Thaler Travels

Welcome to Hanoi's Vietnamese Women's Museum      While there are many great museums in Hanoi, I visited one of my absolute favorites this week.  The Vietnamese Women's Museum is devoted entirely to the role of women in the country with permanent exhibitions of women's role in the family, in the history of Vietnam, and in fashion.   The first exhibition focuses on marriage and childbirth customs.  Good thing I visited this just in time because I took notes on childbirth customs for daughter Allyse and marriage customs  for soon-to-be daughter-in-law Erin.  Let's start with customs for you, Allyse.  The first is a ritual involving the blood of a sacrificed dog to be rubbed over your stomach to chase away evil.  See, I bet you hadn't thought of that yet.  Then one should make offerings of 3-5 jars of alcohol, one pig, one dog, four bracelets and a bowl of rice.  Let's just focus on prayers for health.  And f...

From Hao Lo to Chi Hoa            Early on when I knew I was off to Hanoi, I determined that I would visit the "Hanoi Hilton" the nickname given to the prison which held American pilots, including Senator John McCain, who were shot down during the Vietnam War.  The true name of this prison, built by the French in 1896, was Maison Centrale but the locals called it Hao Lo, or Fiery Furnace, in reference to the village of Phu Khanh, the village known for making earthen pots and kettles which was displaced in order for the building of the French prison.  It was a large prison, the largest and most secure prison in Indochina at 12,908m2 or about eight square miles.  The remnants of that prison are now a tourist site in Hanoi within easy walking distance from Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum and Truc Bach Lake were McCain was shot down.          It is no surprise to me that this prison, where many political prisoners were h...

History in the Making and We Were There                   Bob and I had a great few days in DaNang with our friends Todd and Michelle Van Maanan right on China Beach.   I would be very hard pressed to tell you what the highlight of the few days was because there were so many: the SDSU sweep of the Summit Tournament (Todd and Michelle are from USD), the gorgeous sunshine and beautiful beach, the fresh seafood, the Marble Mountains and Buddhist caves, or the golfing at the Montgomerie Links.   At every turn: on the beach, at the golf course, and at the top of the Marble Mountain, it seemed we met men and women from the USS Carl Vinson . The historic nature of this landing was obvious immediately, as it was the first time that a US navy aircraft carrier had docked in Vietnam since the end of the Vietnam/American War.   It was here in DaNang that 3,500 troops landed in Vietnam- over 50 years ...