More on Hanoi

As it is still the Tet holiday people were wearing their best clothes and posing around the lakes to take pictures of their families. This particular family were very photogenic.













On our tour of Hanoi with the group we queued up early along with several thousand others at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. We really had to stick to the rules, walking in twos, not talking and keeping our hands out of our pockets. Ho Chi Mhin's body was in a huge building which was built just for this purpose. We had read a book about the Vietnam War during our journey so realised how important a leader he was to the Vietnamese and his portrait is everywhere, including on the banknotes. Every October/November his body is taken to Russia for re-embalming. He died before the end of the war and did not want to find himself the subject of such a personality cult but his wishes wre over-ridden.


We then visited the Presidential Palace which was used more as an administrative centre, the small house which he lived in and then the simple house on stilts which he lived in for the rest of his life. Our final visit was to the "Hanoi Hilton", named as such by the American pilots shot down and taken prisoner by the Vietnamese. The most famous resident was Senator John McCain.We had also visited the Military Museum beforehand and seen many of the warplanes and helicopters which had been captured in the war. The prison was built by the French and in its time housed many prisoners, both criminal and political. The description of the treatment of prisoners in the days of Indochina were quite horrific.

We also visited some temples which are very colourful as you can see. They are also very busy during the Tet (New Year) holiday but no one seems to mind if we take pictures.

Our guide is very experienced and speaks very good english. Our fellow travellers include two Australian couples, an Australian family and two English couples and we think we will get on with them all splendidly. We were taken out the first night for a meal to get to know each other and it's very helpful to have omone who can advise on the local food. The second night we mostly went to the hotel restaurant where the speciality was a hotpot, a bit like fondue except you have a pot of stock and add whatever you choose from the vast choice of meat, fish and vegetables and finally you can drink the soup. It's a very sociable way to get to know each other. there wre very tasty little pastries to follow-the French influence no doubt.

Lastly that evening we had to gather our luggage and set off for the station at 11.00p.m. We were sharing cabins and off on a 12 hour trip to Hue, the ancient capital of Vietnam.