Monday night ended with a walk to Hoan Kiem Lake also known as the Lake of the Restored Sword and a quick orientation followed by dinner with a mother and daughter I have met on the trip overlooking the lake.


Sunday, and the first full day in Hanoi. Started early where it was incredibly humid, with a trip to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum to see the embalmed body of Ho Chi Minh. No photos were allowed inside and we had to walk in strict formation with hands straight by our sides, no hats, no glasses. First time I have ever seen a dead body. This was followed by a walk around the grounds of Ho Chi Minh's stilt house and his presidential palace. He had the stilt house built as he believed that the palace was too grand for him. His cars were also seen in mint condition as apparently he did not drive them often as he did not want to be seen as extravagant to his people.






This was followed by visit to the One Pillar Pagoda famed for being erected following a dream the king had of being visited by the goddess of mercy who handed him a baby boy. Soon after he was married and they had a son.



Next on the list was a visit to the Temple of Literature founded in honour of the Chinese philosopher Confucius and was a place of higher learning.



Then we went on the rickshaw ride around the old Quarters where the small shops sell everything imaginable. Very busy and bustling. Electricity cables strewn together, scooters, buses, cycles and rickshaws fighting down narrow lanes for right of way. Crazy.











Following this, the organised tour ended

I visited the Ha Lo prison, also known as the Hilton Hotel. Here is where the French imprisoned and tortured and executed the revolutionaries. It is also where US pilots were imprisoned when captured in the Vietnam war, although they were not treated as inhumanely as the Vietnamese. As you will have guessed, best part of the day for me as I love prisons! It was really series going into the cells and imagining men cuffed up or women and babies cramped in together. I also saw the isolation cells which was quite disturbing as was seeing the instruments of torture used, the rack, electric shocks, bottles on women....fairly gruesome.
















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The rest of the day I spent wandering the Old Quarters and trying to stay alive in the traffic....see, cars, cycles, scooters and people just wander around like a free for all. Honest, these are the roads of Hanoi and apparently Saigon gets worse! This picture is not the half of it and I added a video to the photo web page James and Dan so you can laugh at it all.




This evening I went and watched the water puppet show. It was Ok gave me a bit of a headache after a bit mind and someone kept moving their head in the way in front of me.

Early start tomorrow as we set of to Halong Bay, really looking forward to that.

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