Hanoi

Yesterday I went hashing.  What a great trail.  After a ride in an old school bus out into the countryside somewhere north of Hanoi I think it was, we had a quick drink before heading out.  The trail was prelaid.  And the start was a check.  The hares laughed at the people who thought they knew where they were going right away since they didn't.  Across the road and down a hill to another check.  A warren of streets, trails and alleyways later we wound up at a Budhist temple that was a hold.  So we hung out there and looked around for awhile till the hare told us which way to go.  We ran through rice paddies.  One girl got knocked into the water by an oxen that I guess didn't like the look of her or something.  I saw it.  And thought it was pretty funny.  I knew more hash songs than anyone in the circle and they loved me for it.  At the on after we sat upstairs and outside.  Had a small feast. 

Then today I went first to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Complex.  Long line took awhile.  But the air conditioning once we got there was brilliant.  Traipsed around the grounds a bit.  The museum was pretty good. Infused with modern art.  Afterwards I did the Lonely Planet city tour walk starting at the end and working my way backwards.  Stopped at some little cafe for an ice coffee and watched some woman that I think might have been a fortune teller.  No one there understood when I asked about it.

Back at the hotel I cleaned up and headed to the Water Puppet show.  Wonderful. The only low point of Hanoi, well there were two was that first the minibus took me to the wrong hotel, though it had the same name.  Lot of that here.  And my train ticket for my trip to Sapa tonight wasn't waiting for me.  So I had to call again and again to bug the travel agency to get it to me.  They finally did.  So now I'm off to dinner and to read a bit more of this heartbreaking book that I got in Angkor Wat, "First they killed my father" about the Pol Pot regime from the perspective of one of the survivors. It's making me cry.