Hanoi

I'm back in the 6-person dorm room. A few people left so I was asked to either move back to the dorm room or pay the increased price of the double room. After moving my stuff again I spent the morning at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum complex. His mausoleum is MASSIVE and he is embalmed in a glass case for viewing inside just one small part of the building. Security was tight and the dress code strict. I was wearing a spaghetti strap summer dress and had to buy a scarf to cover my shoulders with in order to be allowed in. All electronic devices had to be left at the front and picked back up on the way out. The complex itself is a large beautiful park area that includes the presidential palace, Ho Chi Minh's summer home, his house on stilts, and a one-pillar pagoda from the 11th century. The whole complex would have been very serene and peaceful if it hadn't been for all us tourists.

I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the Old Quarter and doing some shopping. Unfortunately, by the time I remembered the Hanoi Hilton (Hoa Lo Prison) the museum itself was already closed. I walked there anyway and saw the outside, which is now overshadowed by the Hanoi Towers hotel and shopping complex. There was an older Vietnamese man in a business suit who was having his picture taken at the front entrance of the prison. I wondered if he'd been a former inmate but I thought it might be rude or insensitive to ask.

Finally, I walked around Hanoi at night. It was just as busy as during the day with motorbikes, cars, and people. I did a lap around Ho Hoan Kiem, the lake in the Old Quarter. It was really pretty with the city lights reflecting off of it, but not exactly peaceful since it's surrounded on all sides by busy roads, without much buffer between lake and road.

Next, I'm off to Ha Long Bay for some nature time!