Ha Noi

We appreciate these blog posts are turning into a bit of an avalanche but we have been flat stick in Hanoi and want to rub it in to everyone who is at work.

Our initial observation is that Hanoi is a melting pot of Chinese communism, French colonialism and Western capitalism. Where else do you find French terrace houses overgrown by tropical vines, with mobile phone shops in the ground floor, just up the road from a giant mausoleum holding the mummified remains of an ex-leader?

Ho Chi Minh expresssed the desire to be cremated with his ashes to be placed in a quiet forest, so instead he was shipped off to Russia to be mummified (where he returns for annual maintenance) and processions of gawkers are led by armed guards past his backlit glass sarcophagus ten months of the year.

Almost every museum here (even the Womens Museum) is dedicated to the American War. Lots of pictures of smiling young women operating anti-aircraft cannons and the like. You could be forgiven for thinking the only activity parcipated in during the 1960's was shooting down USAF planes, and it seems almost every downing has a photographic tribute. They have even made a sculpture out of aircraft wreckage at the Army Museum. The "Revolution Museum" keeps the old skool communist dream alive by dedicating an exhibit to "impressive factory output" of the motherland - items of interest include car tyres, TV sets, shovels etc. Very Romanian at times.

A lot of our time has been spent in markets. The first is a footpath in Hanoi, the second is the local market in Hue, the smaller town where we were today.

Hue was the seat of the last dynasty of Vietnamese kings between 1802 and 1945. One, who died around 1850, had an obsession with carp and 400 wives. He died of "sexual exhaustion" (although syphilis is suspected) but not before building a number of large structures with a heavy emphasis on carp pools.



He built a very large palace complex to house his wives and concubines. In the Tet offensive the North Vietnamese occupied it (heavy stone walls, moats, etc) and it took the Americans 24 days to shift them, largely with the use of artillery and airstrikes. Very little of the complex remains, and what is left is peppered with bullet holes. Hot tip - don't walk on the grass in Vietnam. Recently the groundsman discovered three mortar shells in the inner gardens. Apparently "95% of the surface is mine free. Go very far under the surface and we are not so sure." Inspiring stuff.


Lots of Vietnam, including this site, is UNESCO listed, and is now being rebuilt.



We filled in some of today with a boat trip to a Pagoda. About the four millionth pagoda seen on this trip so far. Very interesting buddha protectors though.




So, we are now off to Hoi An for some R&R. No doubt you will hear from us very soon.