Hanoi

Hanoi is pure lunacy, especially in comparison to relaxing laid-back Laos. The sounds of engines and horns fill the air constantly from 6AM to 11PM daily. The Vietnamese use their horns like they use their tires - when they turn they honk, when they stop they honk, when they slow down they honk, when they speed up they honk, when they say hello they honk, when they say goodbye they honk - basically when they do anything but hit you they honk. Aside from non-stop noise - Hanoi is the city of thievery and lies - I have never been to a place like it and hope that there isn't another place similar to it, it is the akin to Gotham City & Sin City - filled with all the same inhumanly devious souls - they're pirates I tell you. I understand and am ok with locals charging tourists higher prices for things, but people of Hanoi go staircases further. If you try to book train tickets through your guest house they'll tell you the train is all full and that you'll have to stay another day - when in fact its not full + they'll try to charge you twice as much for train tickets. If you don't pay attention to the prices of menu items they'll charge you more for them and even if you call them out on it they'll tell you that the menu prices are old. All the guest houses and some of the restaurants will try to charge you a 10% government tax, and there isn't even a government tax of that sort + it takes 20 minutes of bickering to finally get them to remove it. The list goes on and on + aside from the lies - when trying to sell tourists goods they hassle them incessantly, and refuse to listen to the word "no," but will instead follow you for blocks grabbing you and shouting in your ear to buy buy buy. The only good thing about Hanoi are the massive quantities of blackmarket DVD's and CD's, which you can buy for a dollar. The local artists here are also quite amazing, and if you want to spend 30-40 dollars you can get replicas of aged masterpieces from the famous artists of Van Gogh, Monet, Dali, and Harper. Aside from these few perks the best part about Hanoi is leaving it.

Bryce getting hassled by a local to purchase some post cards.


The N. Vietnamese have a very different perspective on the war, than the one found in US textbooks... Their Army Museum was quite interesting & here are some photos.

Golden Uncle Ho & me


Mig Fighter


Tank 843 (the actual one), a Soviet-made T54, was the first tank to crash into the palace gates during the strike on Saigon by the N. Vietnamese on April 30, 1975. This strike occurred hours after the final US helicopter had left the country, and led to the collapse of the S. Vietnamese government.


The A-37 Dragonfly was a low cost efficient means for fighting the guerrilla tactics used by the Vietnamese



Bell UH-1, "Huey."



A bunch of pieces from various French and American planes shot down in Vietnam




Photos from the Hoa Lo Prison, aka Hanoi Hilton, which was built by the French to imprison Vietnamese political prisoners, and later used by the Vietnamese to hold American POWs (John McCain was one of the POWs held here). The Vietnamese strongly deny torturing American POWs, and in fact state the opposite: "though having committed untold crimes on our people, the American pilots suffered no revenge once they were captured and detained." They even state that this prison was more like a home away from home - complete with lots of free time for the inmates to play the guitar, read, and get involved in some great cooking + they got to send and receive all sorts of mail from home. I wondered if the museums statements coincided with what John McCain and his fellow prisoners said about their stay at the Hanoi Hilton - and found out the opposite McCain said he was beaten & held in solitary confinement and witnessed the killing of his fellow comrades at the hands of prison guards at his "home away from home."(a New York Times article of McCains return visit to the Hanoi Hilton can be found @ http://www.vietnamwar.com/johnmccainbio.htm - I don't know much about the objectivity of the whole website).

One with the Vietnamese dissidents who were held and tortured in Hoa Lo Prison by the French.


A memorial wall dedicated to those held by the French in Hoa Lo Prison.


On a much lighter note - the best bang for your buck when your looking for a bite to eat is Doner Kebap - only 10,000 Dong (about 68 cents).


Thang Long Water Puppet Theater - an ancient traditional art native to N. Vietnam practiced by moving puppets connected on long poles through and on top of a shallow pool of water. Instruments and vocals produced by local Vietnamese musicians accompany the display.
Sorry I couldn't get better photos. The show is quite amazing with the puppeteers being quite deft in their control the puppets.