The Hanoi Hilton isn’t a hotel; it’s a prison. It’s officially called Hoa Lo Prison but has earned the nickname “The Hanoi Hilton” over the years. It’s no longer used as a prison and is now a fully functional museum which acts as some kind of insight into what life might have been like here years ago. Guillotines and guns…below is a sign on the way into Hoa Lo Prison.
Most tourists will walk there and if you’re staying in the old quarter, it’s only a 10 minute walk to 1 Hoa Lo Street, which is just off Hai Ba Trung, south of the Old Town.
As of August 2012 when I went the price is 20,000 Dong to visit the museum.
These cells were for those who knew their fate. A very chilling experience, I’d put it on a par to my visit to the Holocaust Museum in Berlin and the Killing Fields in Phnom Penh. Here’s a few things I did:
– put my feet into the fixed bars to experience what being a prisoner might have felt like
– stared blankly into the death cells and walked along the corridor
– looked eerily at the guillotines wondered what ghostless tongue of sin invented such a horrible piece of material
The main part of the museum concentrates on the French history in Vietnam, which obviously includes the Vietnamese struggle for independence from the French which came long before the American War (also known as the Vietnam War). It was the yanks who coined the name “The Hanoi Hilton” – a complete irony on this sad building complex which was the home of thousands of prisoners, some of whom were killed within its compounds.
Outside the Hoa Lo Prison, Hanoi:
A lonely cell at the Hoa Lo Prison, Hanoi:
Jonny Blair is a self confessed traveling nomad who founded and blogs at Don’t Stop Living. He sees every day as an adventure. Since leaving behind his home town of Bangor in Northern Ireland ten years ago he has traveled to all seven continents, working his way through various jobs and funding it all with hard work and an appetite for travel. Don’t Stop Living, a lifestyle of travel’ contains over 1,000 stories and tips from his journeys round the globe. He wants to show others how easy it is to travel the world, give them some ideas and encourage them to do the same but most of all he aims to constantly live a lifestyle of travel. He is currently based in Hong Kong and on Twitter @jonnyblair.
