Another Day in Hanoi

Back in the hustle and bustle of Hanoi, after breakfast we headed out on foot to explore a bit more of the city.

A slight mistake in map-reading took us in completely the wrong direction to begin with, but it gave us a chance to see the Hanoi Opera House and for Nicola to pop in to one of her favourite shops !!

Back in the right direction we walked to the Temple of Literature, built as a temple to Confucius in 1070 then extended in 1076 to become Vitenam's first university. Now the temple is considered to be the most well-preserved Vietnamese architecture in the city, as well as providing a welcome respite from the noise of the city.

After exploring the temple we walked up through the embassy district to Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum - unfortunately we arrived too late to see Uncle Ho himself but in the complex we were able to see his former home and cars, as well as the landmark One Pillar Pagoda and the former Presidential Palace of the Governer General of Indochina. 

With all the sights ticked off we trudged back through the city mayhem to the hotel. Tommorow we take a day trip to the Perfume Pagoda, before leaving Vietnam on Friday - destination Laos !!