Hanoi Christmas!

Floral display by Hoan Kiem Lake.

More blogging!  Well, the cycling in Thailand was fun, but I really did want to get to a new country - and in fact, I do now have to leave Thailand, again, to get yet another new visa, so, virtue out of necessity once again, I am off to Hanoi.  Well, I may as well use the Vietnam visa I bought in the hope of cycling there...

First impressions of Hanoi?  Honestly not the greatest, a pall of pollution hangs over the city, I get off the bus from the airport thinking I can see the river that my hotel is near, but it turns out to be a massive lake, also pretty badly polluted judging by the numerous dead fish floating on the surface.  I now of course have to walk pretty much all the way around the lake, it is pleasant enough, barring the constant swarm of fast moving, horn beeping mopeds that clog the roads here.  Getting towards the old city these things become a real problem, just crossing the road here seems to mean taking your life into your hands, and walking beside it isn't easy either, while there is a pavement, the locals seem to think it is there for them to park those mopeds on.

In the Ho Chi Minh museum.

Things seem to be kind of small here... my hotel is small, as is my room, the streets are lined with little, box like shops, cafes and bars, with wares and seating spilling out onto the road.  Indeed, I end up spending an evening at a bar where the music - which is excellent - consists of a band set up on the opposite side of the road.  There are lots of tourists about, local children dance around in the street, and adding to the party atmosphere are the fires that people are making out of scrap cardboard and so forth in the street, as you do.  All quite fun anyway.

Uncle Ho's mausoleum.

There is of course a lot of sight seeing to do here, there are many interesting museums for instance.  I visit the old palace complex, not many of the original buildings survived - apparently the French demolished many of them - but there are many exhibits, with a lot of finds from a nearby archaeological site which I also wander around, it is certainly a nice escape from the traffic.  The presidential palace complex is not quite so exciting, I peer at Ho Chi Minh's old house while many Chinese tour guides herd their groups around, and speaking of 'Uncle Ho', his mausoleum is here of course, plus a large museum dedicated to him, all very interesting.  The well preserved body of the father of the nation is worth a look to be sure... from the museum, I get the feeling Ho has slotted right in to the role of virtuous leader, which in Thailand is filled by their many kings.  Indeed, visiting the impressive military museum, the history described there begins with independence from China, around a thousand years ago, progresses through numerous legendary kings, and then segues straight into Ho's battle against first the colonial French, and then the 'American aggressors'.  There's also a large display of tanks, planes and so forth from the Vietnam war, all very cool.

Back to Hoan Kiem Lake, this is the famous Turtle Tower.

Photos to go with this post can be found here.