Day 5:Hanoi

Hanoi is big - 3 million in the city itself - busy and noisy. Also rainy, but that is a very welcome relief. Our lovely, happy guide Hung instructs us how to cross the road: "look, walk at a steady speed and the maybe 8 lanes of traffic will go around you". Yeah, right, but amazingly it works! We take a huge bus to visit the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, Ho Chi Minh’s former home, the One Pillar Pagoda, the Temple of Literature and the Lake of Restored Sword. The queues for the mausoleum are humungeous, but somehow money must change hands and we are taken to another entrance. It's all very regulated and reverent, and a very important place for the Vietnamese to see. The Temple of Literature is especially beautiful, with massive floral displays, students celebrating the end of uni (beautifully dressed), and demos of traditional music -yes we bought the CD for only $5. Duel currency is still ok in the more touristy places. After lunch (street food for some of us and equally delicious cafe for others) there's a one hour cyclo tour around the Old Quarter, seeing all the sights and dodging lots of traffic, good fun. Some then went to a water puppet show, some back to the hotel for a nanna nap, and Ian took his harem of 4 on a hour-long wander through town.
A delicious 9 course Vietnamese banquet completes another wonderful day. Kay and the 2 other "special needs" people (in a dietary sense) are very well catered for at their own separate table!