While in Hanoi we made a stop that OAT does not include in the itinerary because of the controversy that it raises. This is the “Hanoi Hilton.” Much of the exhibit there is devoted to the use of the prison by the French when they ruled the area. The displays include cells used to house political prisoners, the death row and the guillotine used to execute Viet revolutionaries. The small exhibit devoted to the 400 American fliers imprisoned there from 1968 to 1972 is a well done propaganda piece that left many of our group enraged. The exhibit touts how well our men were treated and explains our imperialist, illegal attacks on the people of Vietnam. I was not enraged, only because this was neither more nor less than I expected. After all, this is a monument built in the capital of the “victor” by those who see themselves as in the right. Why would they show themselves in a poor light even if the story as we know it is different.
A trip to the north by bus brought us to Tho Ha, an island village reachable only by ferry. This village, going back more than 7 generations, makes rice paper used for making spring rolls. We watched the process, then we tried our hand at it. Sadly, I suspect most of what we made went on the reject heap. We visited the community leader in his home. He is about our age and served on the North Vietnamese army. He served near Saigon and said his primary role was to entertain the troupes. He went on to sing several songs using a variety of regional instruments. Next we stopped by an area where coal dust from a mine 40 miles away was being made into cylindrical blocks with holes through them to provide heat for the rice paper making process. We were more successful here in pressing the wet dust into the mold to make the blocks.
The next morning we were up rather early to board the bus at 8 for the 4 plus hour drive to Halon Bay where our junk awaited us. The boat looked to be 30 years old although we were assured of was only 9. We boarded from a tender which gained access by jamming in between our boat and a neighbor and then forcing the boats apart so we could clamber over the side and watch the crew pass our hand luggage up. Our big suitcases stayed on the bus, no room in the cabins! Actually barely room for us and our hand luggage. We cruised off into Halon Bay amidst an archipelago of Rocks jutting up from the water in every direction. I think “as seen on National Geographic” is the only way I can describe the views. Later in the afternoon we stopped at a very large cavern on one of the Islands. It is mostly a dry “dead” cavern as the normal forces that yield cavern formations were halted by a rise in the sea some 1,000,000 years ago which filled the space and killed the normal formation process. Back to the boat for sunset, dinner and bridge. I guess I haven’t mentioned I am the required fourth for bridge. Ethel and Richard play regularly and Dorothy travels to play in major tournaments around the country. Give me a few more days and my bidding may become tolerable.
Friday was a travel day. The junk spent the night a few hours from the disembarkation point and arrived there about 11. We boarded the bus for the 4 hour trip to the Hanoi airport and made two stops. One stop for lunch and shopping at the attached sheltered workshop and another at a northern village where we were greeted with an opportunity to try bettle nut. I did, I won’t again! We visited several homes and saw chickens (of course) pigs (naturally) and pigeons that looked to my inexpert eye like giant runts – see my post about visiting Colonial Williamsburg with Alex in Fall 2012. We flew from Hanoi to Hué (pronounce that with a rising inflection on the é) arriving at our hotel at 10 PM without dinner. Dinner at the hotel restaurant was an experience I would rather not repeat. I may see the humor in it upon retelling in a month, but mediocre food (to be kind) lousy service and a major language barrier do not make for a pleasant time when hunger and tiredness from a day of travel are combined. This schedule needs some help.
Saturday dawned with cooler weather than expected, low 60s, and nonstop mist. Just enough to keep us damp and a bit chilly. We took a dragon boat ride on the Perfume River to the Pagoda and from there we bussed to the Citadel built in 1810 to 1830 during the Nyguen Dynasty which ruled from 1802 to 1945. The Citadel was taken by the North Vietnamese in the Tet Offensive 1968 and pretty much demolished in the bombing and shelling that followed. It is a Unesco World Heritage site and is slowly being restored. We visited the harem area which had 250 concubines at its peak and the bombed out remains of the Forbidden Inner Palace. There is a lot of restoration work being done. Much of the work will be reconstruction rather than restoration as all that remains are foundations.