Hanoi

My final location in Vietnam was Hanoi. The furthest north of my three stops, its the capital and has a different feel to both Hue and Ho Chi Minh. Hue is quite small and relaxed, HCM is like most bustling far eastern capitals (but is not capitol), Hanoi is somewhere in between. Obviously its busy and the streets demonstrate the same chaos seen in HCM, but it seems to have more history, more space (probably down to a number of parks and lakes) and a bit more to it.

I spent my first afternoon just getting a general feel for the place, and then took a full day tour on the second day. Whilst i had been slightly surprised with how modern some of the historical Hue sights had been, this was different - the oldest unversity formed in 1076 and other sites that went back further. Tour also combined the modern side, Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum which was built in the 1970's. Now i have seen a few tombs on this trip, which have all had the body enclosed and not open to anyone immediately after completed. So slightly surpised to see the old man lying there, body preserved in a cool room and appearing just to be in a deep sleep. Given you are ushered around quite quickly (there are no shortage of national guard in the place) did not get a great look but seemed slightly unusual.

Pictures are here and here