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Dad is looking and feeling much better - so it's an early breakfast and then it's a full day of exploring Hanoi with a private guide Ne Nguyen.
Around the corner from our hotel is the Hoa Lo Prison, a prison used by the French Colonists, in Vietnam for political prisoners and later by North Vietnam for the US Prisoners of war during the Vietnam War. During this later period it was sarcastically known to American POWs as the Hanoi Hilton. The prison was demolished during the 1990s, though the gatehouse remains as a museum.
The name Hoa Lo, commonly translated as "Fiery Furnace" or even "Hell's Hole",also means "stove". The name originated from the street name phố Hỏa Lò, due to the concentration of stores selling wood stoves and coal-fire stoves along the street from pre-colonial times.
We saw the sad ways the prisoners were locked away, tortured, killed and how a few prisoners got away in the narrow sewer under the prison.
Nearby, we visit the Temple of Literature built in 1070, dedicated to Confucius. Confucius's principles had a basis in common Chinese tradition and belief. He championed strong family loyalty, ancestor veneration, and respect of elders by their children and of husbands by their wives. He also recommended family as a basis for ideal government. He espoused the well-known principle "Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself", the Golden Rule. The temple was combined with "the School of the Elite of the Nation" Vietnam's first national university. The university now longer exists there, however being the end of year, there were scholars everywhere, getting photo's taken, a very special place for those that have achieved.
Next we ventured to the Ba Dinh Square where the impressive Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum towered over us. Uncle Ho as he is known by the community, embalmed corpse lies in a monumental tomb - contrary to his wish to be cremated. It was from this square Ho Chi Minh read his declaration of independence speech on 2nd Sept 1945. We watched the guards change and then were lucky enough to enter the grounds of where President Ho Chi Minh resided for 15 years before his passing - without waiting on long tourist lines we'd been told about.
The Presidential Palace was too grand for Uncle Ho, he had a way of living simply, with modesty, gentleness and dedication to the nation and the people. He lived and worked in a small house then moved for his last part of his life into a two room timber stilt house overlooking a fishpond.
Within the same grounds we visited the Ho Chi Minh Museum, which contained exhibits of the full history and story of Ho's life.
As a young child, Ho known as Cung studied with his teaching father before more formal classes with a scholar named Vuong Thuc Do. Cung quickly mastered Chinese writing, a prerequisite for any serious study of Confucianism, while honing his colloquial Vietnamese writing. In addition to his studious endeavors, he was fond of adventure, and loved to fly kites and go fishing. Following Confucian tradition, at the age of 10, his father gave him a new name: Nguyễn Tất Thành.
In 1912, while working as the cook's helper on a ship, Thành traveled to the United States, followed by visiting many more countries for 20 odd years. Thành had another name change Quốc, and then around 1940, began regularly using the name "Hồ Chí Minh", a Vietnamese name combining a common Vietnamese surname - Hồ with a given name meaning "He Who has been enlightened", Chí meaning 'will' (or spirit) and Minh meaning "bright").
Lunch, was traditional Vietnamese food at "Mam Restaurant", a set menu starting with chicken and corn soup, spring rolls, then ginger fish, very tasty food. Lunch made me feel very tired, I think the travel caught up with me, as I was not tired at all the last few days. Weather is like Gold Coast temperature now, perfect, don't feel sticky hot that I thought we would have felt.
After a lunch we head to the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology, I had no idea what this meant until we arrived and ventured into the lotus shaped building, showing all the different ethic groups. It was very interesting seeing all the varied families and how they live, different clothing, talents and the housing was particularly interesting, life size, in the gardens behind the museum.
Ne kept our day very full, with an afternoon cyclo ride through the Old Quarter on dark, we saw the streets liven as the lights turned on. This was a fun finish to the day, seeing all the little streets, dressed with outdoor shops of everything from shoes to hardware's.
We just made it back for the 6pm meet and greet with Travelmarvel, a run down of our next few days and then on a bus for dinner at KOTO restaurant with the group - KOTO stands for "Know One, Teach One" and gives disadvantaged youth the opportunity to train at its unique culinary school.
- comments
Cherie and John ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz
Cherie and John Oh YUM!
Cherie and John That is a cute photo! Who did you trust with your camera?
Cherie Oh excellent photo together, nice!