Hanoi rundown

Okay, so I walk the 2 or 3 blocks to the Hanoi Hilton, which is not a luxury resort, although an office building now occupies about half of the original space.
The building is a yellow painted, colonial structure, and, from the outside, doesn't look like a prison. There are some high walls, and some 2 story buildings built around courtyards, but it wouldn't look out of place as a government office building or the like. Given that the communist party is in power in Vietnam, and a big part of building strength for the party is by a selective emphasis on history, the history of Vietnamese imprisoned by the French there is the overwhelming focus of the museum. Don't get me wrong, its an interesting thing to learn about, its just not what I was expecting. Of course, given that this is a communist party run museum, the word french is almost always followed by "colonizer," Japanese by "fascist," American by "imperialist," Vietnamese by "hero" and South Vietnamese by "puppet."

Only two rooms at the museum are dedicated to the U.S. pilots that were imprisoned there, and of course, the exhibits are whitewashed to present the Vietnamese as humane jailers. They emphasize how well the Americans were treated, and the exhibit is lined with photographs (probably staged) of the American pilots enjoying themselves. Of course, there is an obvious disconnect between their "truth" and "reality." If the Americans were treated so well, then why can't McCain raise his arms above his shoulders, and why did he try to commit suicide several times? To be honest, some of it just made my blood boil.

There are some hilarious mistranslations--for example they claimed that American protestors walked from Brooklyn to Auckland. Now, what they meant was probably "Oakland" as walking to Auckland is impossible--its the largest city in New Zealand. There are some interesting artifacts, though.

After checking in, went to Van Mieu or the palace of learning--the site of a university established in the 11th century, but, despite its age, has a layout that is remarkably similar to the stereotypical university quad--it has several courtyards built around a main pond, and is all together a very beautiful, and serene haven from chaotic Hanoi.

Just because I hadn't had my fill of Communist propaganda, I decided to go to the Vietnam Revolution Museum. The top half is dedicated to the struggle against the French, and nearly a quarter of top floor is limited solely to glorifying the victory at Dien Bien Phu, which kicked the French out (of course, some historians argue that the French were already out of Vietnam, and that Dien Bien Phu wasn't an attempt to reinforce the French position in Vietnam--it was an attempt to prevent the Vietnamese from attacking and invading the French colony/protectorate of Laos.)

Walked through the exhibit on the American portion--choice quotes: "the american imperialists invented the tonkin incident so that they could invade" (again, not true, but lets not let the facts get in the way of building up a national heroic narrative). Photos are blatantly doctored and touched up, and you can never take anything at face value in the museum. I used by American history knowledge to give a group of three irish guys a crash course in American-Vietnamese history, which they actually enjoyed, since they honestly had zero knowledge beforehand. Like usual, parts of the museum make my blood boil as they are blatantly false.

Get a rickshaw tour for about 2.5 hours. On the way, we pass the most beautiful building in Hanoi, the Opera house--a european style building that screams opera house--which of course Lonely Planet doesn't bother to mention. The guy takes me down some random tree-lined streets, and we pass arguably the second prettiest building in Hanoi, the Danish embassy.

He keeps mentioning about some B52 being downed, and he wants to take me to it. So, I decide, what the heck, and we start going down some random back alleyways, and I think that he's taking me elsewhere and will try to rob me. But no--after about 10 minutes of pedaling through some backstreets, we emerge into an acre-sized courtyard in the middle of this Hanoi neighborhood, with two ponds. One of which has the undercarriage of a b52 protruding from it.

Posing for photographs with the downed wreckage of a U.S. aircraft was easily one of the most awkward experiences of my life--I really can't smile, since its a good bet that one or more of my countrymen were likely killed--but at the same time, it is also bizarrely beautiful.

He then decides to take me to the lake where John McCain's plane crashed. Again, Lonely Planet screws up once more--McCain's plane crashed in Trin Brac (or something like that)--a lake about five minutes from the old quarter, and directly across the road from the massive West Lake, lined by a corniche. With the water, the boardwalk, and the hanging trees, it is easily the prettiest part of Hanoi, and the place is unmentioned by my guidebook. There is actually a brown, concrete statue/memorial site with an american pilot chained up, emphasizing the capturing of McCain by the people of Hanoi. Again, some of the most awkward photos of my life. What do you do in that situation? Smiling is awkward because you are smiling next to the depiction of a downed and tortured U.S. airman.

As we head back towards my hotel, I start to see the sky get dark--very dark--like the same color the clouds would get in Texas before a deluge starts. And did it ever rain. Welcome to the rainy/monsoon season, as it came down in buckets, with thunder and lightning to boot. I was getting soaked, but my rikshaw had a great alternative--we pulled over under a canopy, and he, using some big office paper clips, put together a jerry-rigged rain cover for the cabin--and it worked very well.

I get back to the hostel, which I am torn about--will explain later. I will try to do the nice thing and let other people use the computer instead of hogging it.