14 Mar 2025 - Hanoi
A day in Hanoi. We docked near the centre of Hanoi and took a bus ride to the Temple of Literature. We had been here in 2011 and remembered various aspects of it. This time there was a party of school children in one of the courts Who are remarkably well behaved. We were shown the Stella that dated back to the 15th century.
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After this, we were driven to Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum but we’re only allowed to view it from afar: this being on the pretext that long queues there at times Interfered with the ships itinerary. David was not amused by not being allowed nearer but we could see the guard changing in there with the iconic goose steps.
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Our final stop was the Hanoi Hilton, this is the infamous prison for the American pilots that were captured between 1960s and the end of the war in 1973. After lunch back on the boat we ventured abroad yet again.
Perhaps the most famous POW was John McCain, who later stood for US President. He was a POW in Vietnam his five-year imprisonment during the Vietnam War, from 1967 to 1973. During this time, he displayed extraordinary resilience, courageously refusing early release out of respect for his fellow prisoners
We were here in 2011 - on Orion. For unknown reasons , I suspect to avoid offending US tourits, the US POWs have a minor role in the tour of the prison today. Instead the vietnamese, including our feckless guide, want ony to talk about the prisons use by the French in colonial times. Central Prison, known by US POWs as the "Hanoi Hilton" but it had held and tortured prisoners from French colonialist days. The Hanoi Hilton prison was demolished in the mid-1990s and the site now contains two high-rise buildings, one of them the 25-story Somerset Grand Hanoi serviced apartment building. Only part of the prison exists today as a museum. The interrogation room where many newly captured Americans were questioned (notorious among former prisoners as the "blue room") is now made up to look like a very comfortable, if spartan, barracks-style room. Displays in the room claim that Americans were treated well and not harmed (and even cite the nickname "Hanoi Hilton" as proof that inmates found the accommodations comparable to a hotel's). However of 766 pilots captured, 114 died in captivity
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We were taken to a café in the area where the local trains pass within inches of the customers here we were allowed to choose a drink and waited for the train to appear And indeed it did pass very near to us and hopefully David got some good pictures of this.
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Then we were driven to the water puppet theatre: this seemingly now it moved to a permanent land based site whereas we remembered it being in the open air back in 2011. Here we were given an hours free time to shop, but David and I Just walked around the lake and then down some of the narrow streets around it. It was surprising how busy the place was compared to our walk four days previously when we had ventured out between 11 and 2 pm. Then back to the boat a shower and the welcome cocktails. After dinner the film “heaven and earth “ was shown in the restaurant: this the story for Vietnamese war child. It was very graphic and by the time I left after 65 minutes, there was nobody else left viewing it.
We got back to the boat about 5:30 pm. We enjoyed a cocktail on deck at 6 pm and then supper which we had as a group of Britz. After this we watched the second half of “good morning Vietnam.”
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