Hanoi

---

To day we really start to explore this city with a long walk.

First stop after breakfast is the tomb of Ho Chi Minh. I can say that in some way we are lucky - he is not on display today. Jim is not into looking at dead people but Ian would have made him if he were.

We continue to wander past the Presidential Palace (no photos allowed with guards to enforce) and into the Botanic Gardens. Very pleasant with wedding photos being taken in the park. A little further and we enter the Palace of Literature. A very grand set of buildings. The history of this sight is the teaching of only the best of this nation for over 1000 years. A place where the best and most famous Mandarins of this country taught the scholars. Doctorates obtained in Confucian education. There were only 116 exams held between 1442 to 1780.

After we leave we head across the road to a resturtrant that Ian has wanted to visit. Koto (Know One Teach One), again a charity that accepts the under privalaged for training into the hospitality industry. Food is good, but average - just too bland for our tastes. Very well presented and the service could not be faulted.

Now it is time for us to head to the Station to buy our train tickets to Hue. You always need to book a few days in advance to make sure that you get a seat as tomorrow we head to Ha Long Bay for 3 days aboard a junk.

At the station we can not buy a soft sleeper for the overnight trip. We are offered Hard Sleep at 680,000 dong, not what we have been told or read in the Lonely Planet. We jump a cab back to near our hotel and pick a travel agent - within minutes we have Soft Sleepers for 510,000 dong. It has just proved the point that Government offices are hard to deal with and they are trying to take every penny they can off you.

---

Photos

KOTO
KOTO - Know One Teach One