Preserving the past….

#avalon

#hanoi

#vietnam

#checkthisoffourbucketlist

Day 3 Hà Nội

After two day in Hanoi with a guide and on our own, it was finally time to meet up with our group for the start of our Avalon Tour.

We met up in the 38th floor lobby of the Lotte hotel at 8am for a debriefing with our tour leader named ‘Ha‘. We had to show our passports and Vietnam visas so that Ha could reconfirm our upcoming flight to Cambodia with Vietnam Airlines. In Vietnam the proper legal way of writing your name is: Last name, Middle Name, First Name. So I keep being called Elizabeth by the local staff at the LOTTE since my name would be MCBRIDE, Elizabeth, Ruth. Ha is worried our passports will be read incorrectly by the Vietnamese staff on Vietnam airlines when booking our flights, so he has to reconfirm all of the tickets ahead of time so there are no issues when we do try to fly on Monday to Cambodia.

There are 14 of us for this segment of our tour. A mix of 6 Americans and 4 other Canadians from Oakville, Ontario and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. More people will join our tour in Siem Reap, Cambodia and again more people will join us in Phnom Penh when we board our river cruise in the Mekong Delta. Our river cruise ship holds 36 passengers and we were advised the ship will be full for our sailing. We specifically chose Avalon as a tour operator as they have the smallest ship on the Mekong. Viking has ships which hold 80 people and their ship is too big to get into some of the ports and specifically Ho Chi Minh where the Viking ship is too big for the downtown harbour.

At 8:30am we boarded our tour bus to go downtown Hanoi to visit the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum. The temperature was hot hot hot!  Feels like 39C but with no breeze and high humidity it felt way stickier than 39C.

We cleared through a security X-ray  screening before we could enter the grounds for the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum. All through the grounds the path towards the mausoleum was covered to protect against the elements. There were army guards and CCTV cameras everywhere.

As we got closer to the mausoleum I had to give up my camera in a large red handled felt shopping bag and check it at a special security checkpoint. Our local guide Tom took my camera and got a claim ticket for it which he hung onto. It made me wonder was someone going through my camera and looking at my photos or was it really just checked and stored while we went through the mausoleum, where no photos were allowed.

Apparently Ho Chi Minh the leader who gained independence for Vietnam and who the Vietnamese revere and fondly call “Uncle Ho” wanted his body to be cremated but the Vietnamese leaders who were serving at the time of his death wanted to preserve his body to serve as a national symbol and allow people to pay respect to Ho Chi Minh. The Vietnamese reached out to the Soviet Union to gain expertise on how to build the mausoleum and preserve the body much like they had done with Lenin’s tomb.

Before we entered the mausoleum we saw the many army personnel parading in the square in front of the mausoleum. I was advised I could take a picture from afar only with my iphone.

The mausoleum was bone chillingly cold inside and we were advised to line up single file to walk somberly but quickly, to view Ho Chi Minh’s preserved body. I had never been through a mausoleum before so it was an interesting and moving experience thinking about all this person stood for in Hà Nội and Vietnam’s history and why the former Vietnames leaders would want the body preserved.

After touring through the mausoleum I saw another checkpoint for electronics and which I presumed was where Tom had to retrieve my camera. Tom had to wait for the camera to be brought from the other security checkpoint so I sat on a bench in the heat, with the locals and took in the moment.

After the mausoleum we walked through the beautiful gardens and grounds to see Ho Chi Minh’s open air house. Beside the house there had been built an underground bunker and when the air raid sirens would go off that there were incoming US aircraft during the war, Ho Chi Minh would head to the underground bunker.

The heat was pretty unbearable walking around the gardens and grounds and many of the people in our tour were drenched in sweat and looking for bamboo fans to purchase to try and keep themselves cool.

Our next stop was to the infamous “Hanoi Hilton” (Ha Lo Prison) where the US servicemen were jailed in Hanoi during the Vietnam War. Interestingly the Vietnamese call the War the War of Independence vs the Western terminology “Vietnam War”.

The images on the walls of the Hanoi Hilton were meant to reflect how well the American serviceman were treated during the War.

Senator John McCain’s parachute was on display as he spent time at the Hanoi Hilton in 1969 when he was captured after he parachuted from his plane into a lake in Hanoi.

From reading about McCain’s capture the Hanoi Hilton was infamous for its torture, beatings and solitary confinement, meant to try and break prisoners into speaking out against the War in Vietnam. Our local guide made sure to mention how well the prisoners of war were treated; showing us images of John McCain for example receiving medical care (below) for his injuries by local doctors.

The fact that McCain could not lift his arms over his head after he left Vietnam for the rest of his life because of his injuries and the torture that he endured, definitely was in stark contrast to the story line we were being told today.

While I am glad we visited the infamous prison, it did feel very contrived about how well the Vietnamese treated the Americans and the truth of the history of the Hanoi Hilton certainly is behind shrouded by the images displayed on the wall of happy, smiling U.S. servicemen.

Our air conditioned bus was a welcome relief when it finally arrived to take us to our next stop which was the Van Mieu Confucius temple, also known as the “Temple of Literature’ which was founded in 1070 and dedicated to Confucius. Our guide Tom explained the confusion is not a religion but is a way to teach people how they should live and how men should treat women snd how families should raise children. A moral and ethical system focused on personal nd governmental morality, social harmony, righteousness, benevolence and sincerity with a strong emphasis on self cultivation through learning and virtuous conduct.

There are 114 Turtle Steles with the names and birthplaces of 1307 graduates of 82 triennial royal exams. The steles were constructed in 1442 and they praise the merits of the monarch and cite the reason for holding royal exams. They also record the mandarins who were tasked with organizing the exams. The turtle is a holy creature in Vietnames culture as it symbolizes wisdom, stability and endurance. In history King Le Logi returned a magical sword to a golden turtle in Hoan Kiem Lake after defeating invaders, solidifying its role as a symbol of peace and independence.

At the temple it was very crowded given people were off (Saturday) and the upcoming Lantern Festival had families out with their children enjoying the park like setting. We had noticed there are not many public parks in Hanoi. There are many tree lined boulevards though as the French designed the city of Hanoi when they colonized it and planted trees for shade along the boulevards, much like they have in major cities in France.

We saw school children in uniforms and women dressed up for the festival having professional photos taken. I asked what the reason was for the photos and was told “social media”. I guess they must have Vietnamese ‘influencers’ who use the occasion of the Festival to have their photos taken in a nice peaceful setting.

One thing I didn’t mention yesterday on the blog was that we had hour long footage and leg massages in the Old Quarter after walking around all day on our own.  When we got back to the Lotte hotel yesterday both of my feet and ankles were swollen to twice their size. I’m sure the heat did not help, but I noticed that the massage lady kept pulling down on my legs to my ankles. Usually with massages the flow is always to move the lymph fluids towards the heart. Unlucky for me I guess, I had the opposite massage which had caused the fluids to pool in my feet and ankles.

I spoke to Ha our guide and asked if there was an International clinic close by our hotel that perhaps we could go to after lunch to have my ankles looked at since we do have a flight in two days time to Cambodia and I’m a little worried about the swelling for fear of blood clots.

Ha said that after lunch we would have the bus drop us off at the International clinic and he would come with us to translate if need be, while the group had free time back at the LOTTE in the afternoon.

2nd floor of KOTO

Beef Pho noodle soup

Pork spring rolls (not for me)

Lychees

We headed back to the bus after visiting the temple and headed to KOTO for lunch. KOTO stands for “Know One Touch One” and is non profit organization started by a local Jimmy Phan in 1996 to teach street kids hospitality skills and provide them with jobs and training. Each year over over 150 disadvantaged children go through a 24 month hospitality program to learn how to be chefs, managers and servers. Over 1200 children have graduated since the program’s inception and now work in the hospitality industry all over the world. Lunch was plentiful and delicious with many different dishes such as fish, pork, tofu and chicken. Each person was provided with beers or two soft drinks during lunch. The bright, inviting, cool restaurant was delightful, and a very welcome respite from the heat. The serving staff were super nice, attentive and accommodating.

After lunch at KOTO we headed back to our bus for the 30 minute transfer in traffic towards the Lotte. We were dropped off at the International clinic with our Tour Leader Ha, about two blocks from the hotel.

As soon as I walked in to the clinic I had to fill out a form and show my feet to the receptionist. There was a team of 4 admitting people to the clinic. I never had to sit in the waiting room and was taken directly upstairs via elevator to the 2nd floor waiting area. My blood pressure, pulse and temperature was taken by a nurse. After 5 minutes an English speaking doctor came and took me into his examination room. He looked at my legs, pressed on the edema and listened to my story about the massage. His diagnosis was as I suspected that the masseuse should not have massaged my legs in a downwards motion and it would take awhile before the fluid went back up to the rest of my body. His suggestion was get some good compression stockings and do “legs up the wall” yoga pose. Walking was good he said, especially at night when it is cooler. He said because my blood pressure was still my usual low blood pressure I was fine to fly in a afew days and should have no worries about flying.

As I was checking out downstairs in the clinic I happened to ask where I could get compression socks that they would recommend and next thing you know I was whisked to what looked like an emergency bed room and being fitted for medical grade compression stockings and shown how to put them on.

It cost $69US to see the doctor and $79US for the compression stockings.  I walked out  of the clinic wearing the stockings and was very glad I had been seen in less than 30 minutes from start to finish. A very efficient experience!  It was very nice of our tour director to stay with us through the process too as Vietnamese is a difficult language to translate! Last year in Nice we had a horrible experience with my infected blisters from new shoes at a French hospital and had to resort to a local independent French clinic to finally resolve my infected blister situation. I had brought the cream from last year with me on this trip thinking if I ever got blisters again I would have it handy. Unfortuantely a foot massage did me in this year. Sometimes you just cannot prepare for what might befall you!

We decided to skip the golf cart tour of the Old Quarter of Hanoi with the group that was leaving the hotel at 3:45pm since we had walked the Old Quarter the previous two days. Richard napped and I spent 20 minutes doing “legs up with wall” with the new compression stockings on.

Our evening entertainment was to see a traditional water puppet show, followed by dinner in the French Quarter. Since the bus had already taken the rest of the group at 3:45pm we called a GRAB at 4:40pm and headed to the address for the puppet show given to us by our tour director Ha.

Traffic was brutal once again and it took over an hour by the time the GRAB finally showed up which meant that we were late arriving for the 5:30pm show. Luckily Ha our Tour Director was watching for our arrival since our GRAB left us off about 5 minute walk from the Theatre and we had no idea where we were going as we had expected to be dropped off in front of the theatre. Unfortuantely for us the theatre was in a blocked off pedestrian area so thank goodness for Ha looking out for us or we would have completely missed the puppet show.

Inside the puppet theatre The show is done in the water

Some kind of birds It was cute how they displayed this section of the show. The birds got together and next thing a little egg floated up onto the surface of the water. The birds jumped on the egg and next thing we knew a little bird hatched out of the egg and the egg disappeared into the water

The water puppet show was amazing! We were not sure what to expect but it was super neat and the music and voicing was on point. The puppets were operated by 10 puppeteers who stand in water behind the curtain and operate the movement and actions of the puppets with very long poles. Traditional Vietnamese icons such as the turtle with the sword in its mouth were all included in the puppet show. The theatre was packed and the audience was mostly locals taking in the 1 hour show.

Chicken Pho soup

A nice salad

After the puppet show we headed by bus to a beautiful restaurant in the French Quarter called Ly Club for a pre set menu. There was way too much food and many, many courses so I just stopped eating. It’s a waste frankly to have so much food go uneaten!

Our bus ride back to the hotel again took an hour. There were so many families out on this Saturday evening with their children enjoying the upcoming holiday of the Lantern Festival.  We both fell asleep on the bus which gave us a little bit more energy to get back to the Lotte hotel to pack for tomorrow’s early departure.

Spending three days in Hà Nội has given us a very interesting perspective on the city’s very long and interesting history dating back to 1000 BCE which is also known as the ‘Bronze Age’ for the people that occupied the Red River Valley. There have been many Emporers and Dynasty’s which ruled over Hanoi, many different occupations from the French to the Japanese and back to the French and finally on September 2, 1945 Uncle Ho Chi Minh read the Proclamation of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in Ba Dinh Square (Hanoi). We understand now after so many different rulers, and occupations why a leader like Ho Chi Minh who said “ I have only one ambition - the utmost desire to see our country completely independent, our people entirely free and every citizen have food, clothing and access to education” would rally people around him to fight for Independence. Ho Chi Minh never married but instead as a confusion son, to the people of Vietnam he was not only the leader of a Party and a State, but also a devoted man, a sincere and compassionate old father who loved the people with an unconditional heart, transcending all boundaries of class. For him, the well-being and happiness of the people were the highest measure of national independence.

As we drove and walked through Hà Nội the past two days I was struck by the visible history which exists still to this day. History preserved in things which as a tourist you might not subtly notice. The small guage of the train tracks on Train Street for example which was built by the French in the 19th century primarily to move cargo through VIetnam, but now is used for passenger travel. The French during their occupation also banned the Chinese alphabet and and the use of Chinese characters and that is why Vietnam has the Latin based alphabet, which we also use, with 26 letters and a few unique vowel sounds as well. The tall and skinny ‘shop houses’ which are prevalent everywhere in Hà Nội which evolved from the Chinese influence in the 19th century are well preserved and still functioning everywhere throughout the city. The shop houses combine residential and commercial space within a narrow (15 foot wide) footprint that traditionally served many generations. As the family grew another storey was added to the top of the house. The eldest male son of the house was expected to stay and bring their wife and live with their children and parents and work in the ground floor shop that the family operated. Seeing so many subtle influences from history that are still preserved alongside modern skyscrapers and megolithic hotels and shopping malls, give Hà Nội a certain charm….if you can get over the traffic, chaotic environment and smog!

I think as a first time visitor to Hà Nội we had the excellent fortune of having our own private guide like Quin on day 1 where we could ask him questions and who also pointed out a lot of these subtleties of how Hà Nội has preserved its past. Our Avalon tour today allowed us to see the cultural heritage of Hà Nội and so the combination of getting a feel for the local street scene and vibe, combined with the cultural icons has given us a really deep understanding of the history and present day city of Hà Nội.

You will notice I am now writing Hà Nội as two words. This is how the locals actually refer to their city. Ha means “River” and Noi means “Inside”. Hà Nội is inside the Red River, hence the two word name.

Our guide Ha announced to us today that we would not be going to Ha Long Bay for our cruise or staying at the VinPearl resort tomorrow after the cruise for one evening as Tyhoon Matmo is moving north-northwest with maximum sustained wind speed of 133 km/h. There was a chance if we went to Ha Long Bay we would get stuck there and not be able to make our flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia which is scheduled for Monday October 6th. So Ha has made other arrangements for our day instead and we have to pack and get ready to leave our suitcases outside our room tomorrow morning at the LOTTE Hà Nội by 8am. It is always an adventure when we travel; from missing ports due to weather on our Viking Neptune 2022/2023 World Cruise, to high water levels on the Danube with our Viking Christmas Markets 2023 River Cruise and having to switch ships 3 times, and now with Avalon on our Enchanting Vietnam, Cambodia and the Mekong with a typhoon! We’ll roll with it because often what comes out of it is something unexpectedly different and unique and what other choice do we have frankly but to roll with it!