Last night in Hanoi

We started the day by going to Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum where his embalmed body still rests.  The mausoleum was closed for the past few months and was open for shortened hours so we were told the lines would be very long.  We showed up early at 7am and ended up being the FIRST two people to go through in front of thousands.  No pictures though. 

Then we headed off on our own in a taxi to explore the remaining sites in Hanoi.

First we went to the Museum of Ethnology which is apparently a popular field trip destination.  It was amazing how loud all the kids were.  Picture hundreds of kids all looking to test out their compulsory English education by yelling "hello", "how are you", "where are you from?"  They were all adorable and very very loud.

It is wonderful to see the great care that the country has taken to preserve and document the 53 different types of people that make up Vietnam...

Around the museum they had invited tribes people to build their typical home style to see the different architectures.  I think the homes were not examples of average people as they were much larger than what we had seen when visiting villages.

Lots of tribes had marriage and procreation as key elements in their architecture...

Jen thought some statues were a bit funny...

This is an automatic rice grinder that uses water to run...

Then we went to the Temple of Literature which was created 1000 years ago.  It is amazing to see how much education was valued in their culture so long ago.  I think this is a big factor in why the people we met seemed so intelligent despite the short school hours (7am to 11am each day).

The king would test all the pH.D.'s himself and their names were written on plaques on the backs of turtles, a sacred symbol.

One of these signs says please dismount your horse before entering but we couldn't figure out which one.

Many temples including this one have four pools for the four elements of earth, fire, water, air.

Then we walked by a Catherdral--something like 10% of the people are Catholic with 70% Buddhist...

It's interesting to see all the open storefronts juxtaposed to very modern technology like this massive printer of which there were many for printing out banners...

Then we went to the museum of women.  Also amazing to see how much their culture recognizes women and their contribution especially to the War.

Incredibly heavy...  I think 50lbs...

Jen likes this saying.  Good advise for honeymooners.  I didn't get it at first as I said chopsticks can be separated easily.  Jen explained that they are useless alone.

Amazing old trees everywhere you look.

Some of the tribes had very interesting styles like this woman where it appears they do not cut their hair...

Here they cover their teeth with black lacquer...

Someone road a motor bike around the country taking pictures of all of the honored women.  They have an honor for those women who helped in the war directly or indirectly through a child that they lost.

They have a whole area documenting the marriage and child-rearing customs--super interesting...

Then, on a lighter note, we went to the chocolate buffet at the hotel and ate until we were sick.

The sandwich's from high tea were also included so we had them prepare some on gluten-free bread--simply delightful.

Then we took a tour of the bomb shelter in the hotel.  The hotel had been around for 100 years and had many celebrities stay at it including people during the Vietnam American War.  Joan Baez wrote and recorded a song with sounds from her experience during the Christmas-time bombing fourty years ago in the bomb shelter there.

We enjoyed the tour tremendously but didn't feel it was appropriate to smile.  Our tour guide told many stories from personal experience during the War.

Lot's of artifacts in the hotel like Charlie Chaplin's silverware...

A beautiful hotel...  Jen's favorite I think...

Then we went back to the City center and saw the temple in the lake where we had see the turtle...

 

And kids dancing...

And propaganda posters...

Crossing the street without stoplights was crazy...

A super popular street food vendor but we were still recovering from Laos so headed to a restaurant...

Essence!  If you are ever in Hanoi, Vietnam, eat at Essence.  It was delightful.  Jen loved that the rice crackers stuck to her tongue.  They have something for everyone!

Lots of kids eating at the street food vendors.  Looks like fun.

We saw a music group play what we think is traditional music and they were amazing.  We had never heard this style of music but they had so much energy that everyone loved them including us.

It appears they had made their own instruments including this one that had a wire and a microphone in his mouth so as he moved his mouth it changed the sound of the instrument.

Back to the hotel.