Today we went on our walk around the old quarter of Hanoi. Our first stop was the Hoa Lo prison museum, the old French colonial prison, or what remains of it. Had a bit of trouble finding it at first and joined forces with a couple of English tourists to track it down. Interesting displays on life in the prison with the expected dose of propaganda. Even the old French guillotine. Our next stop was at St.Josephs Church, we stumbled upon a small temple in the laneways near the church which we have no idea of the name. It was deserted and there were a lot of tombstones unde construction. We arrived at the church and took some pictures, it only opens from 6am-7am and then 6pm-7pm each day so we didn't go inside.
 
We wandered down to the Hoan Kiem Lake past the Le Thai To memorial. We had lunch at a small cafe beside the lake before walking around the east side of the lake up to the Ngoc Son Temple. Walked across the bridge to the temple on a small island in the middle of the lake. It cost $1 to get in and there were some tourists asking what was inside before they parted with their dollar. Wow.
 
Our next destination was a Chinese Memorial House which we had real trouble finding. We think we found it but there was nothing there to say it was a place you could look around in so rather than walk into someone's house by accident we moved on walking through the maze of streets and laneways to the Bach Ma Temple, the oldest temple in Hanoi. We eventually found it only to discover that it closes on Mondays!

We wandered back down towards the lake and bought a drink then walked back to the hotel for a rest. The real highlight of the day was just wandering the old quarter streets. There aren't many real sights it is just the chaos of it all that is the sight.
 
That night we went out for dinner at a small cafe near St.Joseph's Church which had savoury and sweet crepes, very nice!