Sightseeing pt. 2: Military History Museum and the Imperial Citadel
Hello and xin chào!
After an unplanned hiatus, I'm back to post about things that I did over a month ago. (Losing your phone and getting locked out of iCloud in a foreign country totally throws you off balance, so to speak.)
At some point during the whirlwind that was my first week here, the sightseeing component of orientation brought me to the Vietnam Military History Museum. Upon entry into the museum's grounds (much of it is outdoors), I was greeted by the Flag Tower of Hanoi, built in 1812 for some military purpose? The internet is not helping me with this one.
What was more interesting was the vast array of military vehicles parked just beyond it. Some were [North] Vietnamese; some were American. There was also an indoor portion with various war paraphernalia from the wars against the French and Americans, including the boots of a B-52 pilot and South Vietnamese torture instruments.
While I wouldn’t consider myself a patriotic person, there’s still something quite unsettling about seeing the wreckage of your own country’s planes displayed in a museum—and with implicit, somber pride.
The Vietnamese woman from HR who had been leading my one-on-one orientation at one point asked me how I felt. A few feet away from the tank that led North Vietnamese troops into Saigon’s Presidential Palace in 1975, a contemplative “It’s very interesting” was all I could muster. In her limited English, she mournfully told me she hadn’t been to the museum since she was in kindergarten, so she was “feeling… a lot.”
Perhaps I was imbuing her few words with more sorrow than she intended, but they added a really important layer to our visit. It’s easy as a Westerner—especially as an American—to come away bemused by the museum placards that are just as fancifully propagandist as you’d expect. And in all honesty, I’m still pretty entertained by that aspect. But it’s a totally different experience to witness the reaction of someone for whom the museum commemorates a quite recent and incredibly devastating armed conflict.
Up next was the Imperial Citadel of Thăng Long. This archaeological site hosted the capital of imperial Vietnam from 1010 until 1810, when the capital was moved further south to Huế. Many of the buildings were destroyed in the 19th century first by the ruling dynasty that moved the capital and then by the French; one of the few remaining buildings is the southern gate.
Built in the 15th century, the southern gate was really the only interesting portion of the complex for me, as the remainder was seemingly devoted to exhibits of broken pottery. (But hey, there was air conditioning in those exhibits.)
Now that everything has mostly settled down again, I'll be churning out some more posts to catch up with the fact that it's already October. (How is that possible?) I've got one more sightseeing post, and after that will be my extraordinary trip into the mountains. As before, here's a link to more photos if you'd like to check them out.
Till next time,
Gray
After an unplanned hiatus, I'm back to post about things that I did over a month ago. (Losing your phone and getting locked out of iCloud in a foreign country totally throws you off balance, so to speak.)
At some point during the whirlwind that was my first week here, the sightseeing component of orientation brought me to the Vietnam Military History Museum. Upon entry into the museum's grounds (much of it is outdoors), I was greeted by the Flag Tower of Hanoi, built in 1812 for some military purpose? The internet is not helping me with this one.
 |
| Given the oppressive heat, I was relieved that you couldn't climb to the top. |
What was more interesting was the vast array of military vehicles parked just beyond it. Some were [North] Vietnamese; some were American. There was also an indoor portion with various war paraphernalia from the wars against the French and Americans, including the boots of a B-52 pilot and South Vietnamese torture instruments.
 |
| Planes from the war. The wreckage is that of a B-52 shot down in 1972. |
While I wouldn’t consider myself a patriotic person, there’s still something quite unsettling about seeing the wreckage of your own country’s planes displayed in a museum—and with implicit, somber pride.
 |
| The rear end of an American helicopter captured during the Fall/Liberation of Saigon. |
The Vietnamese woman from HR who had been leading my one-on-one orientation at one point asked me how I felt. A few feet away from the tank that led North Vietnamese troops into Saigon’s Presidential Palace in 1975, a contemplative “It’s very interesting” was all I could muster. In her limited English, she mournfully told me she hadn’t been to the museum since she was in kindergarten, so she was “feeling… a lot.”
 |
| The bottom of the wrecked B-52. |
Perhaps I was imbuing her few words with more sorrow than she intended, but they added a really important layer to our visit. It’s easy as a Westerner—especially as an American—to come away bemused by the museum placards that are just as fancifully propagandist as you’d expect. And in all honesty, I’m still pretty entertained by that aspect. But it’s a totally different experience to witness the reaction of someone for whom the museum commemorates a quite recent and incredibly devastating armed conflict.
 |
| Some lovely propaganda at the museum. |
Up next was the Imperial Citadel of Thăng Long. This archaeological site hosted the capital of imperial Vietnam from 1010 until 1810, when the capital was moved further south to Huế. Many of the buildings were destroyed in the 19th century first by the ruling dynasty that moved the capital and then by the French; one of the few remaining buildings is the southern gate.
 |
| The southern gate. |
Built in the 15th century, the southern gate was really the only interesting portion of the complex for me, as the remainder was seemingly devoted to exhibits of broken pottery. (But hey, there was air conditioning in those exhibits.)
 |
| View from the gate with the Flag Tower in the distance. |
Now that everything has mostly settled down again, I'll be churning out some more posts to catch up with the fact that it's already October. (How is that possible?) I've got one more sightseeing post, and after that will be my extraordinary trip into the mountains. As before, here's a link to more photos if you'd like to check them out.
Till next time,
Gray
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