Steve Says "Good Morning, Vietnam"

Ha Long Bay, in northeast Vietnam

With views like this one, Liz and Steve give Ha Long Bay a big thumbs up.

Liz captures the view with her camera.

One of many INTERESTING rock formations in Ha Long Bay. This particular one has a needle's eye on the left side and a small cave in the bottom center.

Inside one of Ha Long Bay's many caves

Steve and Liz are so excited to be here.

Floating village and docks. Ha Long Bay has many communities of fishermen living right out on the water.

One of the many unique islands in Ha Long Bay. This one has a lookout tower reachable by a footpath.

Would you believe we had our own boat (like the ones you see in the background and below)?
We'd thought our boat might be more like the one below (complete with dog).

Ha Long City

Ha Long fish market

A typical roadside vendor. They can be seen everywhere in Vietnam.

Local restaurant and wait staff where we had dinner at Ha Long Bay. These ladies spoke Chinese because of the large number of Chinese tourists there.

This piggy was seen going to market. Looks like he had a good ride.

Temple Of Literature in Hanoi

Presidential Palace

Young girls in a Hanoi alleyway

With a new friend

Hoan Kiem Lake in the center of Hanoi

In the Old Quarter of Hanoi, Liz with her favorite tailor, Huynh at Phuc Thanh Silk. Mission Accomplished!

Steve and Uncle Ho (inside and out)

Steve and Lenin (at one of the few places where he can still be seen - Lenin, that is).

Being "history guys", we had to visit some of Vietnam's "BLASTS from the past" (and fortunately the war stuff is indeed all in the past).

Steve poses as a heroic defender of the people.

Scanning the skies for danger from above

Now for the BIG guns

This one's a captured South Vietnamese 175mm mobile artillery piece (made in USA). Steve makes a good model for the museum folks.

Soviet-made surface-to-air missile (or SAM) used to shoot down American planes. America's Air War over North Vietnam was a rather stupid affair, especially on the part of the politicians who started it (President Lyndon Johnson and Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara). They came up with an endless list of rules of engagement. For example, pilots could not attack SAM sites (like the one above) unless they were first fired upon (or targeted by their radar). As a result, such SAM sites easily spread, and were able to shoot down even more American planes. If pilots couldn't first eliminate such a real threat, why send them in harm's way? Dumb... just plain dumb.

Here's part of a B-52 shot down by a SAM. The wreckage lies in a shallow, murky lake where it fell. This airplane was part of the Linebacker II operation which President Nixon unleashed over Hanoi in 11 days of bombing in December 1972 ("The Christmas Bombings") which ended America's involvement in Vietnam. After these bombings, North Vietnam came to the peace table in Paris (Jan. 1973), so America left the scene. But North and South Vietnam would soon be back at it - and the South Vietnamese didn't stand a chance after America was gone.

The stars and stripes can still be seen in Vietnam. Here's the wing section of a Navy plane.

And here's a B-52 tire in the American aircraft wreckage junkyard on the museum grounds. Rubber courtesy of BF Goodrich Company in Troy, Ohio.

Monument where Senator John McCain was captured at Truc Bach Lake after being shot down in his A-4 Skyhawk by a SAM (October 1967).

Hoa Lo Prison (aka. Hanoi Hilton) where McCain spent 5 and a half years as a prisoner of war (POW). Other American POWs (like Everett Alvarez) spent over 8 and a half years there.

Steve impresses me with his strength. Here he does an overhead press with a Mig-21 fighter plane.

Peering out from an armored personnel carrier (also made in USA and captured from South Vietnam).

And finally, the North Vietnamese tank which "liberated" Saigon's Presidential Palace in 1975 by crashing through the front gate.