The Hanoi Days

Our two days in Hanoi have come to an end, we'll pass through a couple more times but there will be little time to do much.  Nothing but good things to say about the Elegance La Siesta hotel.  The people, the rooms, the service, and the breakfasts have been terrific.  I don't know where they could improve.
The food tour last night was a blast.  We had chosen the group tour rather than private, thus $25 instead of $35.  Ended up being us and one British girl that we picked up at a backpacker place.  Good deal already, group rate with three people.  Our tour guide, whose name we think is Chen or something close to that, was a lot of fun.  She had a ton of stories to tell about growing up in Hanoi, relationships, family dynamics, and a whole lot more.  We lost track of how many food stops we made, we finally had to tell her to stop, we could not eat any more; so we only stopped two more times, once for desert (of which she ordered three) and once for ice cream.  The girls both said they would not eat today but of course by breakfast time the hunger was back.
On Friday, Sat, Sun, there are several streets that they close off to vehicle traffic in the evening and there is an expanded market plus some entertainment (plus a free for all for all the cooped up kids that live here - think roller blades, bicycles, skateboards, etc - mostly 10 yrs old and down so fun to watch them let loose).  One regret is that we've been so stuffed and whipped, that we have not done much strolling during this time.
Today we were hooked up with our first guide for a Hanoi tour.  We started off at the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum and museum.  He asked how badly we wished to see the embalmed body to honor Ho Chi Minh, because the line up often exceeds an hour.  We declined and just headed to the museum.  It is an absolutely massive building, and once inside you can really see how much the country revers this person.  There were tons of people inside, and many of them were Vietnamese.  Quite the experience.
We spent quite a bit of time at the museum, then headed to the temple of literature, which is also a large place, established about a century ago as a university.  A lot of Confusious symbolism and a real sense of the importance of education here. Lots of locals here for grad photos, etc. 
Had lunch nearby at a non-profit place that takes disadvantaged and handicapped youth, trains them in food services, and runs a couple of eateries for funding.  Good lunch and good foundation.
Spent some time at the Hanoi Hilton, which was a French built prison (largely for rebelios southern Vietnamese) that was eventually used as a POW prison for captured Americans.  A well preserved piece of history but almost feels haunted.
We followed that with about a 45 minute Cyclo tour around the Old Quarter.  I was so pissed when I pulled out the GoPro and had a dead battery but still had some decent stills.  You can buy almost everything here as long as you know which street to go down.  Each one has a specialty, and almost everyone on the street seems to have the same stuff.  Do not know how they survive.  Eileen enjoyed the ride but said she kept thinking; "what the hell would Glen think of this?" It is a bit overwhelming...

Grilling corn, Kid in the tub

Did the Water Puppet theater, which is just a few minutes walk from the hotel (included in the overall tour)  It was OK (for a while) but Eileen did whack me once when I nodded off.  Glad it was only 50 minutes....

Finished the night with a nice meal at the hotel that we were originally scheduled to stay at.  Same hotel chain, but this one has the restaurant on the 12th floor with a nice view of Hanoi.  Food was good, just took a long time to get the bill, which I hate. 
Early pickup in the morning for Halong Bay and it is too late for proof reading (struggled with blogger, edits, and pictures).  Time for sleep.  May or may not have net access on the boat.  Could be a few days until the next post.