Wednesday, June 10, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
7
Commentary...
Hanoi, a half century later
By Craig F. Eisenbeis
Columnist
On our coronavirus-
truncated Asian cruise tour,
the final stop in Vietnam
was at Halong Bay, gateway
to Hanoi and home to the
giant, picturesque, mono-
lithic rocks frequently seen
in travel photos and more
recently made famous in the
filming of the movie <Kong:
Skull Island.=
I never imagined myself
visiting Hanoi, much less on
a tourist bus; but there I was,
bound for Hanoi on a six-
lane freeway. As we passed
through the busy port of
Haiphong, I clearly remem-
bered the U.S. mining of
Haiphong Harbor in 1972.
The Coast Guard Cutter, to
which I was assigned at that
time, was in the middle of
the Pacific; and I recalled
wondering if the war9s esca-
lation would place us in any
direct peril. My concern
was unfounded, but we had
no way to know that at the
time.
As we entered Hanoi
from the east, it was hard
to conceive that, 50 years
ago, the U.S. was raining
bombs down on this city of
7 million. We saw the lake
over which John McCain
was shot down on his way
to bomb a nearby power
plant. We saw the infamous
<Hanoi Hilton= where the
future senator and presiden-
tial candidate was impris-
oned for more than five
years.
Our guide rever-
ently explained that the
Vietnamese hold John
McCain9s memory in very
high esteem for his cour-
age, his refusal to accept
early release unless his fel-
lows were also released,
and for his later return and
role in ending U.S. sanc-
tions against the country. It
was interesting to note that
the guides always referred
to war and bombings <by
the U.S. government= rather
than by <the Americans.=
Ha Noi, like Viet Nam, is
two words in their language
and has been the country9s
capital since the year 1010.
It9s another large Asian city
with impressive architecture
and an excellent lager beer
called <Bia Ha Noi.= There
has been much rebuilding
since the war, which now
includes an actual Hilton
Hotel.
We toured the site of
Ho Chi Minh9s mausoleum
and memorial grounds,
along with Ho9s house and
Presidential Palace which
are across the street from
Parliament. In Vietnamese
history, <Uncle Ho= is
their equivalent of George
Washington.
We visited Hanoi on
the fifth day of the Lunar
New Year celebration and
stumbled into a huge fes-
tival attended by hordes of
people, including a large
prayer-for-peace assem-
bly of sky-blue, silken-clad
worshippers at the Temple
of Literature, which was
built in 1070 and dedicated
to Confucius. The celebrants
also prayed for success and
health in the new year.
Downtown Hanoi was
teeming with people, noise,
and motorbikes, as our guide
led us through narrow back
alleys and markets of the
city. There is an interesting
blend of Asian and French
architecture, a legacy of the
French colonial period. At
the end of our guided tour,
we were turned loose to
wander the city9s waterfront
for about an hour before our
departure. Shops in this area
were neat but old, crowded,
and utilitarian; and they
accepted credit cards.
Exploring on our own,
we discovered a small park
with an impressive monu-
ment dedicated as a memo-
rial to the men and women
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who lost their lives in the
struggle for Vietnamese
independence. The sculpted
figures depicted were in the
robust proletarian style sim-
ilar to monuments we have
seen in Russia and the for-
mer East Germany.
When the bus finally
arrived to pick us up for the
return to the ship, it had been
a long 12-hour day; but the
cooler temperatures of the
north made it more pleasant
compared to the heat of the
south. It was amusing to see
that thermometer readings in
the 50s caused many of the
Vietnamese to bundle up in
Eskimo-style parkas.
By the time the bus hit
the road, many of the pas-
sengers were asleep and
missed the spectacular night
lights of Hanoi. The beau-
tiful new buildings were
gloriously lit at night, not
nearly rivaling, but reminis-
cent of Las Vegas. Arriving
back at our moorage in Ha
Long Bay, we were greeted
PHOTO BY CRAIG EISENBEIS
The Hanoi mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh, who is considered to be the
Vietnamese equivalent of George Washington.
by the brilliantly lit suspen-
sion bridge and amusement
park adjacent to the pier.
This was late January, and
most of the intelligent world
was already taking steps to
control the novel coronavi-
rus that would soon result
in our subsequent two-week
cruise to nowhere. Although
our next port of call, Hong
Kong, would never achieve
status as a high danger area
for the virus, the cruise
line canceled an overnight
stay there. We stayed an
extra night in Vietnam and
stopped in Hong Kong
PHOTO BY CRAIG EISENBEIS
Celebrants in Hanoi gather at a thousand-year-old temple, dedicated to
Confucius, to pray for peace and prosperity in the new year.
only long enough to pick
up and discharge scheduled
passengers.
All organized tours in
Hong Kong were canceled,
but we were given the oppor-
tunity to take city bus tours
and the ferry to Kowloon on
our own. One of the most
densely populated places
on Earth was not exactly a
ghost town, but traffic and
outdoor activity in Hong
Kong was extremely light.
Residents were already
practicing sanitization and
social distancing measures,
and everyone 4 except the
tourists 4 wore masks.
Stopping in Hong Kong
was a strategic error because,
since we had touched port
in China, no other nation
would take us in. So, for the
next two weeks, we wan-
dered the South China Sea.
Rejected by all our future
ports in The Philippines,
Taiwan, South Korea, and
Japan, our cruise 4 origi-
nally scheduled to termi-
nate in Shanghai, China 3
finally ended with a return
to Cambodia, which agreed
to grant us refuge. Accounts
of the Westerdam9s <Ghost
Ship= cruise to nowhere can
be viewed in past articles at
www.nuggetnews.com.