Day 9, October 4

After a very early breakfast, we had a meeting with Binh, our guide for the rest of the trip. He explained the visa and customs forms and also why he has kept our passports. He also talked about the extra excursions we can sign up for.  Alan and I are going to go tonight on the electric car ride and then to see the water puppet show. We missed the one I had bought tickets for because of the flooding in Hanoi that day so are pleased we will have a second chance. We then left for our tour which includes Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum, the Temple of Literature, and the Hanoi Hilton Prison. The Ho Chi Minh mausoleum turned out to be a huge amount of walking so Tri, our guide, got me a wheelchair. The wheelchair was accompanied by a guard who took us around the crowds and then by 4 guards dressed in white who marched to the chair, surrounded it and then proceeded to lift the chair up many flights of stairs. It certainly was the royal treatment. Ho Chi Minh is preserved in a glass coffin and lines of people pass him in reverence.  After the guards got me back down all the stairs. They took the wheelchair, and I was on my own (with Alan) to go around the rest of the large compound. It was very hot and humid, and not the easiest walking I have ever done. I was pretty worn out by the time we reached the bus and didn’t get off to walk around the Temple of Literature. No pictures are allowed of the Ho Chi Minh coffin, so here are some grounds pictures followed by street scenes from the bus window.

Cyprus Knees

The Temple of Literature is a complex of buildings which for 700 years was a school teaching Confucian classical training to future Mandarins.  The school closed in the 1770s. It contains stone tablets of all the scholars and reigning emperors, mounted on the backs of stone tortoises which symbolize longevity and history. There are also statues of famous scholars and offerings are made to honor them. The buildings and grounds are beautiful and without the noise from banging drums and gongs it would be quite peaceful.

Next came the Hanoi Hilton which, I think, we heard about every night on Huntley-Brinkley or Walter Cronkite. It was actually a prison started by the French during their occupation as a place to imprison dissidents and Communists.  They had several guillotines there and didn’t hesitate to use them or to torture prisoners   During the Vietnam War it was used for captured Allied (read American) soldiers and airmen, including famously, John McCain. It is quite frightening walking through it and knowing its long history of horrors.

After that, we all needed a break, and we were taken to a multi course Vietnamese meal at Ly’s restaurant. It was so good. We started with fresh ginkgo nut soup, moved on to what seems the ubiquitous banana blossom salad (this one was excellent), followed by vermicelli wrapped scallops, steamed tilapia, grilled beef cooked in a bamboo pipe, vegetables with garlic, rice, and crème caramel. Needless to say, we are once again skipping dinner.

After quick showers back at the hotel, we set out on our optional evening tour. We were taken in electric carts through the streets of the Old Quarter at rush hour. As Alan described it, it was certainly exhilarating!  Then we finally got to see a Water Puppet show. Water Puppets are uniquely Vietnamese and have been around for centuries. They are controlled by a long pole and strings worked by puppeteers who are behind curtains. This all takes place in a huge pool of water. The show was based on 10 Vietnamese folktales and was absolutely delightful.

Tomorrow, we leave Hanoi and fly to Siem Reap, Cambodia where we will go to Angkor Wat and eventually board our ship to go down the Mekong River. More then.