay to Hanoi on Saturday which was a great time to relax and read my book. We arrived around lunch time so had the rest of the afternoon to explore the city and take in more of the wonderful Vietnam before our departure. Matt and I walked around the lake in the centre of Hanoi and made our way to the Hoa Lo Prison to learn about the French Colonialism and the Vietnam/American war.
The prison was set out similarly to a museum with lots of information on the walls. There were some pretty horrific images and information about the prisoners of Vietnam who were fighting for their country and rights and trying to protect there family. A total of 1651 Vietnamese revolutionary patriots were imprisoned and ill-treated by the French colonialists in the Hoa Lo prison between 1899 and 1954.
The cells held more than 40 people shackled by there feet and all bound together. There was a cell for males and a cell for females, and then there were also death cells where prisoners
were kept for a minimum of 10 months before being executed.
Around 40 prisoners died a month from heart oedema caused by the food they were served but a lot more died from other health issues such as dysentery.
During the Vietnam / American war, American aircrafts were shot down and the pilots and soldiers were captured by the Vietnamese and were kept at the prison for up to 8 years, but they weren't ill-treated and were released as soon as the war ended.
After leaving the prison we noticed how dark the sky had become so we started walking quickly back to our hotel. We were about a 25 minute walk away. After 5 minutes it started raining but we didn't mind too much, but within another minute there was torrential rain and strong, crazy wind (which we found out was up to 100km/hour) so we started running. Trees were falling down on the road and branches were flying everywhere. We were absolutely soaking from head to toe, as if we had just jumped in a pool, and we had to run with our hand above our head incase anything fell onto us. The electricity in the whole
city was out and people were shutting up their shops as quick as possible- some people weren't strong enough to pull there doors down, and shop roofs were coming off. We had to run for 15 minutes in the horrendous storm with buckets full of water pouring off buildings straight onto us, until we finally got to our hotel which had of course run out of power too. All we wanted to do was go to our hotel room and shower and get dry but of course because there was no power our doors wouldn't open as they are electric. Luckily our friends in the tour were in their room and let us shower and change in there so we could be dry!
Surprisingly, running through the storm was fun. But what we have just found out was that the storm was the biggest Hanoi has had in 7 years, and it killed two people from trees falling on them and 5 people injured. Also,1000 trees were uprooted and140 roofs were blown away.
Once the power came on we all went out to dinner together to a place called little Hanoi which was really delicious, Matt and I made
our own Catfish rice paper rolls which was one of our favourite dishes so far (after the frog)! After dinner we all went to a couple of bars and danced with the locals which was so much fun.
Yesterday - our second day in Hanoi - was much more civilised. We walked through the Old Quarter and saw the Opera house and all the international Embassies. We also went to the Vietnam Womens Museum, which was very fascinating. The museum showed the everyday life women experienced in Vietnam and the struggles they have been through. The most interesting, and chilling part of the museum to me was around the 'Heroic Mothers of Vietnam'. The battle for the reunification of the country (fight against the French, and American War) was accomplished through the silent sacrifices of the women who lost their husbands, and children fighting for their country. To recognise these sacrifices, women who had lost one or more children, or their husband during the battle, were awarded the title of a 'Heroic Mother of Vietnam' - 50,000 women were awarded this title (including those who have passed away). One woman lost 10 children and 2 grandchildren.
(Sorry not the
most upbeat blog but I found it very touching and sad).
Anyway, on a happier note, after the museum we went to the water puppet theatre show with our tour group. The show was done very well, and the puppets were very artistic, I definitely haven't seen anything like it!
Today the rest of the tour flew to Laos to continue their trip - we are going to miss the diverse group of people we have spent the last 12 days with, we are so glad we did decide to join a tour instead of planning it ourselves. It's exciting to think we might meet some of them again one day! After all the goodbyes Matt and I went to a sky bar overlooking the lake to chill for a few hours, and then went to another bar and played pool - I won for once! We have kind of just been chilling all day as our flight is at 12.45am - we are at the airport now.
We are going to miss the crazy, busy streets of Vietnam, the lovely locals, the delicious food, the beautiful buildings and the buzzing culture. I am so happy I
got to experience Vietnam with my best friend and amazing Fiancé, I couldn't be more excited for the rest of our adventures together. We have grown even closer over the last two weeks which I didn't believe was possible - I can't wait to grow even more together!
Japan is next, then Abu Dhabi, then London and then wherever else the world takes us!!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.035s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 7; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0152s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb