Hoa Lo Prison

I’ve been to prisons and prison museums in many countries and each time it is a sobering moment of dismay. The Hoa Lo Prison was no different. While winding through the first parts of the prison the history of its construction and early use are revealed. It was first implemented by the French in the 1500’s to lock up Vietnamese voices of dissent against. It was later used by the Chinese followed by the Japanese in the same fashion as the nation was conquered and repressed time and time again.

Later in the exhibit my nationality changes to proud Canadian as it becomes clearly anti-American sentiment. The prison was used to hold downed POW pilots with everything properly and clearly labeled with “The War Against America.” Propaganda or not, it is to be told by those that were there but there Is an entire room full of photos of American POW’s enjoying feasts, receiving medical care, playing sports, smoking cigarettes, and looking like anything but prisoners; thus the name “Hanoi Hilton”. Displayed in the center of one of the rooms, almost as a trophy, is the supposed parachute and jump suit of John McCain.

The museum then becomes a place of solemn emotions as you walk through narrow halls looking into dark and damp prison cells. Shackles still nailed to the floors and only a few rays of light entering in. Just imagining a summer in Vietnam shackled to the floor of one of those cells is enough to make anyone cringe. In a central room stands a rusted guillotine, no explanation necessary.

Although certainly a depressing place to see while on vacation, these are the places that really ingrain memories in one’s head and make travelling an educational and worldly experience. To see history outside a textbook and to feel the emotions that arise while in places where mankind has faltered really sets apart the tourist from the traveler.