Hanoi

Mathias & Nina Finally we arrived in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam and found a small hotel in the old quarter. It's situated in a very a narrow street surrounded by small food stalls and mini shops so we are in the middle of the bustling town.
The old quarter has preserved some of the customs that used to define life a hundred years ago. As is used to be custom in western Europe as well, one trade occupies one street here, so that twenty shops selling accessories for buddhist temples are found next to each other.
Traffic here is a story itself, there are only very few cars but even more motor cycles. All kinds of goods are transported on these motorcycles (we caught some of them on picture, have a look at the gallery), at home you would need a small truck to transport the same amount at once.
Together with hundreds (or maybe thousends) of Vietnamese tourist and pupils we visited "Uncle Ho" today in his final residence: his mausoleum looks pretty similar to the "Mao"-soleum on Tienamen Square in Bejing.
The former houses that Ho Chi Minh used to live in are pretty small and have no additional comfort to any average Vietnamese home (one of the facts the party is proud to repeat over and over again).
The Ho Chi Minh museum itself unfortunately is one of these Asian museums that present nothing of interest at all to the visitor.

One unique feature of Hanoi are its numerous "Bia Hoi" (fresh beer) outlets. In these pubs and bars fresh beer is served from the late morning hours until late at night; you get a glass for as little as 1500 Dong (20,000 Dong = 1 Euro). The taste resembles something between "Sturm", cider and beer.

Tomorrow we leave for Halong Bay, another Guilin "copy" that is on the sea shore, its supposed to be one of the most interresting landscapes of Vietnam.