(26 October)

This morning we got up early to see the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum side of town. It was quite a long walk...at one point I think we walked into some sort of protest, no idea what for though! Also joined in a bit if badminton with the locals en route which was cool. We went through a park which was really pretty but got stopped in the middle for god knows what...it was actually so bizarre! There were dummies on the ground like dead bodies and people dressed up as medics and some with hoses and buckets...and weird noises blaring through a speaker like we were in the middle of a war zone, it was like they were acting out something? Really really strange. Eventually we gave up and walked through it to get out haha. The mausoleum/museums were closed when we got there, and then we got a bit lost trying to find the temple of literature. We found it in the end but by that stage it was really hot and I was really tired from the late night, so had a bit of lunch then headed back while the others went to the temple - to be honest I'm starting to feel seriously templed out! On the way back I passed some people learning to dance with the Chinese dragon thing on their heads which was pretty cool!

I chilled out at the hotel for a few hours and borrowed Claire's laptop until she got back which was nice, then went for the final group dinner before we lost half the group to go into Vietnam. So weird saying bye to everyone!