Despite the heat and humidity in Hanoi this week, I haven't been dissuaded from taking long daily walks in the city, sometimes for as long as three to five miles. It's the best way to get oriented in a new place, to get the lay of the land, and it's the best way to absorb what the various neighborhoods and their streets have to offer.
Over the past few days I have taken this golden opportunity to photograph two or three central city neighborhoods on my rounds.
My hotel is in the Old Quarter which is a great place to start. On this link you can find a typical walking tour marked on a map of the Old Quarter:
http://www.vietnamonline.com/destination/hanoi/old-quarter-walking-tour.html
In this vibrant, colorful neighborhood, which is the old city center, are hundreds of hotels, hostels, restaurants, coffee shops, noodle stands, bakeries, convenience stores, mom and pop stores, clothing stores, shoe stores, hardware stores, souvenir shops, cellphone shops, electronics shops, authorized Apple retailers, other computer retailers, a nightly night bazaar of several blocks length, a traditonal "wet" market, a beautiful park and lake, and a few notable cultural attractions.
The Old Quarter has almost no traffic lights, so car and motorbike traffic make their way through intersections in a fascinating ballet of weaving and waving. Drivers here drive much slower than their counterparts in other countries, so this surreal system seems to work without too much disaster.
Just to the southeast of the Old Quarter is the French Quarter, which at first glance appears to be more of the same, but soon you notice that the streets are wider, the tree-lined boulevards are more glamorous, the French architecture is better-preserved, and the new buildings are taller and bigger. There are also many more traffic lights.
Here you find supermarkets, luxury brand stores, independent boutique shops, a higher class of hotels and restaurants, and brand-name Western fast food outlets such as KFC and Burger King. And yet sometimes there is less than meets the eye: a closer look inside a "supermarket" revealed a post-communist example of a western concept that has yet to find its strengths here. The shelves were filled, true, but compared to the big box stores of Thailand, this supermarket seemed like something straight out of 1989 East Germany.
Just to the west/northwest of the Old Quarter is the capital city's newer administrative center. Here the boulevards are even wider, with yet more trees, and bigger parks line large sections of the area. Several five-way intersections abound, managed by traffic light or roundabout, and here you can see traffic police at work.
This is a neighborhood of big city squares, large government buildings, several foreign embassies including Thailand, Poland, Romania, and Canada, and big monuments to important historical figures such as a statue of Vladimir Illych Lenin (quite possibly one of the last in the world!), and here too is the gigantic Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum.
The latter two landmarks have a way, I noticed as I was taking photos, of making this usually bright and colorful city appear almost Stalinist grey and drab. And yet I was impressed by their size and the huge spaces surrounding them where families gather late in the afternoon, together with their children and friends, for sports such as badminton and football, jogging, biking, skateboarding, and tai chi.
Showing posts with label Hanoi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hanoi. Show all posts
Monday, July 7, 2014
How Much Is It?
My knowledge of the Vietnamese language is nil as is English to many of the people I meet here on the street in Hanoi, but we all understand money--as long as we have a common denominator to value it.
But even simple amounts can be confusing here. Today's rate of the U.S. dollar to the Vietnamese dong is 21,263.02 dong per $1.00.
That means I pay, at 20,000 dong per cup, just a little less than a dollar for the excellent Vietnamese coffee the shops in my neighborhood serve.
You can check this page to see tomorrow's dong/dollar rate, and so on:
https://www.google.com.vn/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=qUm6U_f0OMSJ8Qee2oHwAw#q=vietnam+dong+us+dollar+rate
Check out this page to see Vietnam's colorful plastic banknotes, all of which feature Ho Chi Minh's visage:
https://www.google.com.vn/search?q=vietnamese+currency&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=YEi6U6DfHIal8AWd8YHoBw&sqi=2&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ&biw=1024&bih=639#q=vietnamese+currency+images&tbm=isch
All I have to do to become a "gosh dong millionaire" is change $50 in greenbacks. At today's rate I'd pull in around 1, 063,151.18 dong.
But when I took a moto taxi to a location not very far from my hotel and I asked the driver how much, he said "Five." At first I took this to mean 5000 dong (about 25 cents), but then I knew that sometimes the Vietnamese will indicate price with one finger for each 10,000 dong (50 cents) requested.
So did my driver mean 50,000 dong ($2.50)? This seemed like a reasonable price for the distance. But still I wasn't sure.
"Five what?" I asked.
"Five dollars, " he said cheerfully. In other words, he wanted more than 100,000 dong. This seemed to be far too much money for the service.
"How much in dong?" I asked him.
"One hundred five thousand," he said. I asked him if he could give me a discount. "I'll take you for 100,000," he said.
When I asked the desk at my hotel how much was the cost of one of my loads of laundry, after some intricate calculations, I was told "Two point six dollar." How much was that in dong? "A little more than 50,000", I was told.
Sometimes prices on fixed-price items such as restaurant menu selections and convenience store goods will indicate however many K, as in 20K for a 1.5 liter bottle of water or soft drink, 23K for a bag of chips, etc.
The items on the menu at a good, medium-priced restaurant on my corner run from 50K for Vietnamese food to 150K for some Western-oriented dishes like burgers and fries. This can get confusing sometimes. Somehow I have a hard time remembering that 100 grand in dong is just $5, so 200 grand is $10.
Anything that approaches 400,000 dong in cost ($20) seems so expensive here, I can't even conceive of it.
I asked for my hotel bill yesterday, and the final, itemized invoice read 3,896,136 dong. That's close to 4 million dong! Or how many dollars? I'm scratching my head in confusion here. Should I run out to the ATM and withdraw the cash, or should I settle it up with a credit card?
It bears pointing out, by the way, that the smallest Vietnamese banknote is a 1000 dong note.
When I produced my credit card to pay the hotel bill, I was asked: "Do you want us to indicate payment in dollars or dong?" I said dollars would be fine (and much less confusing for me!).
After another brief calculation, I was shown the dollar figure: $183.78 for a week's hotel room plus incidentals.
That's a bargain in any currency!
But even simple amounts can be confusing here. Today's rate of the U.S. dollar to the Vietnamese dong is 21,263.02 dong per $1.00.
That means I pay, at 20,000 dong per cup, just a little less than a dollar for the excellent Vietnamese coffee the shops in my neighborhood serve.
You can check this page to see tomorrow's dong/dollar rate, and so on:
https://www.google.com.vn/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=qUm6U_f0OMSJ8Qee2oHwAw#q=vietnam+dong+us+dollar+rate
Check out this page to see Vietnam's colorful plastic banknotes, all of which feature Ho Chi Minh's visage:
https://www.google.com.vn/search?q=vietnamese+currency&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=YEi6U6DfHIal8AWd8YHoBw&sqi=2&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ&biw=1024&bih=639#q=vietnamese+currency+images&tbm=isch
All I have to do to become a "gosh dong millionaire" is change $50 in greenbacks. At today's rate I'd pull in around 1, 063,151.18 dong.
But when I took a moto taxi to a location not very far from my hotel and I asked the driver how much, he said "Five." At first I took this to mean 5000 dong (about 25 cents), but then I knew that sometimes the Vietnamese will indicate price with one finger for each 10,000 dong (50 cents) requested.
So did my driver mean 50,000 dong ($2.50)? This seemed like a reasonable price for the distance. But still I wasn't sure.
"Five what?" I asked.
"Five dollars, " he said cheerfully. In other words, he wanted more than 100,000 dong. This seemed to be far too much money for the service.
"How much in dong?" I asked him.
"One hundred five thousand," he said. I asked him if he could give me a discount. "I'll take you for 100,000," he said.
When I asked the desk at my hotel how much was the cost of one of my loads of laundry, after some intricate calculations, I was told "Two point six dollar." How much was that in dong? "A little more than 50,000", I was told.
Sometimes prices on fixed-price items such as restaurant menu selections and convenience store goods will indicate however many K, as in 20K for a 1.5 liter bottle of water or soft drink, 23K for a bag of chips, etc.
The items on the menu at a good, medium-priced restaurant on my corner run from 50K for Vietnamese food to 150K for some Western-oriented dishes like burgers and fries. This can get confusing sometimes. Somehow I have a hard time remembering that 100 grand in dong is just $5, so 200 grand is $10.
Anything that approaches 400,000 dong in cost ($20) seems so expensive here, I can't even conceive of it.
I asked for my hotel bill yesterday, and the final, itemized invoice read 3,896,136 dong. That's close to 4 million dong! Or how many dollars? I'm scratching my head in confusion here. Should I run out to the ATM and withdraw the cash, or should I settle it up with a credit card?
It bears pointing out, by the way, that the smallest Vietnamese banknote is a 1000 dong note.
When I produced my credit card to pay the hotel bill, I was asked: "Do you want us to indicate payment in dollars or dong?" I said dollars would be fine (and much less confusing for me!).
After another brief calculation, I was shown the dollar figure: $183.78 for a week's hotel room plus incidentals.
That's a bargain in any currency!
Sunday, July 6, 2014
English Language Vietnamese Paper Bores to Tears
At newsstands around the Old Quarter there are plenty of Vietnamese language publications to enjoy with breakfast, but so far I've found nothing in English.
In my traveling career, the best bet for American journalism overseas has been the International Herald Tribune which was once co-published by the New York Times and the Washington Post.
The IHT still exists but only online here.
The paper version has been recently re-branded as the International New York Times and it's available in most major cities around the world including Bangkok where it's sold for 80 baht ($2.50).
I'm sure I'd be able to find the INYT in Hanoi at maybe one or two specialized shops such as English language bookstores, but as for finding it on my usual rounds, forget it. . .
This reminds me of my admittedly limited experience with Communist countries over the years. On my day trip through Berlin's Checkpoint Charlie to visit East Berlin in December 1983--at the height of the Cold War--I wasn't in the market for a Western newspaper, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have found the IHT even if I'd been looking for it.
Besides, it was easily available just over the Wall in West Berlin where I was staying.
My only other experience with Communist media was in Laos, a nation which is linguistically and culturally a cousin of Thailand but which is politically and philosophically tied to Vietnam.
As I recall, the Lao Peoples' Democratic Republic's government was so secretive in my day that it didn't even have a Lao language newspaper for sale. Whenever I entered the Lao PDR for a visa run or a trip down the Mekong from Thailand, I was entering a virtual news-free zone.
Occasionally one could find a week-old copy of the Bangkok Post, but that would've been a very lucky day.
These days you can read the Vientiane Times here.
Back in Hanoi this year, after some googling around, I found the Vietnam News online. Today's top story reads like a Central Committee memo with the headline "Nation pushed to achieve higher growth" as it outlines a Party plan to reach annual economic growth targets of 8%-9%.
Other headlines and text reveal that "Venezuela becomes strategic ally", "Voter ask PM to take tough stance on East Sea (the South China Sea)", "President praises fishermen for conducting peaceful fight", and "China has broken its promise".
OMG! Is this all the Vietnam News has to offer its loyal farang readers? Pretty much, I'm afraid. You really have to dig for something that doesn't completely bore one to tears, such as this item:
http://vietnamnews.vn/learning-english/256905/meet-ha-nois-music-mechanic.html
But my all-time favorite communist media outlet has to be KCNA, the official news agency of the Korean Workers' Party of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, also known as North Korea.
Here is a fascinating piece about the recent visit of a Vietnamese delegation to Mangyongdae:
http://www.kcna.co.jp/index-e.htm
In my traveling career, the best bet for American journalism overseas has been the International Herald Tribune which was once co-published by the New York Times and the Washington Post.
The IHT still exists but only online here.
The paper version has been recently re-branded as the International New York Times and it's available in most major cities around the world including Bangkok where it's sold for 80 baht ($2.50).
I'm sure I'd be able to find the INYT in Hanoi at maybe one or two specialized shops such as English language bookstores, but as for finding it on my usual rounds, forget it. . .
This reminds me of my admittedly limited experience with Communist countries over the years. On my day trip through Berlin's Checkpoint Charlie to visit East Berlin in December 1983--at the height of the Cold War--I wasn't in the market for a Western newspaper, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have found the IHT even if I'd been looking for it.
Besides, it was easily available just over the Wall in West Berlin where I was staying.
My only other experience with Communist media was in Laos, a nation which is linguistically and culturally a cousin of Thailand but which is politically and philosophically tied to Vietnam.
As I recall, the Lao Peoples' Democratic Republic's government was so secretive in my day that it didn't even have a Lao language newspaper for sale. Whenever I entered the Lao PDR for a visa run or a trip down the Mekong from Thailand, I was entering a virtual news-free zone.
Occasionally one could find a week-old copy of the Bangkok Post, but that would've been a very lucky day.
These days you can read the Vientiane Times here.
Back in Hanoi this year, after some googling around, I found the Vietnam News online. Today's top story reads like a Central Committee memo with the headline "Nation pushed to achieve higher growth" as it outlines a Party plan to reach annual economic growth targets of 8%-9%.
Other headlines and text reveal that "Venezuela becomes strategic ally", "Voter ask PM to take tough stance on East Sea (the South China Sea)", "President praises fishermen for conducting peaceful fight", and "China has broken its promise".
OMG! Is this all the Vietnam News has to offer its loyal farang readers? Pretty much, I'm afraid. You really have to dig for something that doesn't completely bore one to tears, such as this item:
http://vietnamnews.vn/learning-english/256905/meet-ha-nois-music-mechanic.html
But my all-time favorite communist media outlet has to be KCNA, the official news agency of the Korean Workers' Party of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, also known as North Korea.
Here is a fascinating piece about the recent visit of a Vietnamese delegation to Mangyongdae:
http://www.kcna.co.jp/index-e.htm
Rough Guide to Vietnam/Hanoi
Here's an excerpt from the Rough Guide to Vietnam and its take on the city of Hanoi:
By turns exotic, squalid, gauche and hip, the high-octane Vietnamese capital of Hanoi provides a full-scale assault on the senses. Its crumbly, lemon-hued colonial architecture is a feast for the eyes; swarms of buzzing motorbikes invade the ear, while the delicate scents and tastes of delicious street food can be found all across a city that – unlike so many of its regional contemporaries – is managing to modernize with a degree of grace. Despite its political and historical importance, and the incessant noise drummed up by a population of over six million, Hanoi exudes a more intimate, urbane appeal than Ho Chi Minh City.
Hanoi city centre comprises a compact area known as Hoan Kiem District, which is neatly bordered by the Red River embankment in the east and by the rail line to the north and west, while its southern extent is marked by the roads Nguyen Du, Le Van Huu and Han Thuyen. The district takes its name from its present-day hub and most obvious point of reference, Hoan Kiem Lake, which lies between the cramped and endlessly diverting Old Quarter in the north, and the tree-lined boulevards of the French Quarter, arranged in a rough grid system, to the south. West of this central district, across the rail tracks, some of Hanoi’s most impressive monuments occupy the wide open spaces of the former Imperial City, grouped around Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum on Ba Dinh Square and extending south to the ancient walled gardens of the Temple of Literature. A vast body of water confusingly called West Lake sits north of the city, harbouring a number of interesting temples and pagodas, but the attractive villages that once surrounded it have now largely given way to upmarket residential areas and a smattering of luxury hotels.
Modern Hanoi has an increasingly confident, “can do” air about it and a buzz that is even beginning to rival Ho Chi Minh City. There’s more money about nowadays and the wealthier Hanoians are prepared to flaunt it in the ever-more sophisticated restaurants, cafés and designer boutiques that have exploded all over the city. Hanoi now boasts glitzy, multistorey shopping malls and wine warehouses; beauty parlours are the latest fad and some seriously expensive cars cruise the streets. Almost everyone else zips around on motorbikes rather than the deeply untrendy bicycle. The authorities are trying – with mixed success – to temper the anarchy with laws to curb traffic and regulate unsympathetic building projects in the Old Quarter, coupled with an ambitious twenty-year development plan that aims to ease congestion by creating satellite towns. Nevertheless, the city centre has not completely lost its old-world charm nor its distinctive character.
Hanoi, somewhat unjustly, remains less popular than Ho Chi Minh City as a jumping-off point for touring Vietnam, with many making the journey from south to north. Nevertheless, it provides a convenient base for excursions to Ha Long Bay, and to Sa Pa and the northern mountains, where you’ll be able to get away from the tourist hordes and sample life in rural Vietnam. There are also a few attractions much closer at hand, predominantly religious foundations such as the Perfume Pagoda, with its spectacular setting among limestone hills, and the spiral-shaped citadel of Co Loa, just north of today’s capital. The Red River Delta’s fertile alluvial soil supports one of the highest rural population densities in Southeast Asia, living in bamboo-screened villages dotted among the paddy fields. Some of these communities have been plying the same trade for generations, such as ceramics, carpentry or snake-breeding. While the more successful craft villages are becoming commercialized, it’s possible, with a bit of effort, to get well off the beaten track to where Confucianism still holds sway.
By turns exotic, squalid, gauche and hip, the high-octane Vietnamese capital of Hanoi provides a full-scale assault on the senses. Its crumbly, lemon-hued colonial architecture is a feast for the eyes; swarms of buzzing motorbikes invade the ear, while the delicate scents and tastes of delicious street food can be found all across a city that – unlike so many of its regional contemporaries – is managing to modernize with a degree of grace. Despite its political and historical importance, and the incessant noise drummed up by a population of over six million, Hanoi exudes a more intimate, urbane appeal than Ho Chi Minh City.
Hanoi city centre comprises a compact area known as Hoan Kiem District, which is neatly bordered by the Red River embankment in the east and by the rail line to the north and west, while its southern extent is marked by the roads Nguyen Du, Le Van Huu and Han Thuyen. The district takes its name from its present-day hub and most obvious point of reference, Hoan Kiem Lake, which lies between the cramped and endlessly diverting Old Quarter in the north, and the tree-lined boulevards of the French Quarter, arranged in a rough grid system, to the south. West of this central district, across the rail tracks, some of Hanoi’s most impressive monuments occupy the wide open spaces of the former Imperial City, grouped around Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum on Ba Dinh Square and extending south to the ancient walled gardens of the Temple of Literature. A vast body of water confusingly called West Lake sits north of the city, harbouring a number of interesting temples and pagodas, but the attractive villages that once surrounded it have now largely given way to upmarket residential areas and a smattering of luxury hotels.
Modern Hanoi has an increasingly confident, “can do” air about it and a buzz that is even beginning to rival Ho Chi Minh City. There’s more money about nowadays and the wealthier Hanoians are prepared to flaunt it in the ever-more sophisticated restaurants, cafés and designer boutiques that have exploded all over the city. Hanoi now boasts glitzy, multistorey shopping malls and wine warehouses; beauty parlours are the latest fad and some seriously expensive cars cruise the streets. Almost everyone else zips around on motorbikes rather than the deeply untrendy bicycle. The authorities are trying – with mixed success – to temper the anarchy with laws to curb traffic and regulate unsympathetic building projects in the Old Quarter, coupled with an ambitious twenty-year development plan that aims to ease congestion by creating satellite towns. Nevertheless, the city centre has not completely lost its old-world charm nor its distinctive character.
Hanoi, somewhat unjustly, remains less popular than Ho Chi Minh City as a jumping-off point for touring Vietnam, with many making the journey from south to north. Nevertheless, it provides a convenient base for excursions to Ha Long Bay, and to Sa Pa and the northern mountains, where you’ll be able to get away from the tourist hordes and sample life in rural Vietnam. There are also a few attractions much closer at hand, predominantly religious foundations such as the Perfume Pagoda, with its spectacular setting among limestone hills, and the spiral-shaped citadel of Co Loa, just north of today’s capital. The Red River Delta’s fertile alluvial soil supports one of the highest rural population densities in Southeast Asia, living in bamboo-screened villages dotted among the paddy fields. Some of these communities have been plying the same trade for generations, such as ceramics, carpentry or snake-breeding. While the more successful craft villages are becoming commercialized, it’s possible, with a bit of effort, to get well off the beaten track to where Confucianism still holds sway.
Friday, July 4, 2014
Provoking Memory at the Hanoi Hilton
Having decided after much research to forgo a trip to World Heritage site Halong Bay, I narrow my focus to a few tourist attractions in Hanoi.
Perhaps a natural first stop for an American is the notorious Hoa Lo Prison. Also known as the Hanoi Hilton, this was the prison used to house American pilots and other U.S. prisoners captured during the Vietnam War. U.S. Senator John McCain is just one of the many notable inmates who resided here in the late '60s-early '70s. One of the many display cases in the museum shows McCain's flight suit and parachute.
Wikipedia's entry on the subject, despite an understandable pro-U.S. bias, is very informative and has this to say:
Most of the prison was demolished in the mid-1990s and the site now contains two high-rise buildings, one of them the 25-story Somerset Grand Hanoi serviced apartment building.[3] Other parts have been converted into a commercial complex retaining the original French colonial walls.[28] Only part of the prison exists today as a museum. The displays mainly show the prison during the French colonial period, including the guillotine room, still with original equipment, and the quarters for men and women Vietnamese political prisoners.[29] Exhibits related to the American prisoners include the interrogation room where many newly captured Americans were questioned (notorious among former prisoners as the "blue room") is now made up to look like a very comfortable, if spartan, barracks-style room. Displays in the room claim that Americans were treated well and not harmed (and even cite the nickname "Hanoi Hilton" as proof that inmates found the accommodations comparable to a hotel's). The museum's claims are contradicted by former prisoners' published memoirs and oral histories broadcast on C-SPAN identify the room (and other nearby locales) as the site of numerous acts of torture.
An English language Vietnamese publication Hoa Lo Prison: Historical Relic, published in December 2013 by the Administration Board of the museum, has this to say about the "American War" period:
From August 5, 1964, when the US started the war of destruction against North Vietnam to 7 a.m. on December 30, 1972, when the US had to declare an end to all bombing raid activities from the 20th Parallel northwards, the North Vietnamese army and people shot down 4,181 US craft, killed and captured hundreds of experienced American pilots.
In particular, during the 12 days and nights of December 1972 (the so-called "Christmas bombing"), North Vietnamese army and people shot down 23 B52 and 2 F11 aircraft, captured alive many American pilots, smashing the large-scale strategic surprise B52 attack by the US Air Force against two Vietnamese cities of Hanoi and Hai Phong, winning the "Dien Bien Phu Victory on the Air" (sic), defeating the supremacy of the US Air Force and forcing the US to sit at the negotiating table at the Paris Conference that led to an end to the war (sic) and restoration of peace in Vietnam.
According to the museum administration board, the U.S. pilots
were given sufficient personal belonging including smallest things to meet their daily needs...captured pilots were created (sic) favorable conditions for entertainment, cultural and sports activities, chess playing, listening to Voice of Vietnam radio (English broadcasts), watching films and enjoying music. Parties were organized for them during New Year festivals amd holidays, what were impossible (sic) for the Vietnamese at that time.
For the Vietnamese this museum provokes historical memory of the 100-year colonial experience under the French, so most of the site is dedicated to those years from the mid-1890s until the 1940s-1950s.
The solitary confinement cells are the most harrowing for today's visitor. The smallness of the cells combined with the unbearable heat and humidity illustrate the barest glimpse of the misery of countless political prisoners many of whom awaited execution by guillotine.
Two rooms, the only air conditioned ones on site(!?), are dedicated to the U.S. prisoners. Each room has a video monitor running propaganda videos on loop over the various display cases of artifacts and photographs from the period.
Book lovers will like to know that inside one of the museum courtyards there is a pretty good used book shop (mostly English language) with Vietnam-themed postcards for sale as well.
Perhaps a natural first stop for an American is the notorious Hoa Lo Prison. Also known as the Hanoi Hilton, this was the prison used to house American pilots and other U.S. prisoners captured during the Vietnam War. U.S. Senator John McCain is just one of the many notable inmates who resided here in the late '60s-early '70s. One of the many display cases in the museum shows McCain's flight suit and parachute.
Wikipedia's entry on the subject, despite an understandable pro-U.S. bias, is very informative and has this to say:
Most of the prison was demolished in the mid-1990s and the site now contains two high-rise buildings, one of them the 25-story Somerset Grand Hanoi serviced apartment building.[3] Other parts have been converted into a commercial complex retaining the original French colonial walls.[28] Only part of the prison exists today as a museum. The displays mainly show the prison during the French colonial period, including the guillotine room, still with original equipment, and the quarters for men and women Vietnamese political prisoners.[29] Exhibits related to the American prisoners include the interrogation room where many newly captured Americans were questioned (notorious among former prisoners as the "blue room") is now made up to look like a very comfortable, if spartan, barracks-style room. Displays in the room claim that Americans were treated well and not harmed (and even cite the nickname "Hanoi Hilton" as proof that inmates found the accommodations comparable to a hotel's). The museum's claims are contradicted by former prisoners' published memoirs and oral histories broadcast on C-SPAN identify the room (and other nearby locales) as the site of numerous acts of torture.
An English language Vietnamese publication Hoa Lo Prison: Historical Relic, published in December 2013 by the Administration Board of the museum, has this to say about the "American War" period:
From August 5, 1964, when the US started the war of destruction against North Vietnam to 7 a.m. on December 30, 1972, when the US had to declare an end to all bombing raid activities from the 20th Parallel northwards, the North Vietnamese army and people shot down 4,181 US craft, killed and captured hundreds of experienced American pilots.
In particular, during the 12 days and nights of December 1972 (the so-called "Christmas bombing"), North Vietnamese army and people shot down 23 B52 and 2 F11 aircraft, captured alive many American pilots, smashing the large-scale strategic surprise B52 attack by the US Air Force against two Vietnamese cities of Hanoi and Hai Phong, winning the "Dien Bien Phu Victory on the Air" (sic), defeating the supremacy of the US Air Force and forcing the US to sit at the negotiating table at the Paris Conference that led to an end to the war (sic) and restoration of peace in Vietnam.
According to the museum administration board, the U.S. pilots
were given sufficient personal belonging including smallest things to meet their daily needs...captured pilots were created (sic) favorable conditions for entertainment, cultural and sports activities, chess playing, listening to Voice of Vietnam radio (English broadcasts), watching films and enjoying music. Parties were organized for them during New Year festivals amd holidays, what were impossible (sic) for the Vietnamese at that time.
For the Vietnamese this museum provokes historical memory of the 100-year colonial experience under the French, so most of the site is dedicated to those years from the mid-1890s until the 1940s-1950s.
The solitary confinement cells are the most harrowing for today's visitor. The smallness of the cells combined with the unbearable heat and humidity illustrate the barest glimpse of the misery of countless political prisoners many of whom awaited execution by guillotine.
Two rooms, the only air conditioned ones on site(!?), are dedicated to the U.S. prisoners. Each room has a video monitor running propaganda videos on loop over the various display cases of artifacts and photographs from the period.
Book lovers will like to know that inside one of the museum courtyards there is a pretty good used book shop (mostly English language) with Vietnam-themed postcards for sale as well.
Doing the Hustle in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia
My two "visits" to Cambodia over the past 25 years were limited to a 2001 trip to the Aranyaprathet-Poipet border towns and to the disputed temple ruins in Phra Viharn, a World Heritage site which is technically in Cambodian territory but accessible only from the Thai side of the border.
I did both these excursions with my artist friend K who at the time was documenting a large photo project of Khmer ruins sites in Thailand as part of a much bigger multi-continental conception of religious-cultural exploration in Europe, Asia, and Latin America.
So my personal experience of the Indochinese "dominoes" of the '60s-'70s is limited to 7 or 8 trips, mostly of the "visa run" variety, into Laos between 1991 and 2001, and to my current visits to the capital of (formerly North) Vietnam.
In Indochina the French colonists left behind a number of things, most notably their churches and colonial-era architecture, but they also left their taste for fresh crispy baguettes, strong sweetened coffee, crafted beer and wine, and world-class cuisine.
Even the French language lingers here as many older people can speak and understand at least a little French. This morning at breakfast in my hotel I overheard a young woman, almost certainly a French-Vietnamese, in conversation with her farang French boyfriend. On TV here I have seen young Vietnamese translating for French journalists in travelogue pieces for French television.
Like Thai people, the Lao and the Vietnamese are quick with the broadest of smiles for foreign visitors. But I've noticed that many people I meet on the street in Hanoi are also aggressively on "the make", looking to hustle the tourist out of her hard-earned dollars, euros and yen.
In my few days here I've been overcharged for a moto taxi (motorcycle taxi) service and for cold bottles of water or Coke. In the larger scope of things, these are minor irritations, but travelers know that this kind of hustle isn't sustainable over the long term. Tourists quickly grow weary of getting charged $2-3 for a $1 Coke or a 50 cent bottle of water. Then they often become wary of many impromptu interactions with locals on the street.
In Hanoi I've been approached by a few young people claiming to be students who want to "help" me by becoming my temporary guide around town on their motorbike, for a fee of course, or so I've assumed.
Now I don't mind paying a reasonable fee for a reasonable service, and I've been quoted a price of $20 for a half day, or $40 for a full day, of guided moto service to museums and other city landmarks. This price seems reasonable, but it depends partly upon the guide's facility with English. And another big question is: will (s)he stick to the agreed upon itinerary, or will (s)he be looking to upsell additonal services into the bargain? ("My wife will go shopping at the market and cook lunch for you; pay what you like!" or "My niece owns a store selling Vietnamese handicrafts; shall I call her and say we will visit this afternoon?")
What really gives me pause, however, is the person who says "Pay what you like." That seems to me to be an open invitation to serious conflict later in the day.
All the guidebooks I've checked out warn about the friendly hustle going down in Hanoi, which--compared to Thailand or Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon)--is relatively new to the Southeast Asian tourism game. And they warn about the airport taxi scams, aggressive moto drivers, fly-by-night tour operators, fake guesthouse scams (where crooks steal the name of a reputable hotel or tour company and cash in quickly before closing down the enterprise), and other tourist pitfalls in Vietnam generally, and in Hanoi in particular.
I understand all this: I know that farang tourists are going to pay a premium--whether in Thailand, Laos, or Vietnam--and I also know that my comprehension of the Thai language and Thai social customs is often rewarded with a 30%-50% discount on a wide array of goods and services in Thailand. I also know that I'm not entitled to the same sort of discounts in Vietnam.
And I'm not saying that the farang premium is always bad--indeed, I will gladly pay more for a service that I want, when I need it, and as long as it's within my often-limited budget.
But I object to touts who insist "we must go now, today" before one can get his proper bearings, or others who persist in advancing their paid agendas despite several obvious, emphatic "No's!" on my part.
Whenever I've said "No, not today, but what are you doing tomorrow morning?" (after I've had a chance to do a little more research), almost invariably my interlocutors lose interest in me and are off to corner their next tourist prospects.
I did both these excursions with my artist friend K who at the time was documenting a large photo project of Khmer ruins sites in Thailand as part of a much bigger multi-continental conception of religious-cultural exploration in Europe, Asia, and Latin America.
So my personal experience of the Indochinese "dominoes" of the '60s-'70s is limited to 7 or 8 trips, mostly of the "visa run" variety, into Laos between 1991 and 2001, and to my current visits to the capital of (formerly North) Vietnam.
In Indochina the French colonists left behind a number of things, most notably their churches and colonial-era architecture, but they also left their taste for fresh crispy baguettes, strong sweetened coffee, crafted beer and wine, and world-class cuisine.
Even the French language lingers here as many older people can speak and understand at least a little French. This morning at breakfast in my hotel I overheard a young woman, almost certainly a French-Vietnamese, in conversation with her farang French boyfriend. On TV here I have seen young Vietnamese translating for French journalists in travelogue pieces for French television.
Like Thai people, the Lao and the Vietnamese are quick with the broadest of smiles for foreign visitors. But I've noticed that many people I meet on the street in Hanoi are also aggressively on "the make", looking to hustle the tourist out of her hard-earned dollars, euros and yen.
In my few days here I've been overcharged for a moto taxi (motorcycle taxi) service and for cold bottles of water or Coke. In the larger scope of things, these are minor irritations, but travelers know that this kind of hustle isn't sustainable over the long term. Tourists quickly grow weary of getting charged $2-3 for a $1 Coke or a 50 cent bottle of water. Then they often become wary of many impromptu interactions with locals on the street.
In Hanoi I've been approached by a few young people claiming to be students who want to "help" me by becoming my temporary guide around town on their motorbike, for a fee of course, or so I've assumed.
Now I don't mind paying a reasonable fee for a reasonable service, and I've been quoted a price of $20 for a half day, or $40 for a full day, of guided moto service to museums and other city landmarks. This price seems reasonable, but it depends partly upon the guide's facility with English. And another big question is: will (s)he stick to the agreed upon itinerary, or will (s)he be looking to upsell additonal services into the bargain? ("My wife will go shopping at the market and cook lunch for you; pay what you like!" or "My niece owns a store selling Vietnamese handicrafts; shall I call her and say we will visit this afternoon?")
What really gives me pause, however, is the person who says "Pay what you like." That seems to me to be an open invitation to serious conflict later in the day.
All the guidebooks I've checked out warn about the friendly hustle going down in Hanoi, which--compared to Thailand or Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon)--is relatively new to the Southeast Asian tourism game. And they warn about the airport taxi scams, aggressive moto drivers, fly-by-night tour operators, fake guesthouse scams (where crooks steal the name of a reputable hotel or tour company and cash in quickly before closing down the enterprise), and other tourist pitfalls in Vietnam generally, and in Hanoi in particular.
I understand all this: I know that farang tourists are going to pay a premium--whether in Thailand, Laos, or Vietnam--and I also know that my comprehension of the Thai language and Thai social customs is often rewarded with a 30%-50% discount on a wide array of goods and services in Thailand. I also know that I'm not entitled to the same sort of discounts in Vietnam.
And I'm not saying that the farang premium is always bad--indeed, I will gladly pay more for a service that I want, when I need it, and as long as it's within my often-limited budget.
But I object to touts who insist "we must go now, today" before one can get his proper bearings, or others who persist in advancing their paid agendas despite several obvious, emphatic "No's!" on my part.
Whenever I've said "No, not today, but what are you doing tomorrow morning?" (after I've had a chance to do a little more research), almost invariably my interlocutors lose interest in me and are off to corner their next tourist prospects.
Rainy Season in Hot, Muggy Hanoi
The weather is starting to get to me, but it's not the welcome late afternoon rains that are doing me in; it's the almost unbearable heat and humidity.
The old cliche "it's not the heat, it's the humidity" was never more true than it is here in Hanoi. An ordinary late morning walk of 30 minutes or so has my shirt soaked through to the skin and my brain crying out for some air-conditioned relief.
But AC is expensive here, and although I have an ACd hotel room, the hotel's management keeps the thermostat locked in at about 80 degrees Fahrenheit. This is a welcome respite from the muggy streets of the old city neighborhood, but in my room in the daytime I can't wear much more than a pha khao ma, the Thai version of the men's sarong. This is a popular garment for men of all ages, in many countries of the region, for when they're simply hanging out at home.
Unlike in Bangkok, the Vietnamese capital city doesn't have nearly as many centrally-cooled shopping malls, fast food restaurants, and other oases of tropically-located, electrically-powered cool zones.
So it's best to get out early--seven or eight in the morning at the latest until 11.00 or 12.00 noon--then take a long siesta after lunch before going back out again at 5.00 p.m. as things begins to cool down a little, hopefully with some rain to help things along.
These past few days, however, we haven't seen much rain either--even though the skies have remained cloudy for much of the day.
The old cliche "it's not the heat, it's the humidity" was never more true than it is here in Hanoi. An ordinary late morning walk of 30 minutes or so has my shirt soaked through to the skin and my brain crying out for some air-conditioned relief.
But AC is expensive here, and although I have an ACd hotel room, the hotel's management keeps the thermostat locked in at about 80 degrees Fahrenheit. This is a welcome respite from the muggy streets of the old city neighborhood, but in my room in the daytime I can't wear much more than a pha khao ma, the Thai version of the men's sarong. This is a popular garment for men of all ages, in many countries of the region, for when they're simply hanging out at home.
Unlike in Bangkok, the Vietnamese capital city doesn't have nearly as many centrally-cooled shopping malls, fast food restaurants, and other oases of tropically-located, electrically-powered cool zones.
So it's best to get out early--seven or eight in the morning at the latest until 11.00 or 12.00 noon--then take a long siesta after lunch before going back out again at 5.00 p.m. as things begins to cool down a little, hopefully with some rain to help things along.
These past few days, however, we haven't seen much rain either--even though the skies have remained cloudy for much of the day.
Back in Post-Vietnam War Hanoi
I arrived in Hanoi on Tuesday July 1 and was almost the first in line to present my extraordinary health declaration to Vietnamese officials--now required of all visitors flying from Qatar, Saudi Arabia and other middle eastern countries--amidst a swarm of news cameras and media spotlights.
My declaration was only a formality since technically I spent the last 30-some days in Thailand, but I flew in on the regular Qatar Airways Bangkok-Hanoi flight, and the news crews were on hand to document the first 200 passengers to arrive in Hanoi under the new regulations.
The form I filled out never mentions the deadly MERS-CoV which has lately been in the news, but I knew I'd guessed correctly about its purpose when I googled the whole episode later the next day.
It's always an adventure when I visit a country new to my own experience--especially when it's a country that's been on my "to go" list for three or four decades, as is Vietnam.
I grew up with the Vietnam War, the first TV war in America's checkered history of international interventions, and somehow I was profoundly affected by the experience of seeing so many American boys return from this mysterious Southeast Asian land, which looks like a serpent on the map and which always seems to have had such colorful postage stamps, in body bags and caskets.
Although I was only six years old at the time of the February 1968 Tet Offensive I distinctly remember being frightened at the prospect of getting drafted for the slaughter of a long-running quagmire that I was sure--deep down--would see Americans and Vietnamese killing each other well into the 21st Century. When I was 10 years old I was already planning my trip to Canada or Sweden to avoid that prospect.
My uncle was stationed in Hue, not so far from the DMZ marking the border between North and South Vietnam, but his 1965-66 tour was relatively early in the conflict, before the Lyndon B. Johnson administration began its upsizing from a few thousand military "advisors" to the eventual 500,000 troops that were stationed in the south at the peak of the war.
In retrospect, the U.S. attempt to prevent the Soviet-backed, Red Chinese-inspired Viet Cong from toppling the corrupt, inept South Vietnamese government was obviously doomed to failure. But at the time it may have seemed reasonable to most Americans that if South Vietnam fell to the "communist monolith" it would necessarily be the first of several Indochinese "dominoes" to topple, perhaps bringing Thailand, Burma, and Malaysia down with them.
In fact, American involvement in the war inevitably spread to Cambodia where the murderous Khmer Rouge for several years was battling the right-wing Lon Nol regime for control, and to Laos where another low-level "communist" insurgency--similar to that taking place in northeastern Thailand--was also brewing.
It bears mentioning that these Indochinese wars were taking place in three of the poorest countries on earth.
When the U.S. and North Vietnam finally agreed on a peace accord in January 1973 that would see a complete American withdrawal in exchange for the return of all American POWs held by Hanoi, it was only a matter of time before the Indochinese insurgencies bore fruit. By the end of April 1975 Vietnam was reunified under Hanoi, and communist regimes were in control in Phnom Penh and Vientiane as well.
But Thailand successfully crushed its own low-level insurgency in the 1970s and 1980s, as Malaysia had done in the 1950s-1960s.
My declaration was only a formality since technically I spent the last 30-some days in Thailand, but I flew in on the regular Qatar Airways Bangkok-Hanoi flight, and the news crews were on hand to document the first 200 passengers to arrive in Hanoi under the new regulations.
The form I filled out never mentions the deadly MERS-CoV which has lately been in the news, but I knew I'd guessed correctly about its purpose when I googled the whole episode later the next day.
It's always an adventure when I visit a country new to my own experience--especially when it's a country that's been on my "to go" list for three or four decades, as is Vietnam.
I grew up with the Vietnam War, the first TV war in America's checkered history of international interventions, and somehow I was profoundly affected by the experience of seeing so many American boys return from this mysterious Southeast Asian land, which looks like a serpent on the map and which always seems to have had such colorful postage stamps, in body bags and caskets.
Although I was only six years old at the time of the February 1968 Tet Offensive I distinctly remember being frightened at the prospect of getting drafted for the slaughter of a long-running quagmire that I was sure--deep down--would see Americans and Vietnamese killing each other well into the 21st Century. When I was 10 years old I was already planning my trip to Canada or Sweden to avoid that prospect.
My uncle was stationed in Hue, not so far from the DMZ marking the border between North and South Vietnam, but his 1965-66 tour was relatively early in the conflict, before the Lyndon B. Johnson administration began its upsizing from a few thousand military "advisors" to the eventual 500,000 troops that were stationed in the south at the peak of the war.
In retrospect, the U.S. attempt to prevent the Soviet-backed, Red Chinese-inspired Viet Cong from toppling the corrupt, inept South Vietnamese government was obviously doomed to failure. But at the time it may have seemed reasonable to most Americans that if South Vietnam fell to the "communist monolith" it would necessarily be the first of several Indochinese "dominoes" to topple, perhaps bringing Thailand, Burma, and Malaysia down with them.
In fact, American involvement in the war inevitably spread to Cambodia where the murderous Khmer Rouge for several years was battling the right-wing Lon Nol regime for control, and to Laos where another low-level "communist" insurgency--similar to that taking place in northeastern Thailand--was also brewing.
It bears mentioning that these Indochinese wars were taking place in three of the poorest countries on earth.
When the U.S. and North Vietnam finally agreed on a peace accord in January 1973 that would see a complete American withdrawal in exchange for the return of all American POWs held by Hanoi, it was only a matter of time before the Indochinese insurgencies bore fruit. By the end of April 1975 Vietnam was reunified under Hanoi, and communist regimes were in control in Phnom Penh and Vientiane as well.
But Thailand successfully crushed its own low-level insurgency in the 1970s and 1980s, as Malaysia had done in the 1950s-1960s.
Saturday, May 24, 2014
Zo! Making Friends With Bia Hoi
In an effort to shake this nasty jet lag I force myself from air-conditioned comfort last evening to take my first walk around Hanoi's Old Quarter. About eight blocks from my hotel is the small Hoan Kiem Lake with a beautiful park surrounding it. This is a pleasant place to observe from a slight distance the early Saturday night traffic of 100cc motorbikes, taxis, and cars in the area. And on the lakeside promenade are couples and families out to escape the cramped streets of this bustling neighborhood.
Within ten minutes I am approached by a young man who wants to practice his English. Phuong is 22 years old and recently achieved his degree in automotive technology from Hanoi University. He is seeking a job in the branch office of a Japanese company which sells spark plugs to local automobile factories all over Southeast Asia. His job will require some knowledge of both Japanese (he studied it for a year) and English, which he doesn't know very well having studied it for only two months.
Nonetheless we have no problem understanding each other as I pretend to be the company's human resource manager interviewing him for the job. As far as I'm concerned, this charming fellow is hired!
Soon we are joined by his lifelong friend, Viet ("as in Viet Nam?" I ask. "Yes!"), who also has his degree from Hanoi University. They are looking forward to tonight's European Champions League final between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid (Real will end up creaming Atletico 4-1).
They invite me for a beer, and soon we are seated streetside at a typical bia hoi joint. Bia hoi is akin to microbrew which I explain to my new friends. I'm jotting down notes of our conversation and we use my notebook to translate for each other. Both Phuong and Viet come from the village of Te Xuyen which is about 10 miles from where we sit. The beer arrives in glasses and is accompanied by boiled peanuts, giant sesame crackers (banh da), and hot sauce for dipping.
"Zo!" is Vietnamese for "Cheers", "Kampai", Chok Dii" and so forth. This microbrew is excellent.
We trade email addresses and Phuong whips out his smartphone so I can direct him to some of my music online. Now we are talking about our families.
I tell the guys that my uncle was in the U.S. Army in Hue in the mid-'60s and that he advised me to take photos of women in ao dai. But after 24 hours here I have yet to see anyone in this lovely local dress.
"Is only for special occasion now" they explain to me. Oh well. . .
We agree to stay in touch so we can get together again when I return to Hanoi in early July.
Within ten minutes I am approached by a young man who wants to practice his English. Phuong is 22 years old and recently achieved his degree in automotive technology from Hanoi University. He is seeking a job in the branch office of a Japanese company which sells spark plugs to local automobile factories all over Southeast Asia. His job will require some knowledge of both Japanese (he studied it for a year) and English, which he doesn't know very well having studied it for only two months.
Nonetheless we have no problem understanding each other as I pretend to be the company's human resource manager interviewing him for the job. As far as I'm concerned, this charming fellow is hired!
Soon we are joined by his lifelong friend, Viet ("as in Viet Nam?" I ask. "Yes!"), who also has his degree from Hanoi University. They are looking forward to tonight's European Champions League final between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid (Real will end up creaming Atletico 4-1).
They invite me for a beer, and soon we are seated streetside at a typical bia hoi joint. Bia hoi is akin to microbrew which I explain to my new friends. I'm jotting down notes of our conversation and we use my notebook to translate for each other. Both Phuong and Viet come from the village of Te Xuyen which is about 10 miles from where we sit. The beer arrives in glasses and is accompanied by boiled peanuts, giant sesame crackers (banh da), and hot sauce for dipping.
"Zo!" is Vietnamese for "Cheers", "Kampai", Chok Dii" and so forth. This microbrew is excellent.
We trade email addresses and Phuong whips out his smartphone so I can direct him to some of my music online. Now we are talking about our families.
I tell the guys that my uncle was in the U.S. Army in Hue in the mid-'60s and that he advised me to take photos of women in ao dai. But after 24 hours here I have yet to see anyone in this lovely local dress.
"Is only for special occasion now" they explain to me. Oh well. . .
We agree to stay in touch so we can get together again when I return to Hanoi in early July.
Friday, May 23, 2014
Safe in Hanoi
I arrived
safe in Hanoi last night after a grueling 60 hour journey from O'Hare.
My original Tuesday night flight was canceled because of a mechanical
problem exacerbated by thunderstorms which prevented mechanics from
working on the aircraft. Qatar Airways made a very poor first
impression on me when they basically dumped us for the night without
food or lodging.
Of my 60 hour ordeal, about 15 of those hours were spent, standing in line, dealing with the extremely frustrating and incompetent QA bureaucracy, and waiting for them to fix their errors (such as issuing me the wrong boarding passes).
Now that I'm in Vietnam, I'm looking for all the news reports I can find regarding this bizarre coup in Bangkok. Of the 19 or so coup attempts and successes in the past 80 years, this one was really quite different for a number of reasons. You can find out more here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/
Also check out this website for many reports from the opposition in Thailand and the large Thai diaspora :
http://
I'm checking these and other websites now while I'm in Vietnam because they are likely to be blocked in Thailand. Indeed, the Thai army shut down about a dozen TV channels including CNN, so Thais aren't able to get real news for the moment.
Although its reports are likely to be censored, you can also check out the Bangkok Post:
http://www.bangkokpost.com/
Although this news sounds really bad to us Americans, it's really much worse for the Thais and for Thailand's political development.
The irony here is that with the coup, Bankok is likely to be very safe now that the army has closed both semi-permanent protest camps and imposed a 10pm-4am curfew on the capital.
CNN reported that protesters turned out to support the arrested ex-premier Yingluck Shinawatra, but apart from some minor scuffling with police, there was no violence. CNN said the protesters eventually dispersed and went home for the curfew.
I'm monitoring things very closely ahead of my Tuesday arrival, but I'm not worried about getting snagged up in any of it. The neighborhood where I stay is quite far from the government districts which are so often the target of both Red Shirt and Yellow Shirt protesters.
Of my 60 hour ordeal, about 15 of those hours were spent, standing in line, dealing with the extremely frustrating and incompetent QA bureaucracy, and waiting for them to fix their errors (such as issuing me the wrong boarding passes).
Now that I'm in Vietnam, I'm looking for all the news reports I can find regarding this bizarre coup in Bangkok. Of the 19 or so coup attempts and successes in the past 80 years, this one was really quite different for a number of reasons. You can find out more here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/
Also check out this website for many reports from the opposition in Thailand and the large Thai diaspora :
http://
I'm checking these and other websites now while I'm in Vietnam because they are likely to be blocked in Thailand. Indeed, the Thai army shut down about a dozen TV channels including CNN, so Thais aren't able to get real news for the moment.
Although its reports are likely to be censored, you can also check out the Bangkok Post:
http://www.bangkokpost.com/
Although this news sounds really bad to us Americans, it's really much worse for the Thais and for Thailand's political development.
The irony here is that with the coup, Bankok is likely to be very safe now that the army has closed both semi-permanent protest camps and imposed a 10pm-4am curfew on the capital.
CNN reported that protesters turned out to support the arrested ex-premier Yingluck Shinawatra, but apart from some minor scuffling with police, there was no violence. CNN said the protesters eventually dispersed and went home for the curfew.
I'm monitoring things very closely ahead of my Tuesday arrival, but I'm not worried about getting snagged up in any of it. The neighborhood where I stay is quite far from the government districts which are so often the target of both Red Shirt and Yellow Shirt protesters.
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