There was still so much of Hanoi to see and too little time left. We took an uber up to the One legged Pagoda, a huge symbol in the women's resistance movement during the Vietnam war and considered the ultimate in architecture. I'm not sure why, it didn't seem any more special than the other temples we had seen but there were lots of people queuing to see it. However I was drawn to the consequences of life shown in pictures all around.
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| One legged Pagoda |
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| being disrespectful to teachers means no one will listen to your words |
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| live an honest life means have intelligence to know the truth , do everything with great care means get smarter gradually |
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| THis one wasn't good for us! If you waste time in travels you will suffer from a disease that causes your inability to move. |
There is a big museum to Ho here but we skipped it in favour of walking past the mausoleum and visiting the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long.
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| Ho chi Minh museum |
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| Mausoleum |
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| French seat of government |
This was the capital of Vietnam a thousand years ago and played a big part in both the resistance against French rule and in the Vietnam war . The command bunkers were situated here.
It took most of the day to walk around this and see the exhibitions. There were a large number of students having graduation photos taken and also a lot of school children seemingly without teachers exploring the citadel.
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| Traditional dress, beautiful and practical |
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| Beautiful but slowly decaying french style property abounds throughout Vietnam |
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| Mock street inside ticket hall at thang lang |
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| Entrance way, the middle door was only ever used by the emperor |
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| Gardens and architecture on second storey |
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| Bunker used in 1972 during Vietnam war |
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| Vietnam war with usa exhibition |
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| Graduation photos |
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| Exhibitions of items found in archaeological digs |
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| Some of the archaeology discovered and put on display |
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| Steep steps to get up and down inside princess pagoda |
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| Roof line to princess pagoda |
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| Dragon steps |
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| Steps down to bunker during resistance |
By the time we had finished it was 3pm and I was hungry and thirsty. We started to walk back to the old quarter and picked up some food along the way which we ate in the only park enroute which was not very salubrious and had traffic roaring around the edges.
The plan had been to spend some time shopping in the old quarter but Jono had had enough of the noise and so we walked back past the lake to the hotel instead. We both felt better after a few drinks in the lobby while a pianist played gently in the background.
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| Pavements are used to park motorcycles forcing pedestrians to walk down the middle of the road |
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| Chickens and cockerels run about between motorcycles too |
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| Street art |
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| Street traders |
Once again the Jacuzzi was empty so we spent a long time soaking away and having a sauna before eating in the bar and packing
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