Today Jeanine and I spent much of the day walking around Hanoi. Our first stop was the Temple of Literature where we found the most beautiful bonsai trees and wonderful gardens.

The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and Ho Chi Minh Museum were next on our tour. Once again the gardens were magnificent and we enjoyed watching the changing of the guard.

The Hanoi Botanical Gardens proved to be disappointing so we walked back to the Old Quarter where we could have spent days enjoying the the shops, people and food.

After lunch having already covered 10 miles on foot, we hired an electric tour car to take us to some of the remaining sights including the Quan Su Pagoda and Hao Lo Prison where John McCain spent part of his time in captivity.

Jeanine was sad that we did not get to see puppets while in Thailand so I surprised her with tickets to a water puppet show to cap off the evening. Water puppetry is a tradition that dates back as far as the 11th century when it originated in the villages of the Red River Delta area of northern Vietnam.  The puppets are made out of wood and then lacquered. Shows are performed in a waist-deep pool. A large bamboo rod supports the puppet under the water and is used by the puppeteers, who are hidden behind a screen, to control them.

We are staying at the Cinnamon Cathedral Hotel located across the street from the Saint Joseph Cathedral.  Our fifth floor suite offered an unobstructed view of the profile which I photographed at night (last image). The hotel manager was so impressed with the photo that he offered us a nice discount in exchange for the right to use the image in their marketing materials.