Hanoi - Part 3

21 February 2015

As I was saying...we boarded the train yesterday hoping that Tim would be OK and he was.  He wound up sleeping through the night on the train.  The problem now is that we arrived in Hanoi at 5:30 AM and planned on walking around the city all day before we fly out at 5:40 PM to Hue.  That gives us around 10 hours and Tim, although he slept, still doesn't feel 100% and shouldn't walk around all day.  We returned to the hotel we left a few days ago and after giving them my sad face they agreed to give us a room for the day at a discounted price...what great customer service here!

Tim might be sick, but I'm not...so off I go on my own to explore parts of Hanoi we missed on the past 2 visits.  First stop, a visit to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum.  But first I must find some breakfast.  The tour book mentions a dish called "Mien Xao Luon" that I just have to try.  After a 30 minute walk and looking the area I knew it was supposed to be, I finally spotted exactly what the tour book said "a humble stall trimmed with mini-mountains of fried eel", so I ordered myself...actually pointed at...a bowl of rice noodle soup topped with fried eel.  It was so good!

After breakfast I head toward the mausoleum and passed by the military museum that we visited a few days ago, but this time I took pictures of the communist-style posters around the outside of it:

Something about volunteering to enlist in the military.

Something about promoting fighting tradition

Something about completing the given task.

Something about homeland security

Right across the street I noticed a great looking Harley and went over to talk to the owner.  I love this picture of a USA themed Harley-Davidson with the Vietnamese owner in front of a flower display with a Soviet flag with a statue of Lenin in the background:

As the other past communist leaders, Uncle Ho (as the locals calls him) is embalmed and on display for people to pay their respects.  You are not allowed to photograph inside the mausoleum, but here are pictures of the outside.

"Eternal gratitude to the great President Ho Chi Minh"

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

The mausoleum is built on the same grounds as the Presidential Palace used by Ho Chi Minh.  Of course there was also a gift shop with Uncle Ho on everything.

Ho Chi Minh's Presidential Palace

Next I decided to walk back to the hotel, but I took the long way back where I passed some pretty cool sites:

The Imperial Citadel of Thang Long

Unnamed building that I thought was pretty cool.

I then noticed a stall with a mini-mountain of fried eel so I just had to try it one more time...but this time I ordered it dry without the broth and it was just as good as the bowl I had this morning for breakfast:

I finally made it back to the hotel and Tim was feeling better.  I went out to his new favorite fast food restaurant, Lotteria, and grabbed him a couple of chicken sandwiches.  We then left the hotel for the airport where we flew to the city of Hue for our next Vietnam adventure.

We arrived in Hue (pronounced Who-way) about 1 hour after taking off from Hanoi.  Our hotel had a car waiting at the airport and we arrived as our room just before 8:00 PM.  We thought about going out, but instead we just stayed in the room and enjoyed the evening.  Tomorrow we will explore Hue.