We spent today in Ha Noi, visited Ho Chi Minh tomb which sits in the middle of a huge park and parade ground. It is open limited hours so there were thousands of tourists there, and security is high. You line up and go up stairs and into the semi-dark room where his body is laying. It looks to be perfectly preserved, we thought it might be a wax effigy, but our guide says it is a secret process that the Russians and Chinese know. Maybe the same as what they used to produce "Bodies". After that we walked through the grounds and saw the presidential palace which is very French, then were Uncle Ho worked and lived. Our guide here is Trang, and we don't love him. He is full of the importance of Ha Noi and the North and spouts party line at every opportunity. We then went to the Temple of Literature where students studies Confuscianism in ancient times. It is large and beautiful but we hit overload about halfway through, making us think about "mother & child" in the museums of Europe.

After lunch we took a cyclo ride through the old quarter which is colorful, each street sells one product, they even had a "home depot" street. Shopping here must be difficult.

The city is very beautiful, wide tree lined streets and very clean. Our guide said that twice a day the loudspeakers come on each block telling the retired folks it is time to go out and clean up the street... hope that idea doesn't catch on at home.

Tonight we attended a water puppet theatre, which had traditional live music and puppets on a stage of water. They are famous all over the world.

Tomorrow morning we leave for 3 days on the boat to Halong Bay, then three days to SaPa, so we most likely won't have internet access or phone coverage. Will write more from SaPa if possible.

Thanks for the computer tip John, we will give that a try.