After the Halong Bay and Catba trip, we were back in Hanoi for the next two days.
By now, we were addicted to eating Vietnamese beef noodles (10,000d per bowl). So we had this meal for our morning breakfast. As we had a full day in Hanoi, we took our time to explore the Hanoi city especially the Old Quarter, roaming the back streets with hundreds of stalls selling all sorts of merchandise making us poorer by the time we finished shopping here.
Next, we walked to the Hanoi railway station. Tourists who are keen to travel north or entering China, may consider taking a train to Lao Cai , a small town near the Vietnam and China border. From Lao Cai, you may take a motorbike and do the border crossing to Hekou , 468km south of Kunming. From Hanoi to Lao Cai , the distance is 294km. I hope I could take this route to China in my future travel plan.
In the central city, we visited the Hoan Kiem Lake. There was a legend story about this Lake - something to do with a magic sword , a golden tortoise etc . We visited the Ngoc Son temple and the Tortoise tower and the surrounding area around the lake .
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We took a taxi (32,000d) from the hostel to the Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum. There was a long queue at the Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum when we visited this place in the late morning. I had to leave my day pack and camera at the reception before entering. Batch by batch of visitors was allowed to enter due to a large crowd. The Mausoleum was heavily guarded as we walked past the Ho Chi Minh's embalmed corpse placed inside a glass showcase. There was a complete silence inside the resting place.
We also took a picture of the Presidential Palace, an old colonial building in bright yellow color near the Ho Chi Minh's Stilt House
We paid 5,000d to enter the Ho Chi Minh's Stilt House. Uncle Ho lived here during the 1958 to 1969 period. There was a garden and a pond nearby. Due to a big crowd, we had to queue up to enter the stilt house. We had a quick glimpse of the Uncle Ho's office and resting room
In the vicinity, we also visited the famous One Pillar Pagoda which was built by Emperor Ly Thai Tong who ruled from 1029-1054. The pagoda is built of wood on a single stone pillar resemble a lotus blossom, symbol of purity, rising out of a sea of sorrow.
Next, we took a taxi (40,000d) to West Lake (Ho Tay). This lake is big and the southern side has a number of seafood restaurants. We also visited two Chinese temples and a pagoda , not far from the West Lake.
After the West Lake, we took a taxi (55,000d) back to the central city area and continued our walking tour. We came across the Water Puppet Theatre and bought a ticket each (40,000d) to see this interesting puppet show, which took an hour of performance.
" Old Quarter, Hoan Kiem Lake, Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum, One Pillar Pagoda and the water puppet show - you never get bored in Hanoi "
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