Ho Chi Minh led the Vietnamese nationalist movement for more than three decades, fighting first against the Japanese, then the French colonial power and then the US-backed South Vietnamese. He was President of North Vietnam from 1954 until his death.
After the Japanese invasion of Indo-China in 1941, Ho returned home and founded the Viet Minh, a communist-dominated independence movement, to fight the Japanese. He adopted the name Ho Chi Minh, meaning 'Bringer of Light'.
At the end of World War Two the Viet Minh announced Vietnamese independence. The French refused to relinquish their colony and in 1946, war broke out. After eight years of war, the French were forced to agree to peace talks in Geneva. The country was split into a communist north and non-communist south and Ho became president of North Vietnam. He was determined to reunite Vietnam under communist rule.
By the early 1960s, North Vietnamese-backed guerrillas, the Vietcong, were attacking the South Vietnamese government. Fearing the spread of communism, the United States provided increasing levels of support to South Vietnam. By 1965, large numbers of American troops were arriving and the fighting escalated into a major conflict.
Ho Chi Minh was in poor health from the mid-1960s and died on 2 September 1969. When the Communists took the South Vietnamese capital Saigon in 1975 they renamed it Ho Chi Minh City in his honour.
He wanted a simple burial, but he was so revered by his people that they built an amazing mausoleum and his preserved body still lies in state for all to see.
Not that we managed to see it! By the time we arrived, the queue was three or four abreast and about a mile long - it was crazy! We admitted defeat and got a taxi to The Hanoi Hilton instead.
This thought-provoking site is all that remains of the former Hoa Lo Prison, ironically nicknamed the ‘Hanoi Hilton’ by US POWs during the American War.
The vast prison complex was originally built by the French Colonials in 1896 and was intended to house around 450 inmates, but records indicate that by the 1930s there were close to 2000 prisoners.
Apparently, Hoa Lo was never a very successful prison, and hundreds escaped its walls over the years – many squeezing out through sewer grates.
Most of the exhibits here relate to the prison’s use up to the mid-1950s, focusing on the Vietnamese struggle for independence from France.
You could go into the actual cells and at one point, Paul Halder was missing. My Paul was chuckling away and we said "You've not locked him in a cell have you?". There was an annoyed voice calling "Yes he has!". He wasn't amused, but we were.
It's dreadful to think that such inhumane treatment of political prisoners was carried out so recently. There were even photographs of heads removed from the bodies of the Vietnamese revolutionaries by the ominous French guillotine.
Although most of the museum is dedicated to the revolution against the French, there are several displays focusing on the American pilots who were incarcerated at Hoa Lo, including Senator John McCain (the Republican nominee for the US presidency in 2008). McCain’s flight suit is displayed, along with a photograph of Hanoi locals rescuing him from Truc Bach Lake after being shot down in 1967.
Although we were somewhat sceptical of the photographs of seemingly content American POWs playing basketball and decorating Christmas trees!
It was certainly a though provoking visit to have an insight into such recent autrocities.
From there, we walked to the Hoan Kiem Lake.
According to the legend, emperor Le Loi was boating on the lake when his magic sword, Heaven's Will, was grabbed by a turtle who quickly disappeared into the depths.
All attempts to find either the sword or the turtle failed. Loi concluded that the Golden Turtle God had come to reclaim the sword that it had given Loi some time earlier, during his revolt against the Chinese Ming Dynasty.
Near the northern shore of the lake lies Jade Island on which stands the Temple of Jade Mountain (Ngoc Son Temple), which was erected in the 18th century.
It honors the 13th-century military leader Tran Hung Dao, Van Xuong, a scholar, and Nguyen Van Sieu, a Confucian master. Jade Island is connected to the shore by the wooden red-painted bridge.
The Huc Bridge (The Huc, meaning Morning Sunlight Bridge).
There were offerings of money at many of the alters in the temple. I can't imagine that you would see this in England - the cash would soon disappear!
Paul was accosted by a couple of Vietnamese girls who wanted their picture taken with him, they were really sweet!
We then walked to the Old Quarter. It was crazily busy, but we are more confident crossing the roads now. You just have to walk straight across and trust that all the scooters will just find a way around you!
My work colleagues would have loved to see the guy on the scooter carrying a large Acetylene cylinder strapped on the back with a couple of feet of cylinder hanging over either side of his scooter! No doubt he was delivering it to the guy welding on the street in his flip-flops with no goggles or protective clothing!
We were fascinated by the electric cables - it's just like a plate of spaghetti! How on earth they know which cable belongs to which property, I'll never know!
The streets here seemed to be dedicated to particular wares - silk, silver, steel, brassware, but then also random groups of shops altogether one one street for sunglasses, door handles, electric fans, flowers etc!
After a while, the incessant noise from the scooters become a bit too much and the heat and humidity was overbearing, so mid-afternoon, we headed home to the hotel for a cool shower and a rest.
We were determined not to be put off by yesterday's lunch disaster, so we chose a Vietnamese restaurant for our evening meal. It was quite dark outside, so the concierge called a taxi for us. The taxi driver kept chuckling and was driving exceedingly slowly. We were a bit puzzled until he drove around the corner and pulled up at the address. It cost us about 35p!
We chose a set meal for four to give us a mix of Vietnamese food and it was fabulous! There wasn't a single dish we didn't enjoy. Needless to say, we took a five minute walk back to the hotel!
Tomorrow, we leave the madness of Hanoi for the tranquility of Halong Bay.
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