Hanoi, Vietnam

After another massive 14hrs in a train we are in Hanoi. The train was not so bad as we had a soft sleeper but finding our hotel was a real pain. Ho Chi Minh embalmed body was put on display in a granite mausoleum modeled after Lenin's Tomb in Moscow. The small lake between the Old Quarter and the French Quarter is central to Hanoian folklore. A ghostly shrine (the Turtle Pagoda) standing on an islet at its center pays homage to a golden turtle. In the 15th century, this heroic reptile is said to have returned a magic sword to its home in the lake after it had been taken.Read more