Hanoi

Today started with the typical breakfast of Pho. Then it was on to meeting up with my Backroads group- the people I will be traveling with the next eight days. We met and stayed at the renowned Metropole Hanoi. Beautiful historic hotel the French built in 1901. As you can see in the
photos the exterior of the hotel is a backdrop for many wedding photos. Between the hotel and the small park across the street there were probably 20 brides there at any given time. Hermes, Cartier, Louis Vuitton, and stores of such surrounded the hotel.

We started out with a cyclo ride through old Hanoi were all the shopping is organized by type of goods. Example of one street is all bamboo or hardware or shoes, etc. lots of life, scooters and few cars. The streets are narrow. Where the adjacent French Quarter are large avenues and large buildings that of course were built by the French who occupied Vietnam from the mid 1800's until mid 1900's, part of Indochina (Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam).

The 40th anniversary of Viet Cong's bombing down of over 50 B-52's is this month. A photo is one of the B-52's that landed in a small lake where it still sits today. Read the plaque... Remember the Viet Cong won and today Vietnam is a socialist country. There are a lot of propaganda posters praising the strength of the military, showing plenty of food for people, prosperous farmers, and education for all. This leads us to the leader of the VC, Ho Chi Mahn and his mausoleum photo as well as a changing of the guards- Really not too dramatic at all. We did not enter but apparently his body is on full view being embombed every now and again to preserve it. There is much controversy around if it still the originally body. He died in the '70's I believe. People go and pay respects and dress to the nine's. It is very serious.

Then it was onto the "Hanoi Hilton" or Hoa Lo Prison. Originally built by the French and then used by the Vietnamese. American POW's were here between 1964 and 1973. Remember this is where John McCain was for 6 years.

Finally I wrapped up the day with a visit to the Metropole's bomb shelter. Just last year the shelter was discovered during a renovation and opened 6 mos ago for tours. The hotel has a lot of history. Worth a stop in to read about it and take the tour when you are in Hanoi.

I have tried write about the photos in the order of which they are shown so hopefully you can follow along.