We boarded a large bus with only about 30 other people
for the 4 hour drive to Hanoi and stopped ½ way at a very large rest stop area,
which basically was built for tourists but had some great “stuff” for sale.
One of the things that we bought was a beautiful Star
Rudy ring for Barb and its wearer is supposed to have many years of good luck
and happiness!! The Star Rudy apparently
is only mined in this area of Vietnam and it is very pretty. With a new scarf and a couple of other items,
we boarded the bus for the final couple of hours into Hanoi. We lost a ½ hour when the bus driver was
stopped for speeding. As is the custom,
he paid a bribe and we were once again on our way.
As we arrived in the city we stopped at a place to have lunch
and it was very good. Then we started
our tour of the city primarily focusing on Ho Chi Minh, who is their hero and
they call him “Uncle” out of reverence. We saw the Presidential Place and the three
homes where he lived and died as well as his huge mausoleum. We also say a huge temple on the same grounds
as the Palace.
We also toured the “Hanoi Hilton” which was the infamous
prison in Hanoi where American pilots were kept during the war, including John McClain. Touring that prison and seeing all of the pictures
and stories of the prison was an amazing tour.
Interestingly, what they showed as to how American prisoners were kept
was totally different that our understanding.
Our guide also said in the privacy of the bus that the government has
changed the story of the war from what happened.
The prison focused on the treatment of the Vietnam
prisoners by the French during the time that the French had control of the
country and the treatment would give you nightmares if you were this prison as
we did. This control under the French
lasted until 1945.
Next we went to the center of the city where there was hundreds
of motor scooters and took a “scooter” tour of the main area of the city, with scooters
everywhere as we traveled. I will post a
video of this excitement when we get to where I can download videos in
Singapore.
We then had a great dinner and saw a water puppet show, where
the puppeteers were behind a screen and controlled all of puppets by horizontal
sticks and wires, instead from overhead. Again, I will post a video of part of
this show later.
Following the show, we were taken to our hotel for the
evening, the Pan Pacific, which was a 5 Star hotel about 10 minutes from the
city center. It was a beautiful hotel
and we had a corner room on the 10th floor overlooking the city. We would never have chosen this expensive of
a hotel for ourselves, but it was part of the package. Breakfast the next morning was at the hotel
and they had one of the most elaborate buffets for breakfast that we have ever
seen at a hotel.
The next morning, we left at 7:30am for the 4 hour trip
back to the ship, arriving at noon, including a stop at the same rest stop we
stopped at on the way up to the city. On
the way we passed a Canon factory, a Samsung factory and a clothing factory
with literally blocks and blocks of scooters parked in their parking lots.
This is the first time that we had done a Celebrity
excursion and while we would have rather done it on our own, they did it
right. We did meet some new friends
while on the tour so that was good.
We also have not been able to see the last three games of
the world series, but did hear that the Cubs WON – WOW oh WOW!!
When we got back to the ship, we went to the buffet and had
lunch and then went out in the sun for a couple of hours.
The show tonight was a comedian, musician, juggler and magician
all in one person and people thought he was funny but we didn’t – too many old
jokes and not enough talent.
Then it was onto dinner and the casino where Barb lost
just a little and Ed did very well with a great run.
Tomorrow we have to get up early as we have Vietnam river
tour including the city of Danang.
I will post pictures on the last couple of day either
late tomorrow or probably the next day as it is late and we have to get up very
early again tomorrow.
Night
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| Making table cloths |
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| At an intersection |
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| Just local stores |
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| Part of lunch |
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| Cooking on the street |
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| A local saleswomen |
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