The change from Bangkok is much greater than I expected.  First the weather is much cooler.  Second,  although Hanoi is large at 7 million it does not feel as overwhelming as Bangkok.  On the other hand the motor bikes seem to fill every spot between the buildings.  They seem to flow like water around obstructions like pedestrians. Crossing the street is a matter of picking a moment when the nearest approaching bike will have a chance to adjust his course to avoid you and then just walking through the flow at a steady pace. The steady pace is very important as it gives everyone a chance to plan on where you will be when they get there.  Our Tour Leader,  An, walked sixteen of us through heavy traffic last night with no problem. The pace is brisk but does not feel obsessive and people seem to be generally courteous. We have been warned of noise level but have not found ourselves disturbed by it.  Adjusting to yet another currency,  the Vietnam Dong,  is a bit of a trial.  It has made me a millionaire in my pocket instantly.  The simple conversion Dong to dollar is shift the decimal point 4 to the left and divide by 2. Or $1 = 20000 dong! There are lots of bills with many 0s.

We started today at the Mausoleum for Ho Chi Minh. We were lined up single file no bags or visible cameras and escorted a short distance to the beginning of the walk parallel to the building.  Then we were instructed to form a double file along the railing. A small group of Korean business men was lead past us and they set a wreath at the entrance to the Masoleum.  After they entered, we were instructed to follow, no sunglasses,  no hats and no talking.  We solemnly climbed the stairs on the red carpet and filed into the room where the embalmed body lies in state. He looks quite good for one who has been dead since 1969. So far this trip we have walked by the mausoleums for Lenin in Moscow and Mao in Beijing.  This is the first one we have entered.  To complete the cycle of embalmed communist leaders we only need to wait for Fidel Castro to join the ranks. After this visit we toured the grounds of the Vietnam president’s house,  the building where Ho spent the later 50s and the stilt house built for him of Rosewood on the same grounds.  He lived in that from 58 to his death in 69. There is no toilet in the house,  he said he could walk and felt it spoiled the clean design of the home.  Also there is a very strong bunker a few steps from the building used whenever our bombers were overhead.

After a lovely lunch we went to the Museum of Vietnam Ethnology. Here we learned much about the ethnic make up of Vietnam.  The Viet makeup 80% of the population which consist of 54 ethnic groups. We are most familiar with the Hmong from the northern mountain country and a broad grouping called montagnards consisting of them and other neighboring groups.  The museum is very well done and if  we had extra days we might choose to go back to spend more time.  It won’t happen this trip as we have much more to see and do.