Our last full day in Vietnam today - just enough time left to see some of the main sights in Hanoi. After breakfast we took a taxi to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Complex, just in time to have a look at Uncle Ho's embalmed body. It's only open until 11am and is closed on Mondays and Thursdays (last time we were in the city was Monday so we couldn't go then), and for 2 months each year it is closed while he goes to Russia for maintenance! So we were quite lucky to be able to go during our short stay here.

Apparently, Ho Chi Minh wanted a simple cremation, but the Vietnamese all loved him so much they built this monumental marble edifice and put him on display so everyone could pay their respects. There were quite strict rules including a modest dress code and we had to leave our bags at the entrance and collect them afterwards. We walked for a few hundred metres along covered walkways, through a security scanner, and eventually arrived at the entrance to the mausoleum. There were guards in white military uniform both inside and outside as we waked inside, up some stairs and into the the small room where Ho's body lies in the centre in a decorative glass-covered casket, casting a strange orange light on his face and hands (the only exposed skin). I suppose he looks quite peaceful, but I wonder what he would have made of it all. Everyone walked around the room in pairs - the person on the outside (me!) wasn't even allowed to walk behind their partner to get a better look. After a 30-second glimpse we were out of the room and heading back down the stairs. I turned to Dave, saying something about how that was our 30-second glimpse of Ho, and I must have been smiling (forbidden!) as one of the guards pointed at me and then put his finger to his lips in a 'Shh!' gesture! All of the other Vietnamese were chatting amongst themeslves so I can only guess that he thought I was laughing - oops!

We then had a look around the rest of the complex including Ho Chi Minh's old house, cars and a simple stilt house where he lived from 1958 to 1969. It really is a very simple house - 2 rooms upstairs, one an office with just a desk and a few other bits and pieces, and one a single bedroom (he never married). Underneath the structure, in between the stilts is where he held meetings, out in the open air. It's hard to imagine a leader of any country living that simply nowadays!

Next stop was the Temple of Literature, a short walk away from the mausoleum. The complex is huge and consists of 5 courtyards. It was founded in 1070 by Emperor Ly Thanh Tong, is dedicated to Confucious (Khong Tu) and honours Vietnam's finest scholars and men of literary accomplishment. For us, it was a welcome break from the traffic and craziness of the city and we enjoyed wandering around the beautiful grounds, which are very well maintained.

We then caught a taxi back to the Old Town and headed to the Water Puppet Theature to buy tickets to a performance later today - a bargain at $3 each! Back at the hotel, we spent some time online and booked our internal flights for China. We arranged to meet up with Varun and Brigitte, who we met on the Green Tortoise trip in USA and who happen to be arriving in Hanoi today. We decided to meet up for dinner after the Water Puppet show this evening.

The first thing we noticed when we arrived at the theatre is that the seats aren't built for tall westerners like Dave - he could hardly fit his legs in and was a source of entertainment for the local women sat near us! Never mind, it's only a short show...we hope! The ancient art of water puppetry originated with rice farmers who worked the flooded fields of the Red River Delta and is at least 1000 years old. Nowadays, performances like this use a square tank of waist deep water for the 'stage'. The puppeteers have to train for 3 years before peforming and 11 are used for each show. The skills used for operating the puppets were traditionally kept secret and were passed from father to son (never to daughters in case they married outside of the village and took the secrets with them!). The performance was amazing and we spent most of the show wondering how it's done. The puppeteers are hidden behind a screen so it looks like the puppets are walking on water and moving on their own. Some of the dances and manouvres were quite complex so you can see why they train for so long.

Afterwards, we met up with Varun and Brigitte and found somewhere cheap to eat. It was nice to see them after so long - the Green Tortoise trip was last July right at the start of our trip! They left early as they were doing a day trip to Halong Bay the next day and needed to sort out their booking. We had a few bia hoi for the road at one of the roadside bars, then called it a night too. Early start for us tomorrow, our bus to Nanning leaves at 7:30am...