TripTracker.net - The Gecko Wanderers' Expedition to SE Asia, Hanoi, Vietnam

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The Gecko Wanderers...

Hanoi, Vietnam

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Dec 19 2006, 05:10 PM

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braco
Trzin, Slovenia

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Location

Hanoi, Vietnam

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In Hanoi, we first payed our respects to Uncle Ho by visiting his final resting place. If you only have 2 hours to spend in Hanoi, the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum is the thing to see. Visitors queue in a slow procession around the leader's maticulously preserved body, which lays silent in a glass casket. The guards demand strict discipline and respect from the visitors. You must be properly dressed and keep your hands out of your pockets. No bags or cameras are allowed in the mausoleum, and talking is strictly prohibited. A violation of these rules is met with a polite, but stern warning gesture from the guards. You simply do not violate the rules twice. I personally found the whole experience bizzarely exhillarating.

After the mausoleum, we visited the Ho Chi Minh museum, a typical, monumental communist building. The modern exhibition of Ho Chi Minh's life is itself a work of art, and is well worth a visit. We saw two more of the city's prime attractions on this busy day: The Temple of Literature (this is where most of the photos were taken) and the Turtle Pagoda, a small shrine set on an island on Hoan Kiem Lake.

I was beat that afternoon, so I decided to hit the sack early, while Miha, Tana and Ziga spent the evening in a jazz bar in the old quarter. They joined me at the hotel soon after midnight; The military raided their party to enforce the 12:00AM curfew.

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	22. Idle running Dec 25 2006, 01:31 PMChu Lin, Vietnam4 photos On our last day in Sapa we were numb and lifeless, idly waiting for the night train to take us back to Hanoi for a final day of shopping, writing postcards, and pondering about what has passed in the last 27 days. Our trip was almost over, but not quite yet. In short...

	21. Karaoke night Dec 25 2006, 03:22 AMLo Sui Tong, Vietnam2 photos On Christmas Eve, we celebrated our victory over the mountain in a karaoke bar in Sapa. Over a couple of bottles of Hanoi vodka, our mood got progressively lighter, while our singing got progressively worse. At 2:00 AM, after scaring away the other customers with our take of "Hotel...

	20. The roof of Indochina Dec 24 2006, 02:30 PMSan Sa Ho, Vietnam5 photos The second day proved much more difficult. We started early and made the steep ascent to the peak in just over four hours. The descent was a long, up and down struggle, covering a considerable distance back to the road. We were picked up by an old Russian army jeep and arrived back at the Sapa...

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