Last Hanoi Day…

Annnnnd I am ok with that. I’ve seen a lot.

Also, I’ve got to save some Hanoi for February. I’m coming back with a friend and need to have something new to experience at that time.

An easy sightseeing day today. Did some last minute laundry, and planned tomorrows escape.

Here’s todays pictures…

The Ambassador Pagoda. Its where the important Buddhists stay when they’re in Hanoi
Lots of living quarters here.

The Flag Tower. I didn’t and couldn’t go in. It’s part of the Military Museum that I also didn’t go to.
This was my goal today. The Imperial Citadel of Thang Long. An imperial or military installation has been on this site for 1000 years.
Of course the structures on site are whats left after being torn down, burned, bombed, and otherwise destroyed by many ruling political parties over 1000 years…
The site is a World Heritage site and rightfully so. There’s so little left in Hanoi it needs protection
You can almost see the display here of several sub-layers of construction
These women were slowly clearing rubble. Each shovel full was examined by an observer, prolly looking for anything interesting

These buildings are from the french colonial times
A small exhibit of findings. Most of the work of discovery and excavation is just beginning. They only got their UNESCO rating in 2010

You can only see the dragon design when light shines through
Every placard ends with “and then shit got destroyed by the new overlords”
Being a heavily fortified area in the middle of the city, this was a grand place for command bunkers

The positive air filtration system, made in the Soviet Union

Switchboard
This is only one of at least 2 bunkers. I mean, two were on the map, but cmon, there had to be more?
A commemorative drum
These are original? I dont think so, but the leaflet says they are. Hmmm
The strong yellow color says that this complex is an active Party building. It is.

The Ladies Pavillion, or princesses pagoda. The altar inside was missing its god. Nobody home for some reason

I’m sorry but I had to…..this is the toilet at a world heritage site. Someone needs to up their game.

The last relic at the citadel

I hope you can see the cannonball holes

I got really excited…What’s that!! When I got home, according to the map…a water tank. Lol
The black and white dog was really upset about the other dog’s purple ears
the train station. My ticket for Ninh Binh tomorrow was only us 3.60!

I was giddy with the train ticket buying experience, so I got this steamed bun…some kind of mystery meat and an egg yolk
When my bun was gone he wasn’t interested in me any more

Perfume Pagoda tour…

And wasn’t the weather perfect?

I was picked up pretty much on time, and we were off like a herd of turtles. The road to the park area is kinda shitty and windy. Still, air-con makes every road trip a pleasure.

Our first activity was to sit and enjoy a boat ride. No problem! I love boats, and the breeze was delightful. Luckily, I was in the guide boat, so we got a commentary.

Lunch, was followed by a cable car ride. Yay! I love both of those things!

It’s the off season, so none of the shops lining the path are open. Even better. Some of these Vietnamese ladies reaaaaly know the hard sell game.

It gets so much better when we get to the first temple…it’s in an amazing cave. Wow is all I can say.

During the festival season, there are thousands of visitors per hour. Today, there’s so few of us they turned off the cable car until all of us were ready to come off the mountain lol.

At the bottom, another very fine temple. 

And another boat ride. This time I had an interesting discussion about us politics, how surprising!

A quiet van ride back to the city.

What a good day.

That’s a tomb. The guide confirmed that the tomb will be used by a series of family members. The deceased are left alone for 3 years.

The air was positively divine, compared to the city

There were spaces for hundreds of boats.
You could spend a week crawling around up here looking at temples
One of the few open shops, selling souvenirs and Vietnamese medicine

I’m thinking…..I hope it gets better
I mean, really better

That’s more like it!!!!
Imagine 2000 people in here, so many that they pray from the plaza outside. No room to move even an inch
This is the stalagmite where you pray for a boy

Poems in Chinese writing
The king’s dedication from hundreds of years ago
Get your baby girls here

The main altar

And this is the dry season. How green is it in summer??

A monastery is here, it could be why the temple is in such great shape

These mythical beasts guard the hall of mothers

Did you know poinsettias could get this big??

This guy is herding cattle on a bicycle lol

The idea is that buddhists have to do good on a pilgrimage. So they pay to have birds and etc set free. these poor creatures have probably been captured repeatedly 

Kinda hot today…

So I just took it a little easier than normal. A walk to mail some postcards, a long FB chat, some reading, then a show at the Hanoi Opera House.

Also I hemmed my pants. It only took me 5 weeks to get around to it lol.

Here’s todays pictures…

Every day there’s folks over there eating something. I’ll go.get whatever it is tomorrow. It’s always busy, so….can’t be bad.
I was really only here to look inside. That’s not okay, so, luckily, a ticket for whatever was cheap enough
You can see the pollution situation isnt good. Too many cars and motorcycles.
TripAdvisor told me the sandwiches here were good. They were!
Very well-maintained, 1911 was the opening
I couldn’t go up there 😐
I mean I really wanted to go up there

Just beautiful
The performance had live music. There’s like 12 different mouth harps there!
Only about 50 people came, you can tell it’s off season

The performances were great, musicians and actors. It wasn’t just acrobatics, the director got some culture stuff in there too.  The main guitarist  (?) guy was so good. Also some great singing.

Goodnight all

Walked a lot…

Today and I can feel it!

The bus wouldn’t pick me up for some reason. It wasn’t just me, several other folks looked very confused.  

I just walked there….lol. Terrible idea.

At long last my destination was reached. So worth it! A great museum, some temples, a new friend later…I am exhausted.

I was luck to find this one open. A lot of these temples are closed all the time

This temple is in the jewellery district, so I’m confused by the silk stuff

Someone clearly takes good care of the place, the birds aren’t dead
At the start of my long walk, haven’t had this kind of little dog sighting yet
This is the University Temple. A Confucian temple, it’s dedicated to those that follow his teachings, including the importance of education

The gardens were great. You need someplace to walk when you’re in deep thought

These are the names of those men who earned degrees, their names borne to heaven on a sacred turtle

It’s pretty old, a lot of the bonsai were quite large

A little grotesque? Also, tortoises aren’t turtles
Spirit tablets
This place is really good for graduation photos
There was a very old plumeria tree

I’m guessing this is Confucius
This is something presented to the leader of the school
After more walking, I stumbled across this. Looks communist
And it was, the mausoleum and museum of Ho Chi Minh. I didn’t go in, he’s in russia, getting fixed up. His corpse, I mean

A little bit further, the One Pillar Pagoda
Lots of offerings, and in very good repair
I didn’t wait in line to see what there was inside

This is where people prayed who were in a hurry
Even a bit further down the road, this surprise. A downed b52 museum
The real deal. The VC were and are very proud

So if I’m with you and ever just say, ” f*** it, lets just walk there”… the answer is no. Just, no
The museum of ethnology has three parts. A bunch of cool stuff from all over SE asia, an outdoor area, and an area concentrated on the peoples of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos
Cambodian
I forget where, Malaysia ?
Africa
Indonesian glass paintings are super neat
Outside now, this boat won a bunch of races

Water puppet theater. Ill try to see one if I can, it looks cool
Each one of these houses was built on site by the ethnic group that it represents. A video was on loop inside that showed how it was built from dirt to rooftop
This is for the *second burial. After one year, important folks were reburied
These colorful folks decorate the burial chamber of another culture, this one would hold dozens of the deceased
This was my favorite, the people would just make the building longer and longer when new people joined the family. Some old homesteads were 200 meters long

Lacquer making equipment

Bamboo pieces, this is religious equipment 
On the way to the bus stop, a park

I dont even like Coke, but this Coke was ambrosia
Home now, and walking after dinner. The vending machines always had a line. A novelty?
Finally dark, and I can go home now. I met a gal named Dep. We talked for a while. She also quit her job, was taking a trip, and looking for a change in her life. Felt good to really talk to someone