Hanoi....where the sound ringing through your ears is constant beeping from a million motorbikes and cars and you break every convention just to get through the barrage as you cross the street. Another place with dad- another lovely hotel. We are staying in the Metropole which is a beautiful historic building. Yesterday we went out for the day with a local tour guide called Ang who was really lovely. First we headed for Ho Chi Minh land- we stepped out of the taxi into a massive square dominated by his mausoleum. Unforunately it is closed on Mondays. And Fridays. And weekends. And after 10am. and before 7.30am so we didn't manage to time it exactly write and therefore get to see his pickled body. Still we could imagine it from Ang's description. After peering at the building for a while we continued on to see the huge presidential palace. Like a lot of the government buildings here it is in the stunning colonial French style and very impressive. Unfortunately we were not important enough to be allowed in. We did, however get to see the very simple house that Ho Chi Minh lived in and then the even simpler wooden place on stilts that he moved to when he decided the first place was a bit grand. What he didn't feel bad about having the best of though was his cars- of which there were three very nice models.

We continued on to see the lotus flower pagoda and then Dad stated that he felt he knew all there was to know about the leader so off we headed to a local vietnamese coffee shop. It's a bit different from Starbucks- first of all you sit on tiny mini children's chairs, then a lady comes and shouts at you to move to a different set of chairs and finally your extremely black coffee arrives with a side order of tea just for an extra caffeine boost. Having enjoyed it we set off again walking through the streets and taking in life around us until we reached the ancient temple of literature. It used to be that every man who wanted an official job such as to be an MP would have to study Confuscionism for three years and take an exam. Study would be under a scary man with a big cane which one imagines is very conducive to learning. The temple was very beautiful with lots of different pagodas and huge drums. There were also rows of stone turtles who carried the names of people who had passed the exams. Exploring there took us to lunchtime and we marched through the streets until we arrived at an amazing local restaurant where we enjoyed lots of roll your own fresh spring rolls, dunplings and Mr Ang's eel soup.

After filling our bellies we staggered out and to the 'Hanoi Hilton' not the kind that supports Paris but the old prison. There were excellent displays there, in particular the ones about the American prisoners of war. Contrary to John Mc Cain's declarations the main theme seemed to be that they were treated very well and there were certainly a lot of pictures of them smiling happily. Conveniantly for a man who based his campaign on the fact that he fought in the Vietnam war they also had Mr Mc Cain's jumpsuit on display and very blurry pictures of him being captured. The prison was open until 1995- indeed Mr Ang spent a month there himself for fighting when he was younger. 300 to a cell with no furniture didn't look great and certainly put him off a life of crime. The guillotine introduced by the French was also on display and although they still have the death penalty here it is by firing squad nowadays...

The last part of the day was spent walking through the old quarter of town and taking in the sights and sounds. We left Mr Ang on a street corner and headed back to our lovely hotel tired and happy! Today we went to the history museum which, if we're totally honest, was a little uninformative. There was certainly lots on display- photos and knives (lots of knives) and more photos and a couple of bomb casings but it did kind of rely on you to know the history yourself as there wasn't much in the way of information. We spent as long as we could there and then Charles and I headed out to walk through the streets and enjoy Hanoi life without being involved in a road traffic accident. As I write this Charles and dad have just gone down to the bar to enjoy a pre dinner drink and I am off to join them- tomorrow we fly to Ho Chi Minh where we will spend new year.