Today we headed out on foot for the 2.3km walk to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. The staff at our hotel told us it was too far to walk but we were keen. However, even though we had been out and about in the rain yesterday, today I (and I think the others too) found the combination of temperature, humidity and lack of breeze oppressive. The locals don’t walk around at all – hence the insane number of vespers on the road.

We found our way to the mausoleum and only got blasted at by a military man with a loud whistle once when we found ourselves on the wrong side of some barricades 🙂 . We arrived in time to see the changing of the guards which was cool.

While we were there we met a lovely young solo travelling doctor from the UK, who very kindly explained we should be using ‘Grab’ (an Uber equivalent) to get around town. So we booked a ride with her to our next stop at the Tran Quoc Pagoda. The ride was absolute bliss! Air conditioning is just the best thing ever. The temple had just closed for it’s 2 hour lunch when we arrived so we found an air conditioned coffee shop and spent the next hour or so chatting with our new friend.

We said goodbye and managed to catch our own taxi back to the Hoa Lo Prison Museum. The history of the museum and its inhabitants was very sobering. The isolation cells, living conditions, escapes and political background painted a vivid picture.

Once we had finished at the prison, we walked back to the train street we stopped at yesterday to see it with a train passing through. There were so many people! It was such an experience. The train passed by within an arms reach of where we were sitting. Definitely worth heading back for.

We made our way back to the hotel via ‘bike taxis’ (I made that name up as I don’t know what they are called). A relief not to have to walk the couple of km in the humidity.

Then back to the hotel pool to cool off before our meet and greet and dinner with the tour group which departs Hanoi tomorrow. It is sounding hopeful that our Halong Bay 3 day cruise may still run from tomorrow after the region was in the direct path of Yagi on Saturday and sustained much more damage than Hanoi.