May 30th.......

The morning of Laura's birthday involved me getting all 'James Bond' and having to somehow get our breakfast into the room without waking her up. I waited outside in the corridor for the staff to bring up the breakfast before me and the waiter crept past a sleeping Laura and set it up on the balcony. After successfully completing my mission I woke Laura up to breakfast on the balcony which she was blown away by. The breakfast was huge and consisted of Vietnamese dishes including sticky rice, fried noodles with beef, fresh spring rolls and these small 'cakes' filled with pork and mushroom... All enjoyed with a cold glass of wine and a spectacular view over St Joseph's cathedral.

After our breakfast it started to drizzle but we ventured out to see the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, which holds the embalmed body of the famous man himself. Seeing a dead person may not be the greatest idea on Laura's birthday but as it was shut tomorrow we had no choice and she would definitely remember the day she met Ho Chi Minh or saw him at least.

Our route took us west through the manic streets of Hanoi past various food vendors with loads of local punters sitting outside tucking into noodles. As it was overcast there was a coolness to the air and a nice breeze which provided a remedy against the stifling humidity and rain had thankfully stopped by now. After a brisk 15 minute walk, in the distance we saw the mausoleum which reminded us of the Tian'anmen square in Beijing, but more grey. The building was vast and stood tall in his otherwise empty space, with several large concrete columns with a very greek feel holding up the roof. The words 'Ho Chi Minh' were inscribed on the building and it was very imposing against the skyline. At the base of the structure there was a long queue steadily snaking its way into the building. We obviously had to find the end of this very likely long queue. We headed around not knowing where to go, before stumbling onto an entrance which said 'by appointment only'. Obviously we had no appointment but a Viet guard ushered us through and we decided to go with the flow following a tour of local school children. I had to surrender our camera in the security check area which went with out fuss before rejoining Laura in the queue. We both looked around and noticed we were in a line of just school children, it was obvious this line was for the organised groups and everyone in the much longer 'main' queue was staring at us as we jumped the queue bypassing a good two hundred people. We attempted to look like we were with the school but clearly looked completely out of place and having the kids shout "hello" at us was pretty much giving us away. Very luckily for us no one said anything and we were glad to have bypassed three quarters of the queue! A pretty good result I would say!

We watched the changing of the guard, which is a similar process to Westminster, minus the fuzzy hats before we eventually passed into the mausoleum entrance and followed the stream of people in a clock wise direction. The main lobby was distinctively cold for obvious reasons and gives you a shiver on entering, the building is scarcely decorated... Simple greyness everywhere. The lobby led up some stairs and was reminiscent of when you head into a theatre or something. We were led silently into a large room with a red carpet leading around a walk way around the coffin. From the walk way you were approximately ten foot from the coffin holding Ho Chi Minh's body. On each side of the coffin stood a guard as well as in each corner of the room. The coffin is more a glass case allowing you a full view of the embalmed body. It does look peculiar because the embalming methods make the body look very fake, almost wax like. It was a very strange experience with the body, the numerous guards all in white surrounding the coffin and the Viet reactions. This place is the holiest of the holies to most Viet people and once inside no one made a sound.

After we exited we went past the entrance to Ho Chi Minh's stilt house where we passed numerous locals, who were trying to sneakily get photographs of us and made way to the War Museum. In summary the war museum was a massive disappointment to both of us. There were a few aircraft on display from both sides in the Vietnam/American war including a massive American helicopter which has been commandeered, which were very interesting to see up close as well as a large sculpture created with the various wreckage parts of downed planes. Once inside the whole thing is pretty basic with little explanation although leaves you feeling a like its a little bias.... If your going to create a museum which ever side you are on, you should at least present the facts honestly, not just the ones that adhere to your point of view. Take the Hiroshima memorial museum in Japan for example... it explains the facts and feelings from both sides as well as presenting the facts in a non bias and non finger pointing manner... This was a stark contrast of that. Our stay at the museum was a short one and soon we decided to find a coffee shop for strong coffee and cake... Given its Laura's birthday and she adores macaroons and all things Parisian.

Trying to find a French style cafe here was a total pain in the arse to put it bluntly. Not even in the the damn French Quarter could you find a French cafe! We had to eventually settle for a chain cafe overlooking the lake in the centre of town. The waitress was some what lacking in her personal skills and acted like she had just chewed on a wasp. We ordered and some time later our coffees arrived ...but the cup was only a quarter full and looked like treacle. Laura enquired where the rest was and requested some hot water to fill the cups up ...again to a face representing a smacked backside. Eventually we got our cakes to accompany our coffees and they were lovely and included a warm chocolate brownie and Vietnamese coffee cheesecake. I was going to ask if they could maybe write happy birthday or something on it but it seemed like a pointless venture given the language barrier and poor attitude. After we had tucked into our cake and sipped the coffees we decided to head back to our lovely air conditioned room and enjoy a glass of wine on our balcony.

We headed to the supermarket and bought some baguettes, munchies and a bottle of wine but Laura slipped on a step in the hotel and smashed the bottle spraying wine everywhere. She was thankfully OK and luckily the wine was fairly cheap but she got a little upset as it pretty much summed up the day. We ran a bath and we enjoyed a jacuzzi bath with the remaining wine from yesterday which was very chilled at this point and bought a smile to Lou's pink puffy eyes. We then opted for a relaxing evening of movies, munchies and hugs as we really didn't want the chaos of Hanoi tonight so we curled up, sipped some wine and enjoyed a relaxing evening in our honeymoon suite with Laura chatting with friends from home who had wished her a happy birthday... Lovely