September 13: Hanoi

 Day 1:  Hanoi

After the long travel day yesterday we began the adventure in earnest in Hanoi this morning.  The picturesque view of the lake in downtown Hanoi outside our hotel room window was a beautiful view to begin the day.  We went to breakfast about 7:30am (provided by Viking) and quickly met our friends John and Valerie.  The best part about meeting up with them, we had not missed a beat - as though we'd just been with them a week ago :)  We caught up over a light breakfast then returned to our room to get our paperwork and headed back down for our welcome meeting where we met our Viking guides.  We have three guides and they broke the guests into three different groups which we will stay with throughout our trip.  Our guide introduced himself and after pronouncing his name he said, "but since becoming a tour guide, I use the nickname....BOB - so you will be Bob's Family throughout the trip!"  John and Val met him yesterday and said they believe he's the "best" of the three guides.  The meeting ended and we gathered again in the lobby a half hour later for our morning tour of Hanoi.

After about twenty minutes of traveling through the city (including passing by the big opera house - pictured above) - during which Bob gave us some background to both the city and his personal life - we arrived at the first destination, the infamous "Hanoi Hilton" which had served as a prison since built in the late 1800's by the French colonists, but became more well known when used to house captured Americans during the Vietnam War.  For me personally, it was especially interesting as I'd taught about the "Hanoi Hilton" during my World History classes.  And as we walked around I couldn't help but consider that what made this place well known happened during my lifetime and that had I been called into service it would not have been out of the realm of reality that I could have ended up here.

Model of the "Hanoi Hilton" - section in foreground was used for American POW's

The original main gate

The tops of the prison walls were covered with broken glass and electric wires

Because of the wall topping, escapes were attempted by tunneling underground, tapping into the swear/drain system - one such example of an escape tunnel section

This demonstrates how prisoners were "housed."  Note ONE ankle/foot is locked in place.  The "trouble makers" had both ankles/feet locked in place, making it more uncomfortable

Among the photos on display is this one featuring the release of the American POW's and central to the tribute is former Senator John McCain who was greatly admired in Vietnam and Hanoi in particular.  After being held her for years, he spent a lot of his political life trying to normalize relations between the countries....and he was much admired by the Vietnamese people.

We were at the "Hanoi Hilton" about two hours before heading back on the motor coach to head to the old historic section of Hanoi.  This was truly the highlight of the day because we were transported for over 45 minutes through the old section of the city by electric carts with four-to-six guests per cart.  I took several photos, but none of them can truly capture the flavor of being there.  The streets are SO narrow, and the chaos of the cars, scooters, and our carts all smashed into this small area....all darting in and out in all four directions was such a real taste of the flavor of local life.  And the shops....one after another just jammed full of merchandise.  How anyone can make sense of what is where and why you'd own such a shop much less go shopping here was beyond us.  We just loved being immersed in the culture of old Hanoi.

The parade of electric carts weaving through Old Hanoi

Life in Old Hanoi

Like we'd been together just a week ago

One of the VERY few "calm" areas of Old Hanoi was this lake with a picturesque walking bridge

More sights of Old Hanoi

The utter chaos of Old Hanoi :)

We returned to the hotel around 1pm where Kim & I enjoyed a light lunch with John & Val.  We took the afternoon off before rejoining everyone in the lobby around 6:30pm for a dinner at a local restaurant provided by Viking as our "Welcome Dinner."  Because of the historically large French influence on the area we were taken to a very expensive French restaurant.  The food was wonderful and we enjoyed meeting a few more members of the "Bob Family" while sharing the evening with Valerie & John.

The traffic on the way to the restaurant, and this 6-lane stretch was not nearly as crowded as many other streets today

Welcome to "Maison Vie" - note the red carpet rolled out for us!

Our private "Viking only" dining room

Cheers to an amazing first day!

Tomorrow we have a later start, but we check out of our hotel at 9:45 and are off on one final tour here in Hanoi.  Then we have a 3:15pm flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia where we will be checking into a luxury spa resort for three nights.  The highlight of this second leg will be visiting the stunning ancient temples of Angkor - it's what EVERYONE comes to SE Asia to see!