Hanoi

If it was a choice between Saigon or Hanoi - I'd pick Hanoi every time. It's a great place just to walk around, and there are some great things to see here.

I had a handy list of things worth doing, which Mel had kindly provided me, and so I set off to see what there was to see...

The old city, with it's markets and little stores is definitely worth having a walk around. Each street sells something different, and the street names usually refer to what's being sold!

Just south of the old quarter is Hoan Kiem lake, which has a temple on a little island. Here's the bridge across to the temple:



From there, I took a Cyclo to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum where you can see the actual body (yes - you read that right) of Uncle Ho.

Your not allowed to take anything in, so you have to check your bags and cameras and then join the long long queue to get into the mausoleum. The queue moves really quickly, although there was plenty of pushing and queue jumping going on.

The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum:



As you walk in there's one of Uncle Ho's most famous quotes written up on the wall:

"Nothing is more valuable than independence and freedom."

Once your in the Mausoleum, you shuffle into this little room, where the body is displayed in a cabinet. I must admit, it does look a bit spooky. I also got told off for having my hands in my pockets. I was going to say I was valuing my independence and freedom - but thought better of it :-)

Around the corner is the Royal Palace:



Now this is where Uncle Ho could have lived. But instead, he had a little house (think just two rooms upstairs and an open room downstairs), as he wanted to live in the same type of house as the people. Here's his house - yes - it really is that small:



Around the corner from Uncle Ho's house is the One Pillar Pagoda. It's a small scale copy of the original, but it's a pretty cool idea:



And then, just around the corner from that, is the Ho Chi Minh Museum. You don't learn that much about the man himself, it's not a museum in that sense, but it's worth a look around just for the bizarre pieces like: this presentation is the representation of a cave in the shape of a brain to honor Ho Chi Minh's time living in the caves:



No - I can't see it either...

Around the corner from that, is the temple of literature. It's the only thing left from the time of the Emperors, but is worth checking out if your in the area:



On my way to the station to buy a ticket to Sapa, I popped in at the Hoa Loa Prison - AKA The Hanoi Hilton. It's where the French used to keep the Vietnamese during the uprising, and where the Vietnamese kept American service men during the American War.

It's a total exercise in propaganda. Loads of displays of the French mistreating the Vietnamese (it's pretty gruesome stuff), and then loads of pictures of happy US service men - absolutely no mention of the torture and in human conditions that existed in the prison during the 70's.

Here's a pic of one of the prisons most famous prisoners - Senator John McCain:



In the evening I went to see the famous Water Puppet Show. I was slightly concerned that it might be a bit boring, or the novelty would wear off, and that I'd be sitting there bored for an hour. But it was totally awesome. If your in town - you should definitely go and see this show.

The "stage" is a big tank of water, with a bamboo screen at the back, from where the puppets appear. They have scenes of rural life, and because each one only lasts under 5 minutes it goes really quickly.

I thought I'd only been there about 20 minutes when it ended, but it had actually been 50. It's really funny - and I just wish I could have taken Joshua to go and see it.

Here's a video:



Check out the crazy Saturday night Hanoi traffic - I ended up having to cross right through the middle of this :-)



And finally...they have a thing called Bia Hoi here, which roughly translates as "Fresh Beer". They have these small brewery's in every town, and deliver the barrels on the back of moto's to people who set up stalls on the side of the street: A few stools, a couple of barrels of beer, and some glasses.

A large glass (probably the same as a 440ml can back home) of pretty good beer is only 3000 dong - that's just under 12pence...so you can go out with a pound in your pocket, have an awesome night out - and still have change left over at the end of the night.