Before leaving for the Ho Chi Minh Trail we say our goodbyes to Michel. He's going back to Hong Kong earlier for his cousin's wedding. With my suit all packed in my shiny new suitcase we say farewell as well to battle-worn Lee, Tali, Ngoc, and grab the taxi to Đà Nẵng Airport. How different the area is now, all sunny, silent. One hour in the taxi, we check in. Another 30-40 minutes on the plane, we land in Hanoi, team up with two Norwegian girls and share the cab-ride to the city centre.

I quote: "The grand old dame of the orient, Hanoi is perhaps the most graceful, atmospheric and exotic capital city in Asia". Well, big s*** that! Hanoi is a boring, smelly, s***ty crap city. Where is the chaotic traffic of Saigon, its surging energy, that vibrant "I'm ALIVE! feeling"? Nothing.

Just another anonymous city. Only the old city centre is acceptable. An oval area of water, fringed with green, Hoam Kiem Lake is a beautiful place to stroll around. But that's about it The markets are crap, the streets narrow with a million souvenir-, art-, and tailor shops around. Even the highlights can easily be missed if one is in a hurry. One day at the most. Ok, museums are more time-consuming, but.. meh who wants to see those?

You cannot escape the typical Asians here either. I just have to look at the local youth (girls that is), give a small smile and the giggles, the hushed conversation between girlfriends, the quick, stolen looks are all back. Love it :)

Number #1 place to visit according to all the guidebooks is the One Pillar Pagoda. Built in 1030! Awesome you would think. Well... no. The French - yes, them again - destroyed the whole thing as a parting gift when retreating Hanoi in 1954! It's been rebuilt, but not the same anymore. Some highlight! Number #2 is the pagoda on the Hoam Kiem lake. Enjoyable, but nothing more

Actually, I did like some things. Vietnam, and Hanoi in particular, is very famous for its water puppet mastery. We bought a ticket for the 19:30 performance the day we arrived, Wednesday 25th. We got ushered into some very uncomfortable small chairs - obviously made for locals - with the podium submerged in a glorified puddle of water. Behind it the silhouette of a castle with big gates. On the sides the musicians. After some introduction about Vietnamese music, the demonstration of various instruments - especially the single-stringed zither which just looks like a long single string with a dome on one end producing the weirdest sounds - the show starts. "Hideously ugly crazy wooden puppets appear from behind the 'curtains' and start splashing around in the water. More stupid puppets, doing similar crap and the same monotonous music and high-pitched blaring. Same, same, and this goes on for an hour, boring as hell." The words of most on our Halong Bay tour. Kultúrbarbárok!! I actually liked it, only a shame I couldn't understand a word. Apparently it was quite funny as Remko told me the Vietnamese people next to him were laughing all the time. Really fascinating how puppeteers from behind curtains, blind could make their subjects move with such grace, making the most intricate of gestures. Especially multiple performers interacting with each other was amazing. They really make use of the stage, exploiting the water the accompany the story. Fish jump in and out of the water, dragons squirt at each other. If the chairs were a bit more comfortable I would've gone again to see another show.

After we returned from Halong Bay, we had one more day before leaving Hanoi. What better to do on a Sunday than to worship the dead? Along with throngs of Vietnamese we visit the mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh. The father of Vietnam. The big, infallible national hero. Mr. Independence. I'm not sure what to think of him yet. Most other dictators have behaved as expected, engulfed in luxury, while their communist brothers struggle in the dirt. HCM led a simple life all his life, even lived in a wooden stilt house. Nothing fancy. Can't say though whether he ordered the execution - eh, re-education - of intellectuals, the removal of unwanted elements, the nationalisation of private property, or his subordinates without his consent, I'll have to read up on him some more. But, Vietnamese love him.

Me and Remko hop onto a single moto and whizz to the snaking line outside his stone tomb - where he was embalmed against his wishes. He was actually one of the first leaders of the VietCong to sign a paper to be cremated at death. You can want so much, but when you're dead, you can't enforce anything anymore. He's even on every single bill - against his wishes as well. But back to the story. The bike ride with the three of us on the moto was great fun. Remko holding on to Mr. driver; I to him, trying not to fall off.

The line is about an hour long, while trotting along Ho Chi Minh praise and music blare from every speaker, big-screen LCD TVs broadcast shows in his honour, pretty crazy. As we near the mausoleum, all electronic equipment has to be left behind. The line snakes inside, we have to remove all caps, take our hands out of the pockets, strictly by the sides and absolute silence. In a glass coffin, a dead- white, fragile little man with the oh-so-recognisable goatee lies peacefully. Almost all of the visitors are local people, many bow their heads, some even wink away some tears, children are hushed and look awestruck at their great hero. Beautiful to see such reverence.

[ ] Lenin
[ ] Stalin
[x] Ho Chi Minh
[ ] Mao Zedung

Pink Flower, damn, I've left you behind in Hoi An. You haven't been with us for a long time, not like Ms. Kitty. You too will be missed. f***, how do I keep losing all the umbrellas I buy?

As I flip through the Vietnam book, seeing what we missed in Hanoi I happen to stumble upon St. Joseph Cathedral. The Sunday service at six in the evening is supposedly beautiful. I look up, it's three to six. What the hell, I rush down - meet Dave in the lobby, heh - go outside and cross the street towards the church. There are already people outside, perched on little plastic chairs in front of the church, others just behind them standing next to their motos. The songs can be heard quite clearly through the speakers positioned above the doors of the cathedral. I make my way inside, grab a chair myself and sit down in one of the church wings. Curious. I ended up staying there for the full service, feeling rude to leave halfway through. Actually liked it, although didn't understand a single word of what they were saying, but a church once in a while doesn't hurt. Almost an hour later as I do leave the whole open area in front is filled with locals. People standing by their bikes, so densely packed no pavement can be seen. Lovely.

The streets are also filled with little plastic chairs, hanoians flocking outside, drinking, eating snacks, enjoying the cool evening. The odd foreigner joining them look like giants. This is quite nice though, but one good day out of seven still doesn't make Hanoi a good city. The three of us head to a Vietnamese restaurant, I finally have my proper Vietnamese meal. Ever since we came here I have not had food that I could myself roll into little spring rolls, or balls, stuff with meat, fish, vegetables. Now I did. Loved it. The waitress loved it as well. She was smiling all the time. I spend my remaining 80.000 dong on mouth-watering ice cream. Lee is supposed to be around somewhere, but there is no time to meet up. Tali is coming tomorrow; we've just escaped her ;) Bed to early, the minibus to Noi Ba airport leaves at 06:00 the next day.