Ho Chi Minh, Women and Water Puppets

Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum 

A Typical Pho Restaurant 

These poor aching feet have walked all over Hanoi today, got lost a few times and almost run over by two motorcycles simultaneously.  Have you ever played Frogger?  If you have, you'll understand what it's like to cross the street in Hanoi.  Seriously!  I visited the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum but no one is allowed inside go see his preserved body currently.  However, it is the quietest place in the city with no traffic allowed in the vicinity, so worth hanging out for awhile.  I also visited the Women's History Museum which was really interesting and dealt with every aspect of Vietnamese, as well as the mountain tribe women and their traditions regarding marriage, childbirth, clothing and fashion, as well as their roles as farmers and even their political roles during the liberation and especially in what we refer to as the Vietnam War (see propaganda poster).  The museum was beautiful and I spent quite a long time there.  I also saw the Heroes Memorial and walked past the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Romanian Embassy, stopping to buy a ticket for the water puppet show tonight.  I would have preferred to go this afternoon, but every show through next week is sold out.  It better be worth the $2.50 I paid!  Ha!  Update: The water Puppets were awesome!  How do they do that?
Off to Halong Bay in the morning and looking forward to it.  Although I like this crazy city, it will be nice to get away from the chaos, insanity and racket that is Hanoi.  Bye for now.
Following are all from the museum.  The 3 girls took the hats off the models behind them for the photo.