Slept so little last night Ha Noi time…..
The Radical
9th Nov 2018
…..that this Morning I was too tired to get up at 6am.
Jet Lag had set in and time was catching up on me.
To the extent that at getting up time here I was ready for bed.
However at 7am I forced myself to address the daylight
and go for that morning stroll
We had run out of :-
eggs, — Trung
milk, —- Sua
bread — Banh
coffee.– Ca phe
Papaya – Du Du
cola – Cay Co Ca
crisps – Khoai Tay Chien Gion
Shower gel – Sua Tam
Vietnam drinks so much Cola that Coco Cola are setting up a Second Factory here.
The eggs and papaya we buy from Chau Long Market and the jar of Nescafe
Gold blend, Shower Gel, Vietnamese whole cream Milk, Cola and Crisps from
across the road at the General Store.
Warm bread rolls from the bakery on the way home.
We havent travelled more than 300 metres from base camp and then returned laden, to enjoy breakfast before returning to bed.
I then slept all morning until 12.30pm,and awoke suddenly because at 1pm
Hanoi time or 8am UK time, we had an appointment booked with Canc our
taximan, to meet us.
So it was a scrabble to shave, shower and dress and be ready for him.
We did just that in time.
Down the lift from our 6th floor apartment and across the road.
Today we attacked two museums, both History and both called the same.
“Vietnam National Museum of History”
One is at No 1 Pham Ngu Lao and the other across the square
at No 1 Pham Ngu Lao
It says so on the different tickets- Ve Tham Quan – (Admission Ticket)
Same address even though I have them at different addresses:-
Tran Quang Khai Road and Trang Tien Phan Chu Trinh Road
Confused ?
Well they could not be more different
Same entrance fee 40,000 Adult 20,000 Student 10,000 for Pupil
I tried at 75 to claim I was a Pupil, a Student in the School of Life but she just laughed
Remember £1 – 30,000 DONG
Museum No 1 was the Natural History Museum of Vietnam.
A blend of ancient life from the 3rd Century bronzes
to the French Occupation and Communist Party
Digging for Victory ?
An American Lady told me I was going round the wrong way.
She did not know it was a cunning plan to miss the guided parties.
So as we were standing next to the most exquisite
bronze plough share I asked her how did they make the bronze that was
everywhere on display, but she couldn’t tell me so I said you havent
come in as a Student ot Pupil either then ?
I thought the green tinge to everything would have given the game away but
apparently not.
Once again there was no consideration to the elderly or disabled.
PLEASE NOTE VIETNAMESE COMMUNIST PARTY –
PURE DISCRIMINATION AGAINST THE INFIRM.
The magnificent French Architectural buildings had grand stair cases to the
second floor.
———————————————————————————————-
The other Museum No 2 is described in the book as the
Museum of Vietnamese Revolution, the history of the struggle
for Independence.
To the Victor the Spoils !!!!
Unashamedly political and the struggle against invaders from
Cambodia and China to the Japanese French and Americans
Heroes were depicted as the people and Ho who was never described as a
Communist but the Leader of the Liberation Movement.
However with pictures of Lenin and Ho’s cadillac
the armour plated elongated auto in the 50’s heavy style
given to him in 1954 by the Russian showed he
embraced the theory of Marxism and the practice of a Mentor
and the Skill of a Diplomat
Ho most certainly had Life Skills too.
3 gallons to the Mile that car was built like a tank and looked
every bit a status symbol, the last thing Ho would have
enjoyed.
Inside there are pictures of Ho at the front line of struggle,
both the battle For Independence and Against starvation.
He is pictured scooping water from the river with a
bucket on long ropes into irrigation channels and I am sure
that is what he was – a politician in touch with the people.
This museum could not be more different to our Victoria and Albert
or Museum of London
Politics a dirty word, and Struggle swept under the Stair,
but this was raw and
intended – a revolution.
The French guillitine sited at the Prison was used repeatedly on political
opponents and to keep French Colonialism in Power.
Photos of American atrocities with the soldiers smiling as
the dragged corpes behind trunks along roads
or burnt villages and lined up the kill of civilians
mostly women and children for the days shoot to count.
It was 4pm and time to call Cac to take us home
for a steak supper, chips and trimmings
So unashamedly decadent ?
No I am thinking of my digestive system as well as my pocket system.
Comfortable in the knowledge I know where my food has come from
and that I am saving 200% by not going out to a restaurant.
But the day had caught up with my frame and as there is no Biased
BBC on TV only Fox News, I fell to sleep thinking of a day well spent in Vietnam
in the arms of this proud and determined peoples.