I waited to publish this until after we left Vietnam–the activities in this post were actually before we went to the caves.

After our trip to Halong Bay we came back to Hanoi for a day of sightseeing.

Hanoi’s traffic is straight up insane, especially in the old quarter where we were staying. It’s hard to convey how overwhelming just walking along the street is–I’m honestly surprised people don’t die on a regular basis. Crossing the street is madness. The motorcycles are in fleets and they are carrying everything you could imagine–I saw people carrying window glass, tires, stacked cartons of eggs, four adult humans, etc. Plus stores with everything you could imagine and every kind of knockoff brand you could want–North Face, OC, Patagonia, etc. We took a few pictures of the busyness and Garett got a good video.

The first place we went was the Temple of Literature, which is dedicated to Confucius and to scholarship in general. Confucius is not a god but rather a teacher, so a school is a good place to honor him. It was built in 1070. The temple was beautiful–a real oasis in the middle of the busy city. They were having a kindergarten graduation when we visited, complete with drums and chants. It was both adorable and solemn. What looks like a turtle tombstone is actually a list of scholars who took a royal examination.

Then we went to the Vietnam National Museum of History. We only got up to just before the French occupation, so these are earlier artifacts we liked. There is a hat for the emperor; a whimsical, inlaid butterfly; one of the kings of Hell ruling over his kingdom; a sassy parrot; a statue of Guan Yin, the buddha of Compassion–check out her arms, the circle enclosing her is also made of arms; and the top of a drum. I took a picture of the drum because it was made in 600 BCE!

We next took a trip to Hoa Lo Prison. A bit of history about the prison–it was built by the French during their colonization and they held communist and political dissidents there. They were extremely cruel to the inmates–starvation, shackles, solitary confinement; they even used the guillotine to kill the prisoners. This wasn’t during the French Revolution either–it was the early 20th century. They have a very moving memorial to the dead in one of the prison courtyards and lists of the dead on gold plaques in one of the buildings. There were a few heroic escapes from the prison through the sewers. The escapees later became leaders in the communist party. In one of the pictures you can see the prisoners discussing political reforms while still locked up.

The next part was a tidy example of propaganda. After discussing how the Westerners treated the communist dissidents horrifically, they turned to how they, the communists, treated the American pilots shot down over Hanoi. The Hoa Lo prison was where John McCain was a prisoner for over five years; he spent two of those years in solitary confinement. The American soldiers sometimes referred to it as “Hanoi Hilton” ironically. To hear it from the communists, it truly was like the Hilton; they treated all the prisoners like family–the soldiers played basketball and ping pong, did art projects, and even celebrated Christmas with a tree. There’s even pictures and quotes about how the American soldiers, in the end, realized that communism was right!

I’m not sure about all the soldiers’ experiences, but John McCain did not find the communists hospitable. Here’s what the Hoa Lo prison says happened when McCain was shot down; here’s what John McCain attests happened. The medical care he did receive was filmed and recorded to be used as propaganda. It’s a very neat contrast between the violent Westerners and the gentle Communists, so I can see why they would create the museum like they did.

Lastly we went to a water puppet show. This is a traditional art form–it involves a lot of music and synchronized storytelling. It was really fun.