Hanoi

We arrived in Vietnam’s capital city Hanoi late at night, and checked into our hotel in the Old Quarter; even at 11pm, it was bustling with activity. We are still fooling people that we are on our honeymoon, so in true South East Asian style, we were welcomed with a honeymoon cake!

We spent our first day wandering around the tourist traps:

The Ho Chi Mihn Mausoleum where the preserved body of their first president lies. It was a little weird passing by a preserved body with four armed guards surrounding it.
We also visited the President’s Palace which was where he lived and worked; for some reason the Vietnamese are really proud of this site but there wasn’t much to see really.
The Ho Chi Mihn Museum was very interesting, more of an arty collection describing some of the history of Northern Vietnam, and in particular President Ho Chi Mihn.
Our last stop was the Temple of Literature (Vietnam’s first university) and now is a series of temples dedicated to the scholars. In a sheer stroke of luck, some graduating students were also here for some photos.

In the afternoon as we were wandering around the famous Hoan Keim Lake, we were approached by a group of Vietnamese students who asked us for some conversational English. We had a lovely time chatting with them and getting a couple of tips on navigating the city!

We discovered a quiet bar called Nola’s which we absolutely loved, so settled there for the evening…