Towards Enlightenment

A full on day exploring Hanoi. We started at West lake and the city’s oldest pagoda Tran Quoc, built around 6c. Then onto Ho Chi Minh mausoleum: - no photos of the embalmed body of the man known as uncle Ho, very strict protocol about how we should behave- R was told off for not having his arms by his side! The complex also includes his residence and stilt house as well as gardens and a huge brutalist museum building.
After all that socialist fervour, the museum of Ethnography was a welcome relief covering the 54 diverse tribes, although 85% are Viet.
After lunch we visited the Temple of literature in honour of Confucius. Fact; temples honour known people, pagodas revere gods. This photo shows the Gate of the Constellation of Literature leading to the Well of Heavenly Clarity. I’ve rubbed a few cranes and turtles for luck and prosperity…

Finally a trip to Maison Centrale/ aka the Hanoi Hilton built in 1896 or to give it its proper name, the Hoa Lao Prison which shows punishment in French colonial times to political prisoners.
And to finish our city tour we had a cyclo ride back to the hotel : madness at the end of a busy day :)