The day started very early, again! Around 4:30 Fellette was awake and on her iPad, I came to life at 5:00.
Shower, shave for me, coffee and read then down to breakfast at 6:30 to meet a few fellow travellers. At 9:00 the whole group of us 90, assembled in the main dining room for 1/2 hour of details for the next two days. We were broken into three groups of about 30.
At 10:00 we went to our bus and soon were on the road for tour of Hanoi, population 9,000,000 and about 1,000,000 scooters. The traffic is interesting and moves slowly and safely although it is a bit scary to watch.
We toured a what to me looks like a miniature Forbidden City. Lots of school children of all ages. Fellette engaged a group of five year olds who wanted to practice their English on us, yes, English is taught here.
We went to the Hanoi Hilton which is a prison in the middle of the city, built by the French who governed her from the 1800's until 1954, with a few interruptions when The Vietnam people decided they had had enough of Colonial Rule.
They were also occupied by the Japanese during WW II, but the French who were governing when the Japanese invaded in 1940 did not resist and were allowed to continue to govern until the end of the war.
The tour of the prison where Governor McCain was held for over five years gave us a sanitised version of his treatment but so be it, it is over and he is dead.
According to our tour guide he is very much respected here. We saw a Tribute to him at the lake where he parachuted into when his plane was shot down as he was in a dive to bomb the power plant on the lake shore.
Time seems to heal most wounds...
We came back for a lunch which we had with an American couple from San Jose. Nice folks.
At 3:45 we walked to a bike-rickshaw stand where we each had a peddler who took us on a 3/4 hour tour of the streets of the city where markets and common folk live and shop. It could have been China. The drivers were the rough and uneducated folks that I mentioned yesterday. My driver was the village idiot but we arrived without incident!
Next was a Water Puppet Show that was an absolute delight to witness. 14 different scenes, each lasting less than tree minutes, great to watch, funny even if we could not understand a single word! The music was live with traditional old instruments and native costume. The behind the scene and underwater [?] staff totalled 11 people. How they did all the antics with their puppets t I cannot figure out.
Back to the hotel where Fellette had a shower and I got to the blog, we ordered a light snack and called it another great day.
** . ** . **
They sure make great bread here, French! After so many years of French rule they seem to have retained a few good things French.
This country appears to be catching up with the world but it still has a long way to go to get it's infrastructure regarding water, sewage and electricity up to appropriate levels. Here, they do not use the tap water even to brush your teeth. Now that is a hard habit to break I tell you.
Some things like aviation may be close to western and appropriate levels but the bottom portion of their society seems to be stuck back with many other poor Asian countries. The roads here seem to be excellent and wide, I guess we can give the French the credit for that as well as the bread.
The image of street cafes staff washing their dishes in a bucket in the gutter with cold water from a hose or tap will prevent me from eating in a local cafe for ever I think.
Off tomorrow to Halong Bay for an overnight on a rather large boat, should be interesting.
Off to the buses with our guide, Minh.
Merry Christmas.
Here, scooter is king.
Bus shot.
School and Museum, mini Forbidden City.
Inside the school area.
Fellette holding Court with five year old kids.
The entrance to The Hanoi Hilton, left over from the French, complete with guillotine in there. They also gave the world Devil's Island. They do make good bread though.
Models of Vietnamese citizens locked in a rack where they were allowed out once every 24 hours for a toilet break?
It is a bit like Raffle's Hotel in Singapore here, but much friendlier.
Off to see the city!
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