Day 9

17 Dec 2012

Hanoi 'Hilton'

Guillotine

Part of prison sewage pipes where prisoners escaped from.

Prison entrance and busloads of tourists

This day was devoted to all things military. We took a cab down to Hoa Lo Prison, where we were almost the first visitors of the day, except that a thousand students beat us to it. Entry was 20 000d per person. 

It was a quaint building, if one ignores its gory past. Now void of its beds and torture implements, the prison tour was best experienced with an active imagination. I would have appreciated it more if  the prison museum  had enhanced the tour by arranging exhibits in  a chronological manner with improved narratives.  The exhibits were not interactive and there was insufficient audio visual aids to  understand  the situation of the day. The write up also depicted that the American POWs lived in rosy conditions which left room for suspect. But then, history is written by the winners.  Comparing Hoa Lo prison museum with the one in Anzio, Italy, I would prefer the latter because the neutral exhibits of personal effects in Anzio gave a very powerful and emotional message to the visitor.

Army museum citadel.

A captured US warplane, pride of the museum

Stone cannonballs, when technology fails you.

 

Lookout tower

Base of lookout tower

Down US warplane takes centerstage in the museum compound

As it says, this belonged to the US army

Lean, mean machine to fight against the enemy

We were done with the prison in an hour, the majority of the time dodging students who packed the exhibition room to the gills. We caught our second cab for the day and hopped over to army museum, a 15000 d ride.

Entry to the museum cost 30000d each and a surcharge of 20000d for each camera used. It was one of the most costly museum visit in Hanoi. Similar to the prison, the layout of kings and conquerors was ill conceived and ill paced, with a break in history where conquests and defeats were unaccounted for.

At the museum site, the grandest  fixture in the compound was not the carcass of a crashed US plane but a flag tower hoisting high the flag of Vietnam. It also provided a vantage point of the surrounding.

The main items of interests in the compound were a downed US plane, captured during the Viet war. No documentation was in sight and we hovered from plane to plane, none the wiser for it. With better signage , it would  otherwise have been an enriching experience . Sadly for us, because of the poor layout in the museum compound, an entire  corridor of US planes relegated to the back yard off the compound was missed out by many visitors until we were out of the museum.

Old citadel, visit by appointment

We trooped along the eastern wall of the museum, hoping to see the ancient citadel that loomed large, as seem from the flag tower. After walking for 1 km, we discovered it was forbidden grounds. In fact, the entire stretch of road was located on off-limits grounds, which  explained the lack of taxis. Had we whipped out our cameras , we would have been part of the inhabitants of the citadel that day. According to hearsay, the old and new citadel was military grounds with high security.

Old Hanoi water tower, near north of  Dong Xuan Market

Cock fighting is a sport here

Defeated, we lunched at a corner seafood place where army officers frequented. Shortly after we sat, hoards of loud , drinking army guys 'invaded the place' and made a huge din that we could not even hear ourselves think. For just tofu, vegetables and half a chicken, the bill came up to a shocking 350000 d!

  

Market place rattan and not-so-rattan products

At Dong Xuan. Flowers are integral part of Vietnamese living

Roses are sold everywhere in Hanoi

We headed east and headed for the Old Quarter. Along the way,  we saw a cock fight at a park. It would be another 3 hours before the airport pickup at the hotel, so we while away our time by walking along the rim of the north part of the old quarter, ending at Dong Xuan Market. Even at noon, the din , dust and smell were an assault to the senses. Down Dong Xuan, we made a left  towards Nguyen Sieu where we relinquished our hotel umbrellas and had a breather.

Ying Yang's coffee is one of the better coffee in downtown Hanoi

Chill at Ying Yang

There was still time for a last tea break in Hanoi. We surveyed Hang Bo, where a well known confectionary did not offer sit in services. Anyway , the range of cakes offered was limited even if it should be touted as the cakery with the most snob appeal. Hanoians are not big on sweet desserts anyway, which could explain for the lack of artisan cakes. 

We ended up at Yin Yang, where crème caramel eluded us again. Resigned, we had mango with sticky rice and a potent cup of iced coffee, my first in Hanoi. Together with a scoop of coconut ice cream and iced lemon juice, the bill was rounded to about 100, 000d.

Holiday Diamond Hotel chartered a taxi for us at $18 to the airport. It was a slow ride, starting at 3.15pm, along the northbound highway to Noi Bai Airport. We reached Noi Bai at  4.30pm ,zonked out by the dust, bad AC and slow traffic. Metered fare was almost $21, so technically we saved $3 using the hotel's service.

Noi Bai Airport had nothing to buy,eat or drink that is of value.  Prices were tagged in US$ and they charged an exorbitant exchange rate. Still, to rid ourselves of the currency which we probably won't get to use again, I bought a small pack of green bean cake for 100 000 d!

Thankfully, Jetstar 3K544 departed on time. It was a smooth ride back to Singapore, back to the monsoonal rains and the city heat. But even so, I looked forward to it. Despite the best hotels, cheapest eats , nothing's better than coming back to home.