The Hoa La Prison Museum - Hanoi Hilton

The Hoa La Prison Museum is an astonishing mix of horror and propaganda.Built by the French administration in 1896, and named Maison Centrale during the French rule – the original sign still hangs over the entrance - most of the prison complex was demolished in 1997. What remains is the the Hoa Lo Prison Museum. The prison was used by the French to hold Vietnamese (largely political) prisoners. Originally intended to hold around 450 prisoners, by the 1930s the number of detainees had soared to almost 2,000.
When you read any westernized tour information, the emphasis is on the incarceration of US pilots, who nick-named it the Hanoi Hilton. A smaller section of the museum is devoted to the American period and the pictures show smiling PoWs washing and eating and playing cards. Videos play movies about the atrocities committed by the attempted (US) invaders. No mention is made of torture or starvation of PoWs. Walls are covered with images of how other countries (France, UK, Russia) helped Vietnam in its very poor, dark days.
Much of the museum, however, concentrates on the horrifying treatment of the Vietnamese by the French - shackles, whips, and other instruments of torture, as well as tiny solitary confinement cells, which date from the French-colonial period.
Also on display is part of the sewer system -  more than 100 prisoners escaped in August 1945. At the back of the museum is the guillotine. Not the oppressive size I was expecting, but still terrifying. It was difficult to remind myself that this was not the medieval period but the turn of the 20th Century.

The Ho Chi Minh Complex

I'd heard about a group called HanoiKids. This is a group of young students who take tourists around Hanoi, showing the sites for free. I booked them up before we left as I knew that they needed as much time as possible in advance.
The top photo shows our two guys, Bách and  Tùng, who are uni students. One is studying International Business and the other is studying Economics. They volunteer with Hanoi Kids to meet new people and to make friends as well as listening to different accents and to show off their city of which they are very proud.
http://www.vietnam-beauty.com/cities/86-ho-chi-minh-complex-the-heart-of-vietnamese-people.html
It is easier to read about the Mausoleum on the link. There is a complex which includes the brilliantly yellow presidential palace, which was the home of the French governor. Ho Chi Minh wouldn't live there as the people were poor, so he had a small 3 roomed house built in the grounds instead. There is very simple furniture and a radio.
We walked through the mausoleum, which was eerie. The lighting is low and the experience moving as the Vietnamese pay their respects (quickly as guards in resplendent white uniforms move everyone along).
In the photo you can see Heather, Bách and  Tùng, then Alexandra who were looking at the fish.
The gardens are beautiful and each tree has some significance. The shade and the breeze were very welcome and in total contrast to our experience so far in the noisy Old Quarter.