An early(-ish) start was had today as we had to make it to Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum in the AM before they closed up at 10.30am.
We walked there (no doubling back required - yay!) and walked around the complex to queue (an epic and windy line) then passed through the hand in your water, hand in your camera, follow the red carpet slowly and quietly - all VERY well organised...to see Ho. He was looking remarkably well preserved and the mausoleum is really quite an impressive structure. We knew to be quiet on our way in but another ngoåi nhân (foreigner) had to be shushed by the white uniformed soldiers!
Then we visited One Pillar Pagoda and the Ho Chi Minh Museum (all in the same complex). Really interesting! Roni enjoyed learning through reading all the information and Bray went crazy with the camera - the presentation of the info is amazingly creative and almost like an art gallery in places. Very cool. "Uncle Ho" is definitely a figure of MUCH veneration here!
We left and were heading off to find the 'Hanoi Hilton'(prison) when the heat and 'Hanoi-experience' overwhelmed us and we caught a cyclo to get there. It was quite fun and we got a price first (to avoid rip-off-age).
He dropped us and pointed in the direction...while trying to get an extra 100,000 dong! We walked but couldn't find it :-( Even with the help of a nice Vietnamese girl with an iphone translator (yay smartphone!!).
What we stumbled upon in our search was the Vietnam Museum of Fine Arts. AMAZING-ZING!!! Three levels and multiple wings, it covered from the beginning of Vietnamese art through the ages until now. A fantastic find!!
Unfortunately we were low on fluids and overheated before we saw the entire place - would seriously take over a day to do it justice!!
Then we walked home, showered to cool off, grabbed the laptop and went out in search of wi-fi! Found a great wee place (good food AND free wi-f) and caught up on the days of journal and email we had missed. Home then with fresh spring rolls for dinner to pack our bags before an early start tomorrow.
p.s. A careless scooter driver ripped the pocket off (and damaged the material on) Bray's new fave Laos bought phat pants today :-( Roni stayed up until late stiching away to fix them - stressful work for those of you who know her relationship with needle and thread! All fixed now though :-)
