Our guide Tony is very hard to understand and not the most informative guy, But on we go to see Hanoi
We first tried to go to see Ho Chi Minh’s body as it lays in his tomb but the line was several blocks long with a few hours wait so we decided to come back later after the crowds have left, the tomb is only open for a few hours every day. The Russians built the tomb in the tradition of Lenin, Stalin and Mao.
We moved on to Truc Bach lake the place where John McCain’s plane landed after it was shot down, there is a statue there to commemorate the event. It’s a 22 acre man made lake originally used to raise fish.
We visited the Hanoi Temple of Literature & National University. Originally it was a temple built in 1070, and from 1076 it was used as school for boys, who studied 3 years of literature, maths, and Vietnamese history. Graduates worked for the king as government officials until the school closed in 1780.
We went to see how black lacquer is made. It is made from the sap of a tree (similar to a rubber tree) and then colored with dyes. The mother of pearl is placed on the wood ( teak or jack wood ) and the lacquer is painted on until the surface is flat then sanded until smooth, all this is done by hand. The final product is really beautiful.
Visited the One Pillar Pagoda – see link!
There are 54 different minority groups in Vietnam of which the Viet people make up 87%. Each one has a unique language, style of dress and way of living. We learned as we toured the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology. A well organized and informative place with full size displays of the unique houses of a few of the tribes.
Notes:
Government Buildings are painted yellow, a symbol of power – the color of a dragon’s skin. They all have 2 red flags, the national flag – yellow star on red background and the hammer and sickle in yellow on a red background (a socialist emblem).
No Mac Donald’s yet in Hanoi – but lots of KFC!
Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam Independence Day on 2 Sept. 1945 and died on the same date in 1969.
Visited the ‘Hanoi Hilton’. Hoa Lo Prison. John McCain was held here along with other American Pilots as POW’s. They were well treated in stark contrast with the brutally inhumane conditions of the Vietnamese prisoners. Click on the link for the horrific details if you really want to know.
As we were taking pictures of the tons a group of local tourists asked if I would be in their pics I agree and soon I was bringing asked by loads of people apparently they like to have pics of foreigners in their pics to show
Lunch was good at a decent place
We walked around old city, 36th street district a street for every type of product shoes on one street clothing on another and so on. Dates back to the 16 century.
Dinner was at local place recommended by our guide, typical Vietnamese style of restaurant. The layout has no central kitchen but has cooking stations around the perimeter each cooking a different dish. These places are very popular with locals. You order lots of small different plates to share. Cheap and cheerful!
Love the button shop. So many buttons Nancy