Hanoi Part 2

"Nothing is more precious than Independence and Liberty."

Ho Chi Minh

Today it was a bus tour around the city of Hanoi first was the temple of literature which was the first university in Hanoi, the grounds had a lot of water due to the rain fro the typhoon but still very interesting I like the Buddha images different to what you find in Thailand, Mynmar, Laos

Next stop Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. the guide provided a lot of details on what we could and couldn’t do lots of security to get into the area we arrived in time for the changing of the guard, they do this every hour all day. Bit hot for me

Next was lunch with so much food again we were given the option of returning in to the hotel for a rest or walking the old quarter before going to the water puppet show. I went for the walk and after seeing the water puppet show I should gone for a bigger walk. The lady in Yellow was so over the show as well. They sang such in high pitch voices not my favourite

Next day we went to the outer suburbs of Hanoi to near the upper Red river and visited a small village where they make the conical hats in a small family enterprise. The quality of the work was excellent. Some of the ladies were in the late 70,s. I wondered if they had callous on there fingers but asking them they said I could touch their hands they were so very soft.

Returning to Hanoi we stopped at the Thay Pagoda this dates back to the 11th century amazing craftsmanship it sits beside a lake and was very tranquil

That night we had a farewell dinner at the press club very nice fusion food Pandaw also provided every guest with a discount voucher not sure if it helps make up for what we missed out on but we were safe they did pay for alls drinks and laundry for the 10 days as per the cruise but it was not a luxury cruise.

The last day before we all said goodbye we were taken to the Hang Da Market I’d been before but still worth the visit everything from wholesalers to purchasing you food and don’t forget the smells