Golden Week Vacation: Vietnam! The Hanoi Hilton and Temple of Literature

All I ever knew about Vietnam was from scary war movies and from an entrepreneurial guy I knew in college who would travel to Vietnam to import vintage Vespa's to sell to college students.  I never thought I would go there, at least not with two little kids.  If I ever considered traveling to Vietnam, I imagined it would be with a backpack...and a bandana in my hair...and you know...I'd sleep in huts and need lots of vaccinations, that sort of thing.  Instead, I traveled to Vietnam with a suitcase, a husband, and two little kids, and I stayed in a serviced apartment for a week. Does anyone else ever look at their life and think "how did this happen"?

It takes about 6 hours to travel from Tokyo to Hanoi, Vietnam's capital. I considered the flight to be a test ride for when I travel back to America with the kids by myself in a month or so, except Jonathan would be there to rescue me if necessary.  And I think we all know that it was necessary.  I've been reading up on "herbs/natural remedies" that will potentially knock my kids out for the 12 hour flight home--but it's hard to completely rule out the ever reliable Benedryl or Ambien (it's ok to give it to kids, right?) The flight wasn't so bad, actually.  We all arrived in good spirits which is a feat in my family.

There are a few things about Vietnam that make it a great place to visit.  First, it's cheap.  Like, really very inexpensive.  This means that things that would normally be cost prohibitive in other cities become the most economical choice in Vietnam.  In NYC or Tokyo, we would never take a taxi from the airport to our apartment.  It would cost upward of $300.  The 45 minute taxi ride from the airport in Hanoi to our hotel only cost us $18.  Second, the tourism industry is completely saturated in Vietnam.  This means that you can bargain prices down to dollars. This also means if you don't mind paying US economy prices for dinner or a tour or a hotel room you can enjoy a very luxurious experience.

You know when a kid goes into a play kitchen to prepare you a meal and comes back with a bowl full of stuff, like all mismatched foods and containers and toys and whatever s/he could find in the split second s/he was engaged in cooking?  Well, that bowl of "food," is pretty much exactly what Hanoi felt like.  It was just an amalgamation of old and new and rich and poor and clean and dirty and dilapidated and state of the art and beautiful and hideous and classic and tacky and safe and dangerous and healthy and sick and orderly and chaotic.  It was uncomfortable not knowing what or who you may encounter while you were out and about, but it was also really exciting to figure out how to make your way in a strange world where every experience is new in some way.

For example, crossing the street in Hanoi took a real education and a lot of courage.  I'm sure that  traffic laws exist there but I'm also sure that no one in Vietnam knows what they are or attempts to obey them.  Given the lack of traffic rules and the fact that a vast majority of people drive motorcycles or scooters, the wide streets look like a stampeding herd of buffalo.  Individual drivers are constantly swerving and honking in an effort to progress at a hasty clip.  Given the seeming chaos, you'd expect to see a number of accidents.  Not so.  We spent the majority of our days on the streets and never saw even a fender bender.  This brings me back to crossing the street.  How is crossing the street possible in a world with no stoplights or even stop signs?  You simply walk into the street, many people didn't even look before they stepped out, and slowly but steadily walk to the other side, careful not to make any expected moves, and the traffic simply moves around you.  It doesn't stop, it just narrowly misses you as it drives by.  The best way to describe it is symbiotic. For a moment you and the traffic are one organism working together to both keep traffic moving and you alive.  Even now, I find myself holding my breath thinking about it.  Yeesh.

So what did we do?

Since our hotel overlooked the Hoa Lo Prison, commonly referred to as the Hanoi Hilton, we visited it first.  The prison was originally built by the French when Vietnam was colonized in order to enchain and execute political prisoners.  Americans know it better as the place where the Vietnamese kept POW's during the Vietnam War.  This is where John McCain was imprisoned for more than 5 years.  Interestingly, the museum seemed to want to make visitors believe that the American prisoners were well taken care of and were allowed to play sports and even celebrate Christian holidays.  The descriptions said that the prisoners were there in an effort to discourage America from bombing the city and that the prisoners were not tortured so much.  There are two sides to every story, right? Overall, it was a creepy place, but you know, over almost 60,000 Americans and 1 million+ Vietnamese died in the war, so you can't go to Vietnam and ignore that kind of shared history.

Check out the glass shards cemented into the roof.

It was difficult to explain to Sawyer why tickling the prisoners' feet was disrespectful.  Tickle torture.

Sixteen Vietnamese political prisoners escaped through this sewer drain on Christmas Eve, 1951.

Guillotine.  Medieval, right?  But seemingly more human that lethal injection lately, I suppose. The French used this horrible contraption outside the main gate of the prison.

John McCain's flight suit.

This is how Lyla and I spent most of our time at the prison.

Next we met up with our two tour guides  They were college students who belong to a club called Hanoi Kids.  In exchange for practicing their English they will take you on a tour to wherever you might want to go in Hanoi for free. Ha and Will were seriously. so. nice.  They helped with our kids and were really fun to be around.  They took us to the Temple of Literature, a temple to Confucius built in 1070 that is dedicated to sages and scholars.  It also hosted the first National University.  Today the temple is commonly visited by university students who would like help with their studies or want a special blessing for the new academic year.  Lots of students get their graduation photos taken on the grounds.  It was beautiful and full of symbolism.  Our tour guides felt a true connection with this place because in Vietnam the opportunity to get an education is not something taken lightly.

This is the gate to the the temple grounds.

Will had a special place in his heart for Lyla.

The grounds were full of beautifully groomed, super lush gardens.

This little building is the symbol of Hanoi.  A graphic representation of this building can be seen everywhere throughout the city.

Students actually studied Confucianism here, hundreds of them.  Each year the students would take a series of tests.  The top five students would then have their names engraved on these tablets, which are displayed for the world to see and honor hundreds of years later.  The tablets sit on a turtle which is one of the four sacred animals in Vietnam.  It symbolizes longevity, among other things.

Ice cream break.

This is another sacred animal.  They call it a unicorn, but it looks like an ugly lion dog.  This is Lyla roaring.

This was my favorite thing in the temple.  It's a crane standing on a turtle.  Both of these are sacred animals.  It's said that the turtle's shell helped to inspire the ying and yang concept.  There's a myth that says that the turtle and the crane are friends.  They live in a rice paddy.  When the paddy is flooded the turtle would die if it weren't for the crane who picks it up and takes it to dry ground.  When the paddy dries up, the crane wouldn't survive if it weren't for the turtle who helps it find small puddles of water at the root of the paddy.  Friendship is inspiring.

Here is Confucius himself.

This courtyard is where lectures would take place rain or shine.

This is the bell to ring students into class.

The students took us to Sword Lake, the spiritual center of the city. The people of Hanoi were strolling and lounging around its banks and enjoying the beautiful weather.