Thundering Hanoi 30/10/08

Hanoi has treated us to some more enormous thunder storms and there has been much rain. In between showers we managed to visit Ho Chi Minh Mueseum which was interesting although a little obscure. We were really keen to visit the Ho Chi Mausoleum but Ho Chi Minh has been sent to Russia for maintenance so the Mausoleum was closed for two months. I am kind of glad about this as it was a bit gruesome and I found out later that his request was for a quiet cremation. I think peoples wishes should be respected. It is a bit of a controversy here with many people thinking the same and also not being happy about the amount of money being spent to maintain both the Mausoleum and also Ho Chi Minh himself. Viet Nam is not a rich country and it does look and seem quite extravagant….

We got a bit sick of being haranged by every cyclo and taxi driver to take us places, one even reversed down the whole st shouting at us to get in. Also every shop keeper and stall holder would try their best to get us inside. I am sure there is some sort of tourist fatigue and I think we had it. We decided to walk away as quick as we could and after a fair distance, not being able to find any street signs we flagged down a cyclo driver and asked him to ride us back to the lake where we are staying. This was a hairraising experience with nothing between us and the traffic of midday Hanoi.

We made like locals and had a rest in the middle of the day before venturing out into the old quarter to find some silky gifts. After spending about an hour looking into every shop on Huang Gai (Silk St) we decided to avoid any shops that had doors as these were all very expensive. The doorless shops were much cheaper and also friendlier and we had a great time hunting out many beautiful silky treats for people.