Our room in the Hotel Nikko Hanoi.

The toilet had a bidet-like contraption built into it. You pressed a button on the wall for rear cleansing, front cleansing or dryer.

Hotel lobby was decorated for Christmas.

Despite the forecast, we only had cloudy skies and no rain.

View from hotel window.

Traffic is waiting at a train crossing. The gate is manually pulled across by guards when the train is due.

Street vendor

A fully loaded bicycle!

Buildings are very narrow to reduce taxes.

Opera House

Typical wiring.

Gateway to the Old Quarter

Outdoor market in the Old Quarter

Fresh Fish

 

Indoor market

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum.

Contains the embalmed body of Ho Chi Minh

Ho Chi Minh's Palace

Ho Chi Minh's house and office where he lived from 1954 until his death in 1969.

Stilt House

Ho Chi Minh's cars

Museum of Ethnology

The outside section contains life size models of the types of houses used by the major ethnic groups (54) of Vietnam.

Tomb house of the Cotu people

Ede longhouse

Extended matrilineal families lived in these long houses.

The entrance on the left was for women. The one on the right was for men!

Hmong House

Tomb House of the Giarai people. 30 people can be buried in the structure.

The large wooden figures encircling the tomb are intended to accompany the dead into the afterlife.

Hani House

Museum Interior

The photo display depicts the various ethnic groups in Vietnam.

Buffalo Cart of the Chan ethnic group

Entrance to the Temple of Literature

Founded in 1070 and dedicated to Confucius, this was the site of Vietnam's first university

Students often come here to pray before taking a test.

Temple of Confucius

The grounds were beautifully landscaped .

Sunbeam Bridge over Hoan Kiem Lake (name means Lake of Sword Restored)

Ngoc Son Temple

 

Water Puppet Theater

Water Puppet in Museum of Ethnology