Blasting into the new year, I haven't had a lack of further travels either. Early in January I visited the Philippines, later in February found me in South Korea. The projects I was working on kept me quite busy, so much so that I only have one day for tourism in each place. The number of photos for these places is quite limited, and so I've already posted those in the usual location on Picasa.
So why now the resumption in writing? Well I'm back on the road again, this time Vietnam. My second visit to Hanoi. This blog started when I made my first trip to Hanoi. Back then I was on my first trip and was learning from a more experienced engineer. This time I am teaching a new engineer, on her first trip for our employer.
Hanoi was just as I'd left it. Motorbikes everywhere, horns honking at every turn. The only way to cross the road was to simply walk out and hope for the best. The food was cheap and tasty. My recommendations include Cha Ca (fried fish), which can be found on Cha Ca street; any Pho Bo (noodles with beef) on any street; and a meal at Highway 4, which is Vietnamese food done a little fancier than normal.
On the first weekend in town we visited some sights around Hanoi that I had not visited last time. First stop was the Hồ Chí Minh museum, which was interesting enough, but could have been a hell of a lot more interesting if I could read French. The museum had many articles from French newspapers and reports from French secret police in Indochina. Certainly Hồ Chí Minh was known to the French authorities for many years before the declaration of Vietnamese independence.
The museum was a product of the Vietnamese communist party, and hence there was pleanty of propaganda. The "revolutionary forces" are a force for good and equality, etc. and the "French colonists" were evil and repressive. The "revolutionary forces" are a force for world peace, if only the world could agree with them. My colleague grew up in post-revolution Iran and said that pretty much all the all the messages in the propaganda are exactly the same in her country too.
We wandered out towards Hồ Chí Minh's mausoleum to see how the old man was keeping. Unfortunately he'd shut-up shop for maintenance. Two neatly dressed guards made sure no-one even had a peek.
In the same area the presidential palace rises in a mass of French colonial architecture and European style gardens. Machine gun carrying guards whistled at us, and told us there were to be no photos taken of the palace. This prompted more snide remarks about equality & revolutions from my colleague :)After a brief stop for lunch, beer, and haggling over the price of a photocopied lonely planet guide, we had a look at probably the most famous part of Hanoi. The bridge to Ngoc Son Temple. Later I was told by a local, that distances from Hanoi to other destinations in Vietnam are measured from this island. It's referred to as the "heart of Vietnam".
One last destination for the day: Hỏa Lò prison. Otherwise known as the Hanoi Hilton by American POW's. Disappointingly, again it was an exercise in propaganda. How evil the French were and how badly they treated the Vietnamese. How graciously the revolutionary fighters are, and well they had treated the Americans. It was all a bit far fetched.As it was 35°C, and felt like it was over 100% humidity - we called it a day here, and headed back for some well deserved showers.
