By the time we had arrived back at the hotel, I was goosed! I had a major headache and just needed to lie down for an hour, but not in the horrible room they first gave us! I asked for a different room and we got moved to what was like the hotels penthouse suite! It was so much better! After a snooze we spent about an hour & half wandering up & down the streets of Hanoi trying to find pizza which was very unsuccessful! We ended up back at the hotel ordering takeaway pizza that cost about £6 each! That's really expensive for Vietnam :/

The next day we all got up early for a day of culture & history in Vietnam's capital. First we headed to the iconic site Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, the final resting place of the embalmed body of 'Uncle Ho'. This was known as the holiest of holies for many Vietnamese. As we approached, the presence of authority surrounded you. There was four very smartly dressed uniformed guards, all in white, standing with guns at the closed front entrance & green uniformed military guys patrolled the grounds in front. You could sense the importance of this former president who had been laid to rest openly in this tomb like looking building. We were all gutted when we was told the place was shut for cleaning :( We would just have to revisit again tomorrow then!

We came across the Presidential grounds that are situated next door to the mausoleum. The public were allowed to go into the grounds to explore, so of course we did at a cost of 20,000 dong. There was pleasant gardens with a small lake in the middle with huge fish swimming around. As you walk around the lake, you can see a few personal effects, including Ho Chi's used furniture, books, stationary, phones etc, all still present in the simple stilt house. He chose to live in this over the Presidential Palace as he believed the Palace was too big for him. Uncle Ho's cars are on display in the garages plus you can walk around the numerous gardens where he used to do his morning strolls & exercises. The different trees were painted white at the bottom of each trunk to protect them, which has been a regular sight around Vietnam, and each tree had been dedicated to a street name in Hanoi. It was very beautiful and peaceful.

After looking round the grounds, we headed up to look at the nearby Pagoda which was by the Ho Chi Minh museum. Luckily as we headed to the museum, we caught a huge group of military men lined up in front of the building having a picture taken. We asked if we could jump in and they said yes! What a good photo bomb! This is definitely one of the best pictures in our collection from Vietnam.

Whilst browsing around the museum, we learnt a lot about Ho Chi Minh, what he represented and the importance he had in modern Vietnam today. Ho is honoured for his role as the liberator of the Vietnamese people and the museum displays his speeches and quotes that encouraged the people to work together. He stated often that no man is better than the other... 'All the peoples on Earth are equal, Each people has the right to life, happiness and Liberty' (Ho Chi Minh). You can see actually see Ho's philosophy shine through today in the Vietnamese culture. Many of them work together rather than stealing business and treat everyone as equal.

After some really good street popcorn, a quick stop in the converse shop and a scrumptious panini, we headed to the eerie Hoa Lo Prison Museum. The notorious prison was a big part of Hanoi during the French ruling and also held captured American pilots, prisoners of war (POW), from the invasion of the USA. Exhibits displayed the struggle that vietnamese prisoners faced as they stood up & fought for their countries independence from France. It was a very powerful place. There was models of vietnamese prisoners shackled up inside cells, rows of empty dark cells that you could still go into plus you could still shut & lock the door on some for the full effect! Items of hand made bowls from coconut shells and cutlery were on display showing how the Vietnamese prisoners had to make them in order to eat their gruelling food. In one room was the original guillotine that they used to chop people's head off! Pretty gruesome stuff... You can't beat a bit of dark tourism though!

As we got to the last bit of the prison it was a stark contrast to the rest of the grim atmosphere. Displays of pilot uniforms & items from captured Americans such as Senator John McCain could be seen, including playing cards the Americans played games with, metal plates with metal knives and forks, pictures of them playing volley ball and smoking, along with other luxury items (well for a prison that is). Compared to how the Vietnamese prisoners were treated, no wonder they called it the 'Hanoi Hilton' back in the day. However, it was portrayed as if the American POWs had it extremely easy, fun, comfortable and access to good medical care... I'd be very interested to hear the American side of the story!

As we headed back to the hotel to et ready for a night out, we bought a bottle of vodka to get a head start. I made the mistake of not eating any dinner too and before I knew it I was drunk! Howard the journalist, an American we met in the hotel, showed us the way the Hanoi Backpackers where the party was already in full flow :) We all had an awesome night! I robbed a curly long wig & hat of some guy in fancy dress which I wore all night! The wig got ditched though as it was way too sweaty. In one bar I was dancing with these vietnamese girls, it was great fun! Our last stop was the Lighthouse club where we stayed till 4am very merrily drunk dancing. Lianne also met up with Rob, a guy she had met previously in Vietnam and she stayed with him all night the dirty little stop out. When we got the taxi to the hotel, we thought he'd taken us some where completely different as the streets were completely empty! No people, no bikes, you could see the pavements and it was silence! The absolute complete opposite to day time. We later found out its because there is a curfew in Vietnam, and everyone & thing has to be off the streets at 12am. It was very strange!

Feeling extremely delicate, we pulled ourselves out of bed at 9am the next morning to head back to the mausoleum with one crew member still out...Miss Astley! The complex was free to visit, although it cost us a little effort and obedience. After being vetted in security, the guards insisted that we walked in pairs in two straight lines, wore no hats & respectable clothing, have hands by our sides and walk in respectful silence. The visit to the mausoleum was brief yet quite intense. The body of Ho Chi MInh is embalmed and lies in a glass case in the middle of this cold hall, contrary to his last wishes of being cremated. Slowly you walk around the coffin to pay your respects and you are not allowed to stop or take pictures, there are eight guards surrounding the hall to make sure of this plus even more guards walking around with you. Uncle Ho looks like he has only just died & been laid in the chapel of rest he looks that good! It was a somewhat surreal, sobering visit yet very interesting.

After some market shopping, a horrible KFC and a marathon packing session, including Lianne's backpack, Leanne and Alice had to leave to catch their flight back to the UK :( Lianne was still out galavanting until around 8pm, then she headed back for me to go out for a really good pub dinner at the Moose and Roo. Rob had taken us and introduced us to the chef who was a really nice Scottish guy. It was like a breath of fresh air! I could tell him exactly how I wanted my food and he understood!! I think it was the best burger I'd had whilst in Asia! We booked in for the Sunday roast dinner that he had planned for the next day :) After food we ended up at a street bar on the corner and met a kiwi who invited us to bar for some whiskey. So off we went to a really smart new bar which had a Manchester feel to it for whiskey! Ha I don't even drink whiskey!!!

The next day turned into a packing nightmare! After fully packing my backpack & checking out ready to leave, the hotel had booked the wrong train, so we had to catch the 11pm one. They gave us our room back though which was good. We headed to the market and I saw a really good 100L pink north face backpack. After much thought, I decided I wanted it as it would be easier carrying 1 big rucksack rather than a 50L and a small one. My god was I wrong!!! After spending about an hour unpacking and re-packing the new one, it was just too big!! It was huge on my back and full to the brim!! It didn't make sense, this was meant to be twice the size of the one I had! So then I wasted another hour unpacking that and re packing back to normal, and stuffing Lianne's backpack in the pink one for her to take home... Nightmare!

We then headed back to the Moose & Roo for our amazing Sunday Roast! It was the best roast dinner I think I've ever had! It had juicy pink beef, roast potatoes, creamy mash, cauliflower cheese, crunchy garlic green beans, carrots, homemade Yorkshire pudding and gravy!! It was delicious! After desert we headed back to get ready for our sleeper train, and to put Lianne in a taxi to the airport :( It was sad to see all the girls leave as we had had such an amazing time together!! Good, special memories!!

That evening we climbed aboard the sleeper train for our 12 hour journey, which was an experience by itself! We was sharing a 4 bed 'room' with a Vietnamese and Chinese guy who were really nice and spoke to us about their life and family. Then we tried to sleep as the train rattled along.

Next stop was Hue...