Still in Hanoi

IMGP1974
Originally uploaded by theslaad.

We've changed our plans and have had a bit more of a look around Hanoi. We'll be heading out to Halong bay tomorrow and then catching a flight to Bangkok on Wednesday.

Last night we discovered something wonderful! Bia Hoi is fresh beer. It's made without preservatives and new barrels are delivered daily. But the best bit is that they sell it at 2000VND per glass. For those without calculators, that equates to about 7p. You don't get a full pint for that price, but you do get some well chilled, pretty good lager and a nice plastic seat on the street to sit on. Great stuff.

Anyway... Today we visited Ho Chi Minh's final resting place. Well we had a look at the building, not the corpse itself, which apparently isn't on display on Sundays, not that we really wanted to see it anyway. It was an impressive building anyway, which gets theme park sized queues outside when the dead guy's on display. We also had a look at the One Pillar Pagoda (See pic) which was originally built in 1049, but destroyed by the French in 1954 and rebuilt more recently. We then went for a bit of a wander through the botannical gardens and past the presidential palace which is a nice yellow colour, and down to the Temple of Literature.

The Temple of Literature was the first university in Vietnam, built in 1070. Not an easy place to study at; in 1733, out of 3000 students only 8 passed their exams to become mandarins. Anyway, it was one of the least gaudy temples we've been to. There was a bonsai tree exhibition on, and there was a whole group of schoolchildren mobbing us with shouts of "Hello!", "How are you?", "What's your name?", "Where you live?". Answering their questions to the best of our abilities, they all decided that they should shake hands with us, and get photographed. Very friendly kids like most that we've met.

Unfortunately, they'll probably grow up to be money grabbing bastards like the cyclo drivers. We decided to get a cyclo for the second time ever today. It nearly worked out OK, having negotiated a price that was acceptable to both of us, however having been taken a few hundred yards the driver said that we had to get into another cyclo instead and that the price would still be that same, which would have been fine if the next bloke had spoken any english and had taken us to the right place. Never mind, you live and learn. What we have learned is that the majority of Vietnamese are out to rip you off at every opportunity. That's just the way it is over here.

Halong Bay tomorrow.

Chris