2015 Hanoi Trip of Intellectual Discovery

There are three reasons I write travel journals so seriously: First, to make a keepsake for myself — memories are fleeting, so by putting them into words, they become the cheapest souvenir there is. Second, during the trip I received help from many friends, and I want to express my heartfelt thanks through this journal. Third, I hope to share my experiences with every friend who loves to travel, so that if you happen to be traveling to the same region, it can serve as a reference. Yesterday I finished the Ninh Binh leg of the trip, and this six-day trip through northern Vietnam is now coming to an end. Today I'm getting ready to head back to work, with a flight scheduled for 16:35.It has been drizzling continuously in Hanoi these past few days, so I decided to focus on indoor itineraries today. I opened Trip Advisor and decided to have an intellectual tour today, visiting the Vietnamese Women's Museum (4) and Hỏa Lò Prison (11), also known as the "Hanoi Hilton." Before the intellectual tour, I had a little project in mind — I wanted to document Hoan Kiem Lake's different appearances across the four seasons. In March, Hoan Kiem Lake sits at the transition between spring and winter, with the leaves still sparse and some even still yellow.

The Vietnamese Women's Museum is located not far to the south of Hoan Kiem Lake

This is a museum that depicts the many facets of Vietnamese women's lives, including their everyday work, their roles during wartime, and how their social status has improved up to the present day. (Admission ticket: 30,000 VND)

The statue placed in the first-floor lobby seems to say that a mother is her child's guardian angel.

On the corner of the second floor there's a video you can watch, about interviews with many women working in Hanoi, asking why they came to Hanoi to work. Most of the women wake up early to travel from their hometowns, or stay directly in Hanoi for a week or two before going home once — all so they can earn more money in Hanoi to support their families! It's a simple interview, spoken in Vietnamese with English subtitles, and it's truly moving to tears.

The theme of the second floor is birth, mainly covering various aspects of having a baby, such as how to record the child's birth, food for postpartum confinement, children's clothing, and so on. I wasn't very interested in this hall, so I finished looking around quite quickly.

The theme of the third floor is the life of Vietnamese women, or in plain terms, the household work of Vietnamese women. After going through it, my impression was... they did everything. Right from the start, it covered farming, harvesting, fishing, cooking, weaving, and pottery-making—nothing was left out. Perhaps because Vietnam has long been caught up in war in recent years, the men all went off to fight, so the household chores were left for the women to carry.

The theme of the third floor is about war, and right at the entrance you see a wall inscribed "Mothers of Vietnamese Heroes Wall.

I found it strange that even though some time has passed, after carefully reading the description I realized that walking up to this wall really isn't a very happy thing to do... This wall gives thanks to the sons or grandsons of these mothers who sacrificed their lives on the battlefield. The criteria for being listed are: losing two or more sons, losing an only son, losing both a husband and a son at the same time, or sacrificing oneself. The mother who lost the most lost 10 sons and 2 grandsons... War is truly cruel. Inside the exhibition hall, besides displaying many slogans from that era encouraging women to join the military, there are also photos and stories of some heroines on display.

The fourth floor introduces Vietnamese women's clothing, and this part overlapped with the Vietnamese Ethnic Museum we had visited before, so we went through it a bit more quickly.

The fifth floor, which is the top floor, is an art exhibition. It doesn't seem to have much to do with Vietnamese women, but it's quite distinctive — though only 4 works by this particular painter are on display, as the exhibition period for the rest has already ended.

Just a quick addition — on the corner of the fourth floor there's a small exhibition hall introducing outstanding contemporary Vietnamese women. One of the profiles really caught my attention: this woman first went to Taiwan to work as a domestic helper for several years, saving up several hundred thousand Taiwan dollars, then returned to Vietnam and used that money, along with the knowledge she gained in Taiwan, to start a tea company. A hero's humble origins don't hold them back.

As I was leaving, I happened to notice that even the glass windows of this museum matched the museum's theme.

In addition to this 5-story exhibition hall, there is also a 1-story exhibition hall nearby, though its content is also mainly related to war.

I feel this is an exhibition hall worth spending two hours visiting — all the introductions come with English translations available, and it lets you understand Vietnamese culture through the lens of Vietnamese women. I also hope that in the future there will be similar themed halls domestically; mothers are great, and I think this hall, besides its historical introductions, also carries something of a symbol of gratitude for what women have given. It's that time again when lunch becomes a headache — around noon, lots of small food stalls are surrounded by people eating. I originally wanted to pick one with a lot of people, but it was just too crowded.

Later, I saw another restaurant that was also packed with customers, located near the church, so I decided to give it a try.

After going in, I first checked out what other people were ordering, and it looked like the two items with the highest order rate were these: spring rolls (15,000 VND) and banh (55,000 VND)

The spring roll had two shrimp inside, and with the dipping sauce it was really delicious. This bowl of banh had very luxurious toppings with meat, shrimp, egg, and more (so the price is naturally not cheap either). Overall the food was good, but the price was on the high side. However, seeing that the customers were mainly locals, perhaps prices in Ho Chi Minh City really are somewhat higher. After finishing the meal, we didn't rest much and headed straight to the Hoa Lo Prison, which was about a 10-15 minute walk from the church.

This is the exterior wall and the main gate (entrance fee 30,000 VND).

Hoa Lo Prison was built during the French colonial period, and was mainly used to imprison Vietnamese political prisoners who resisted French colonial rule. After North Vietnam was founded, it became a national prison holding serious criminals. During the Vietnam War, some American bombers were shot down, and the captured pilots were also imprisoned here. Hollywood once made this the subject of a film called "Hanoi Hilton," which made this place world-famous. This is what Hoa Lo Prison looked like back then, and there's also a model of it.

The tour at the beginning mainly introduced the prison's facilities—this is the gate of the former Fire Furnace Prison and the stone blocks used in its construction at that time.

And also the prison uniform from back then.

At that time, criminals mainly stayed in an environment like this, and even had to wear shackles on their feet in bed.

The venue also still retains some of the actual jail cells from that time.

Finally, there's a memorial park dedicated to the martyrs who were imprisoned at the time.

Overall, this is a rather dull exhibition hall, using the Hoa Lo Prison to tell the story of the French colonial period (with some mention of the Vietnam War as well). Because of time constraints and my not-so-high interest, I didn't read the explanatory content in detail either. Visit time: 1 to 1.5 hours.