Sightseeing Hanoi: From the "Hanoi Hilton" to Water Puppets

 2/23-2/24/2024

2024- the year of the dragon

We arise ungodly early (our internal clocks are so screwed up!) and decide to have an early breakfast. We weren’t sure how late David and Linda arrived, so we breakfasted alone, figuring they would want all the sleep they could get. After breakfast, they sent us a message, and we reunited at 0800 over coffee. It was so good to see them again, even though we were just with them one month ago in Antigua. When we finished, we tended to our first order of business—meeting the tour director, Tod Griswold (yes, this is going to be a Griswold vacation!). Although the tour doesn’t officially begin until this evening’s reception and dinner, he tells us that he is organizing an informal walking tour of Hanoi’s historic Old Quarter later in the day.

The hotel we are staying at is the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi. Located in the heart of the city, the Metropole is an award-winning luxury hotel adjacent to the Old Quarter.

Ly Thai To

Opened by two private French investors in 1901, the hotel is recognized as the city’s legendary landmark and has welcomed famous playwrights, actors, ambassadors, and heads of state from all over the world. In fact, this is the hotel where President Donald Trump met with North Korean General Secretary Kim Jong Un.

Turtle Tower in Hoan Kiem

We gathered with other tour group members for the walking tour. While we are excited to see some of the city’s sites, our enthusiasm is somewhat dampened by the rotten weather. It is cold, windy, and raining, but with umbrellas and whatever heavier clothes we brought, we ventured out with Tod for the tour.
As we start our walk, we notice there are several displays commemorating the Chinese or Lunar New Year, which was celebrated on February 10, 2024. In the Chinese calendar, 2024 is the year of the dragon.

Hanoi Opera House

Although ethnic Chinese only make up about 2% of Vietnam’s population, they represent the country’s largest minority population, and there are historically close cultural and historical ties between the two countries.

Tod leads us into the Ly Thai To Park and to a statue of this founding emperor of the Ly Dynasty—the sixth, and much revered, ruler of Vietnam, reigning from 1009-1028. Much of Hanoi’s Old Quarter was built around the rather large Hoan Kiem Lake, and we follow Tod around its edges.

Time out for ice cream!

In the middle of the lake are two islands on which two structures were built: Turtle Tower and the Ngoc Son Temple. Turtle Tower was built to add comfort for an emperor who fished from the island. Tod tells us that Ngoc Son Temple is generally now used only when pilgrimages are made.
We continue around the lakeshore and view a plethora of small businesses and shops crammed along the streets.

Our hotel's well stocked bar

Back at our hotel, we got ready for the evening’s welcome cocktail reception and dinner. Our small tour group numbered 18. We went around the room, and everyone gave a background sketch about themselves. The dinner menu was typical Vietnamese fare, and after dinner, we called it a day and turned in for the night.

Sightseeing via golf  arts

We were able to sleep in a little later since today’s activities didn’t involve any extensive travel outside of the city. After breakfast with David and Linda, we joined the others outside the hotel, where we were greeted by a fleet of golf carts with drivers that would take us on an extensive tour of the Old Quarter. Weatherwise, it was another miserable day with rain, wind, and cold (58°), but our canopied carts did offer some protection.

Street vendor

As we rode through the streets, our driver told us that each street uniquely features some product, such as jewelry, clothing, cleaning products, etc. It was amazing to see how many vendors there were selling each product category. Each shop represents the livelihood of a vendor and his family, who live in quarters directly above or at the shop’s rear, often in less than desirable conditions.

After the cart ride, we boarded a bus that would take us to the infamous Hoa Lo Prison.

Hoa Lo prison doors

The name Hoa Lo is commonly translated as “fiery furnace” or even “Hell’s hole,” but was notoriously christened the “Hanoi Hilton” by American POWs. Built by the French in dates ranging from 1886–1901, when Vietnam was still part of French Indochina, it was intended to hold Vietnamese political prisoners agitating for independence who were often subject to torture and execution.

Prison guillotine

By 1954, it had held more than 2000 people in subhuman conditions and had become a symbol of colonialist exploitation and the bitterness of the Vietnamese towards the French. Fast-forward to the Vietnam War. From the moment we entered Hoa Lo, we were sickened by the completely specious display of propaganda put forth regarding the treatment of the U.S. POWs. Many displays called attention to the abuse of Vietnamese prisoners by the French colonialists but cast a positive light on the treatment of American pilots by the North Vietnamese Army.

HCM Masoleum

The prison was used to house, torture, mistreat, and interrogate captured servicemen. Although North Vietnam was a signatory to the Third Geneva Convention of 1949, which demanded humane treatment of POWs, reports and testimonies of widespread and systemic abuse surfaced as prisoners began to be released.

The Presidential Palace

The prison displayed photographs of well-fed, healthy-looking, clean POWs playing chess, volleyball, or receiving a medical checkup in an effort to refute reports of abuse. Capt. Larry kept thinking of the footage of an emaciated John McCain being released from this prison on a stretcher.

Temple in HCM complex

Other propaganda displays cast favorable praise on Jane Fonda and Joan Baez and characterized the December 1972 bombing campaign as a “carpet bombing,” always emphasizing the number of children killed.

After lunch at a nearby Vietnamese restaurant, we rode to Ba Dinh Square, the largest square in Hanoi and the site where revolutionary leader and chairman Ho Chi Minh read the Declaration of Independence on September 2, 1945, establishing the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

Water puppets

The square is also home to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum complex, which includes Ho’s Mausoleum, the Presidential Palace, Ho’s Stilt House, the Ho Chi Minh Museum, and the One Pillar Pagoda. The complex is dedicated to the life and teachings of Vietnam’s first president and is an important place for pilgrimage.

Water puppet stage

We walked the square and viewed all of the complex’s buildings, but the cold, rainy weather dampened our enthusiasm to explore them in detail. Noting the reverence paid to Ho, Capt. Larry recalled a similar individual who fought for his country’s independence, and he mused about which one had the greater struggle: Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam or Mahatma Gandhi in India.

We left the Ho Chi Minh complex and headed for our next activity, which would turn out to be the highlight of the day—the Thang Long Theater water puppet show.

The pupeteers

An 11th-century art form of puppetry believed to have originated from farmers in Vietnam’s Red River Delta, water puppetry was created to allow local villagers entertainment while waist deep in water in flooded rice paddies. The puppets are moved over a water stage by puppeteers hiding behind a bamboo screen. During each sketch, the puppets act out folk tales and legends and perform dances to traditional music.

In the hotel bunker

We were given an audio box that provided an English translation of the sketch. While the sketch’s plot was somewhat difficult to follow, the puppetry was absolutely delightful.

We got back to our hotel just in time to take a hotel tour that Jane and Linda had signed us up for. The tour began in the original wing of the hotel, with the guide telling us about the early history of the hotel and city. We viewed displays of old photographs and posters from the hotel’s early days and were told of the myriad of celebrities and politicians that had stayed at the hotel. We were taken into a bomb bunker with a 3-foot ceiling of concrete that was built in 1964 in anticipation of American air raids. After the tour, we had a light snack with David and Linda in one of the hotel’s restaurants and then called an end to our really busy day.

Local Hanoi beer