Daniel!

Not to be outdone by his mother and aunt, Kathy's younger son, Daniel, is also travelling in Southeast Asia this summer.  He arrived in Hanoi to meet us at the Rising Dragon Hotel, but because we had switched rooms, he was unable to find us, and was told by the hotel staff that our room had been cancelled!  They also forgot to give him the note we had written telling of our new room numbers.  Exhausted by his travels, he went to bed not knowing where we were!  At 6:30 a.m., Michael awoke to find many missed messages from his brother,  whereupon he called Daniel, and all was straightened out!

After a fine breakfast provided by our hotel, we set out for another great day of exploring Hanoi.  We arrived at the Ho Chi Minh Memorial and made several false attempts at getting through security.  Finally, after being allowed to join the middle of the long line, we filed past the body of Ho Chi Minh lying in state in his mausoleum.  As Americans who are old enough to remember the Viet Nam War, (ironically, here called the American War) this was a somber and unsettling visit. 

We next visited the Temple of Literature, the site of the first Vietnamese university, founded in 1076.  We walked past busts of Confucius, lovely gardens, and long rows of stone turtles, symbolic of knowledge.

Tired and hungry from our morning's outing, we went to Tamarind Restaurant and enjoyed a delicious lunch in a peaceful and comfortable environment.  After lunch, we window-shopped (actually, there were no windows, as all of the wares are out on the sidewalk!) our way back to the hotel for some quiet time during the heat of the day.  Out next excursion took us to Hanoi's traditional water puppet show.  Standing in waist-deep water, simulating rice paddies, the puppeteers maneuvered their marionettes through a series of dances and stories that portrayed the history of the Vietnamese people.

That evening, we had a quiet dinner, then some of us went back out to the streets to experience Hanoi's Night Market. (All right, so Linda was the wimp who went back to the hotel for a shower and bed!) The market was quite an experience; elbow-to-elbow people and sights, sounds, smells and colors overwhelmed the senses.

We retired in anticipation of leaving early the next morning for our adventure to...