A Prison and A Double Date in Hanoi

We're in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam!  It's a beautiful city and a great base for seeing the gorgeous bays in the Gulf of Tonkin. 

We got here by luxurious night train

Hanoi is very charming, with wide streets and markets.  We stayed in the Hoan Kiem Lake area, which is so nice that we woke up at 6am a few times to run.  The Vietnamese wake up extremely early so dawn is a great opportunity to know what the cities feel like without tourists.

Disclaimer: this picture was not taken at dawn

Hanoi stock exchange, with its very own bull!

Hoan Kiem Lake, with Independence Day balloons

Athletes, nuff said

Beautiful

Where is Alina?

We spent one day frolicking with Scott and Sarah, Jeremy's other tall friends.

A bromance developed almost immediately between Jeremy and Scott.
"Weeeeeeeeeeeee," said Jeremy.
"You're so brave," said Scott.

Unclear what these creatures were.  Suggestions welcome.

Double date!

"Hello, Mr. Turtle," said Jeremy
"[silence]," said Mr. Turtle since he is not real

"You're light like a feather, I'ma throw you into this pond," shouted Scott
"Oh no," replied Jeremy, knowing full well that his friend Scott would do no such thing.

Like most capitals, Hanoi is full of museums.  One of our favorites was the Hoa Lo museum, a former prison. We learned a little bit of history from the museum but mostly we realized the extent of the nationalist propaganda in Vietnam. We noticed at the War Museum in HCMC that atrocities of the American invader were described in detail but Vietnamese warfare "techniques" were left out, but the bias was more subtle and understandable in that context.  At the Hoa Lo museum in Hanoi, the bias was so strong and obvious - the labels contained so much more propaganda than history - that it became hard to feel anything for the prisoners who were held there.  The only emotion we had was skepticism.

Hoa Lo is a former prison, originally built and used by the French during the Imperialist era. The first half of the exhibit presents the poor conditions and abuse in the prison by the Imperialist French against the People of Vietnam. It's all true and interesting and sad.

But here's where they lost us:  the same prison was used by the Vietnamese during the American War to hold American Pilots.  Same prison.   Same conditions.  Prisoners clearly remember torture.  But the museum makes no mention of this.  Instead, there is a huge section dedicated to explain in great detail how fortunate American prisoners were to be hosted in this prison during the American war. We learned that Americans had mostly been "rescued" from air crashes (Accidental, maybe caused by poor American manufacturing), and spent their time in jail mostly playing cards and basketball. It really sounded like they had a great time.  

John McCain was held there. 

Propaganda is at its absolute max with the cult of personality around Ho Chi Minh, aka Uncle Ho, aka Ho the Liberator, aka DJ Ho. We went to see Ho at his mausoleum, which is cool and shinny.   Yes, we met Ho.  He asked us to give a shout-out to all of our blog readers.   

Jeremy and Alina,
Being a Little Serious Sometimes, to Confuse You

Lawyerly PS: We're more aware than ever of how much Vietnamese suffered during the war... we are even developing some Vietnam War rage not common for our generation.  We're simply of the opinion that the facts speak for themselves.