Our last day in Hanoi but still plenty of time as we are not leaving until the evening. After breakfast we packed up and checked out. Leaving our bags with the concierge we set out to enjoy our last few hours in Hanoi. We stepped outside the hotel into blazing sunshine and were hit by the intense heat. The last couple of days had been a pleasant temperature so this was quite a surprise. I had already packed the sunscreen and hats, bad decision!!

We walked towards the lake, catching the shade wherever we could. After surviving one encounter with a very determined and quite aggressive cyclo driver and another with a dodgy taxi driver we eventually found a very nice and gentle taxi driver who rescued us and was happy to use the meter. He drove us very, very slowly over to the other side of town. Soon we left the bustling streets of the Old Quarter and entered an area of peaceful, wide, shady, tree-lined streets with beautiful, old, large French Colonial houses. From our driver we learned that these were mostly inhabited by high up Party Officials.

The taxi driver dropped us off nearby and we set off towards our destination, The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. It was soon in sight, a huge, impressive monument. The sun was burning down and there was no shade at all so we didn't plan on staying too long. Just as we arrived in front of the Mausoleum some very smart, soldiers in white slow marched towards the entrance. How clever was that, we had arrived just in time to see the changing of the guard, and we didn't even know about it! Several other tourists emerged from the shade to photograph the event and then we all scuttled back towards the distant trees and shade once again.

Happily for us, our taxi driver had decided to hang around and wait for us. He picked us up outside the Presidential Palace (we think that's what it was) and drove us back through the cool, tree-lined streets and back towards the lake area. He pointed out some sights along the way including The Dragon Bridge and an old French Water Tower. He dropped us off by the lake and we headed straight for shade, in the guise of the Cafe Thuyta overlooking the water and, more importantly, an ice cold beer!

We sat looking across the lake, enjoying a couple of beers and having a Skype call on the phone with family in UK, the wonders of modern technology! We left the cafe and hailed a cyclo to take us back to the hotel. We could easily have walked but a cyclo is a tourist must do so we just had to do it!

Back at the hotel we changed ready for our journey and then went across the road to our new favourite small, local bar, the Au Lac. We sat at a little outside table and had a glass of French white wine until it was time to take our taxi to the airport. It's been a wonderful few days here in Hanoi. We love the place and hope to come back soon!