Hanoi, Vietnam - Day 7

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 Good Morning Vietnam!

I am down at my usual time in the lobby. Checking emails, news, thinking about what's the plan for today and waiting for breakfast. 

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Today, I actually have a plan. I will be picked up from the hostel at about 8:30 to catch a bus to Ha Long bay. I purchased a 2 day 1 night boat excursion. It will be about a 3 hour trip to the bay. I'm really looking forward to getting there and cruising around the bay this afternoon. 

I set a new steps record yesterday. I walked a total of 12,000 steps. Yeehaa! If I can keep this up, I may lose a few lbs. and reduce the belt hang over.

Yesterday, I took a public bus to the Vietnam Military History Museum. Visits to museums likge this are never fun, but very interesting and educational. The Vietnamese are a very proud people, signs of that patiotism are on display everywhere. Event in the hostel I am staying at. The red flag with a yellow star are on display everywhere. That pride is rooted in the knowledge that they have resisted foreign invasions and occupation for much of their history. More on that later.

The new Vietnam Military History Museum in Hanoi, inaugurated on November 1, 2024, is among the largest in the world. Covering 386,600 square meters (roughly 38.6 hectares) in Nam Tu Liem district, it features extensive indoor and outdoor displays, including 150,000+ artifacts, a 45-meter-high Victory Tower, and advanced, modern, and interactive technology.







Foreign incursions of Vietnam go back over 2000 years. The Chinese conquest of 111 and 214 BC which resulted in control and influence for about 1000 years.

In modern history:
  • France and Spain launched military expeditions into Vietnam in 1858 which resulted in Vietnam being integrated into French Indochina in 1880.
  • The Japanese occupied Vietnam from 1940 to 1945.
  • The French forces returned from 1945 to 1954
  • The U.S intervention from 1955 to 1975
These in addition to Chinese and Soviet Union

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