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Sat 9 May - Hanoi Military Museum
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Shared train cabin with
2 Singaporean back packers. Sleep quite good. Arrived at
0430 am and taken to hotel - farewelled a great guide and 4 top
ausies who had to wait 2 hours in the lobby till breakfast and then
their bus for Halon Bay cruise. Today is my day - at the
military museum - I learned how "the great socialist
liberation movement freed the suppressed people of the south from
the cruel puppet regime run by the American imperialists"
Well worth the visit - fantastic relics very accessible to explore.
After the Americans they then tussled with Laos but nothing about
that conflict - Loved how the spin doctors work their magic. - I
understood the military are saying they are now leading the country
into the new technological age with weapons, medical services and
education. There is no obvious propaganda on the streets or in the
schools as other countries have. People just get on with their lives
contented with their lot - fed well, housed adequately - the street
is their caring community and often extra kitchen and dining room
because the outdoors (in the shade) is bigger, lighter and cooler. The main tour began meeting the guide "Hng" and one other passenger just off the plane 36 hours of no sleep - from Australia, Deidre - Out to dinner and yes like last time, directed to a very expensive, nothing-great restaurant for a "free" drink and we pay for the very expensive (relatively) meal. Hmmm! Never a good start I would think.
Then Americans came (1961- 1975) and bombed, killed and maimed
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