Yet another day of Tet holiday festivities, this year the annual holiday period has coincided with the 84th anniversary of the founding of the Vietnam Democratic Republican Party, so banners waving with the party slogan ‘ 3/2/1930-3/2/2014 herald an evening of celebration.
Not realising the significance of the date, I set off this morning to make the most of what is traditionally the third and final full shutdown for Tet, before the city should begin to come back to life. I’ve been lucky though, as despite many closures, when I went to the Mausoleum complex on spec yesterday, it was open; just chance as apparently it rarely is, so I now know, and today I wandered down to Ho Lao Prison and find that too was open, a happy result-or ‘good fortune’ as people here would say!
Originally an enormous complex with a varied history; from French colonists imprisoning Vietnamese political prisoners to its final days as the ‘Hanoi Hilton’ during the Vietnam War, when captured US pilots were held here.
Much of the site was bulldozed to create a ‘new town’ of high rise flats to help Hanoi’s housing crisis, but one wing has been kept as a historical landmark, with a temple and stunning war memorial with hundreds of names inscribed in gold lettering on black marble, glistening in the shade of the almond trees prisoners planted years ago.
Seeing the history recreated through Vietnamese eyes mirrored my experiences in Saigon, a disconcerting sensation of having been on the ‘wrong’ side although my childhood memories are more of the anti war sentiment which prevailed, certainly in my home, a memory the Vietnamese are happy to hear.
The patriotism of this country is loud and clear-tonight the brightly lit streets –see pics, one is xmas lights with a difference, the hammer and sickle symbol, and the other is the ‘Happy New Year’ displays-had another dimension, with the anniversary of Vietnam’s independence.
Banners of ‘Uncle Ho’ beam down from tall buildings onto the populace and stage shows can be heard at full volume. I stopped to watch one , slipping quietly into a seat behind the rows of smartly dressed party officials and proud parents. Tonight more fireworks…….!
Not realising the significance of the date, I set off this morning to make the most of what is traditionally the third and final full shutdown for Tet, before the city should begin to come back to life. I’ve been lucky though, as despite many closures, when I went to the Mausoleum complex on spec yesterday, it was open; just chance as apparently it rarely is, so I now know, and today I wandered down to Ho Lao Prison and find that too was open, a happy result-or ‘good fortune’ as people here would say!
Originally an enormous complex with a varied history; from French colonists imprisoning Vietnamese political prisoners to its final days as the ‘Hanoi Hilton’ during the Vietnam War, when captured US pilots were held here.
Much of the site was bulldozed to create a ‘new town’ of high rise flats to help Hanoi’s housing crisis, but one wing has been kept as a historical landmark, with a temple and stunning war memorial with hundreds of names inscribed in gold lettering on black marble, glistening in the shade of the almond trees prisoners planted years ago.
Seeing the history recreated through Vietnamese eyes mirrored my experiences in Saigon, a disconcerting sensation of having been on the ‘wrong’ side although my childhood memories are more of the anti war sentiment which prevailed, certainly in my home, a memory the Vietnamese are happy to hear.
The patriotism of this country is loud and clear-tonight the brightly lit streets –see pics, one is xmas lights with a difference, the hammer and sickle symbol, and the other is the ‘Happy New Year’ displays-had another dimension, with the anniversary of Vietnam’s independence.
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| Happy New Year 2014 - Viet Nam Street Lights |
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| Uncle Ho |
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| Stage show |
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