Yesterday, I went to Halong Bay, a World Heritage site in Hanoi. At Halong Bay, I got to go climb a mountain on Titap Island and enjoy the amazing panoramic view of Halong Bay. I also got to go into Suprising Cave (yes, that's the name if the cave) and see the beautiful rock formations and countless stalagmites and stalagtites. This cave was first discovered by the French in 1901 when they were still controlling Vietnam.
After going to the cave, I got to go kayaking along Halong Bay and see the wonders of the area. While going back, I saw some monkeys scaling multiple trees, staring down at us.
The day before that, we went on a city tour in Hanoi. We went to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. This mausoleum is the place where Ho Chi Minh's body currently rests. This is the most heavily guarded place in all of Hanoi, with the army and police guarding this mausoleum, with special forces all around this area, ready to assemble on short notice.
We also went to the Museum of Etymology, where we got to take a glimpse at the lives of different people from different ethnic groups in Vietnam.
Then, we went to the Temple of Literature, which was originally build during 1070 for the king's son (to go study at). Last time, tests used to be hosted there every 3 years to see who in the country was smart (not the right way to phrase it, I think). Now, it's just a tourist attraction for us to go see and learn about it's history.
In Ho Chi Minh city, we went to see the Gu Chi Tunnels, a wide and vast channel of tunnels used by the communists during the Vietnam War. I learned about many things, such as how the airholes were structured. These airholes were essential and crucial for the communists, and they had to make sure that they weren't discovered by the Americans because the American would be able to put in gas and kill all of them. So, they had an amazing solution. They put old jackets to block the airholes so that air would still be able to go through the airholes, but the American's dogs wouldn't be able to sense these as grounds that belonged to the communists, as they would think that the airholes belonged to the Americans.
Also, they would also wear slippers backward (not really, but I can't really describe it) so that when they retreated, their opposition would think that they had went the other way.
They also had 'secret shootholes' (that's what I'm going to call them) to shoot at the Americans - they fought using Guerilla tactics. After shooting a shot, they would run to another shoot hole and shoot from there, and so on so that the Americans would think that they had lots of people fighting for them, and retreat. They also had traps (terrifying ones) to scare the Americans psychologically and make them retreat.
I'm probably going to be making a video about what we did in Vietnam sometime soon, but don't think that I will post it on this blog.
But there's one thing I do have to say - the experience was amazing. And I hope that we can have experiences like this more often - because they really are amazing.
We also went to the Museum of Etymology, where we got to take a glimpse at the lives of different people from different ethnic groups in Vietnam.
Then, we went to the Temple of Literature, which was originally build during 1070 for the king's son (to go study at). Last time, tests used to be hosted there every 3 years to see who in the country was smart (not the right way to phrase it, I think). Now, it's just a tourist attraction for us to go see and learn about it's history.
In Ho Chi Minh city, we went to see the Gu Chi Tunnels, a wide and vast channel of tunnels used by the communists during the Vietnam War. I learned about many things, such as how the airholes were structured. These airholes were essential and crucial for the communists, and they had to make sure that they weren't discovered by the Americans because the American would be able to put in gas and kill all of them. So, they had an amazing solution. They put old jackets to block the airholes so that air would still be able to go through the airholes, but the American's dogs wouldn't be able to sense these as grounds that belonged to the communists, as they would think that the airholes belonged to the Americans.
Also, they would also wear slippers backward (not really, but I can't really describe it) so that when they retreated, their opposition would think that they had went the other way.
They also had 'secret shootholes' (that's what I'm going to call them) to shoot at the Americans - they fought using Guerilla tactics. After shooting a shot, they would run to another shoot hole and shoot from there, and so on so that the Americans would think that they had lots of people fighting for them, and retreat. They also had traps (terrifying ones) to scare the Americans psychologically and make them retreat.
I'm probably going to be making a video about what we did in Vietnam sometime soon, but don't think that I will post it on this blog.
But there's one thing I do have to say - the experience was amazing. And I hope that we can have experiences like this more often - because they really are amazing.
I LOVE Vietnam and have been there many times now. Are you sure it was an Etymology Museum and not an Ethnography Museum? I will be back in Vietnam in December for a few days in Hoi An. I really enjoy it there and have been maybe four times already.
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