A Year In Indochina: Street life and arts in Hanoi

We have had quite a busy day of sightseeing in Hanoi today. Beginning at Hoan Kiem lake, we visited the small island temple in which a huge preserved turtle is displayed. The lake is also known as the Lake of the Returned Sword following a legend in which the Emperor Le Loi's magical sword granted to him to defeat a Chinese invasion was snatched by an enormous turtle to be returned to the gods as he boated across the lake. Further around we watched a morning exercise dance class taking place before diving into the Old Quarter to negotiate the bustling little streets until we needed a coffee break. I tried to lead the three of us to Ba Dinh square, where Ho Chin Minh famously declared the independence of Vietnam in 1945, and now lays to rest in an imposing mausoleum (against his wishes to be cremated), but I got a little confused between the edges of two maps and in the end we took a taxi there instead. The square was surprisingly empty besides a group of possibly Korean visitors wearing oversized sun hats and a Vietnamese woman who was challenging the white-uniformed guards by overstepping the painted yellow line surrounding the building.

We took our lunch and went on to the wonderful Fine Arts museum. Hanoi is the artistic centre of the country and the quality of the collection at its Fine Arts museum was vastly superior to that at the Saigon equivalent. The collections mostly spanned the twentieth century, with some propaganda pieces, some landscapes and city scenes and some that portrayed the tragedy of war. I particularly liked the silk paintings. Over the road we saw the Temple of Literature, the first university of the country, established in the 11th century to honour the study of Confucius.

We returned to the Hoan Kiem lake area to see a water puppets performance, largely because Crystal had been told she must do so if she was to visit Hanoi. This was the third time I had seen the same one-hour performance but I was patient for mum and Crystal's sake. I found it difficult to relax however, as an irritating man talked loudly in the row behind us and in the row in front a woman was sick a number of times.

Fresh air was appreciated as we left the theatre. We dined locally, sampling a lovely Vietnamese dish called Cha Ca (fried fillet fish, noodles and leaves served with rice paper to be made into rolls) and finished off with a selection of cakes and chocolates. My mum and I finished the day with a walk around the lake, where couples admire the romance of the lit-up pagoda that sits on an island at the northern end. At the same spot where we saw the exercise class this morning a ballroom dancing lesson was taking place.

Today was not quite the relaxed day we had planned for and as a consequence I am again worn out at the end of the day. We have another day in Hanoi before meeting Jessica to fly to Luang Prabang, where I suspect things will be taken at a slower pace.