The Perks of Being Laura

Another day in Hanoi. As nice as it is, on such a small budget we've pretty much done all the cheap stuff  (and a lot of walking) so I think we could have had one less day here. But then we'd have been stressed travelling so I guess it works both ways!

We set off again for the mausoleum, leaving just after 9. It was a really long walk and the route we were taking included loads of government buildings that we couldn't walk through; guards holding bayonets which were a little off putting but fortunately we made it!

As we approached the mausoleum it was legit the weirdest queuing system I've ever seen. We were finally in sight of the building which was very impressive, only to discover that we had to walk around the entire thing to get to the entance, and as we did we passed the longest queue I've ever seen (and I've been to disneyland- that didn't even compare). We finally got to the end and debated just leaving as it looked so ridiculous, but miraciously it moved quickly and steadily. We had to hand in our bags (including cameras- photography is banned inside) and continue walking around until we reached the room itself where we saw Ho Chi Minh's body. 4 guards stood around the glass case with 4 more in the corners of the room and around the building. Silence was maintained throughout by everyone which was really impressive; usually there's a child chatting or someone who hasn't noticed that no one else is speaking, but impressively everyone kept it up. We collected our bags and then walked home.

We attempted to find a sandwich shop which as I'm the best cheap eats in Hanoi but couldn't  (the Google maps on my phone is very temperamental). Shortly after arriving back at our hostel Molly fell asleep and lauren wasn't hungry so I set out to find it. Luckily it was really near by, just a food stand at the side of the road selling sandwiches with a few plastic tables and chairs but it was great! For 50p I had a cheese and salad toasted baguette, and they served you free tea and there were mini bananas on the table to help yourself to, it was all just really cool.

We had a quiet afternoon at the hostel, picked up out laundry and then ventured back to the lantern lounge. I've developed a mild fear of street food after my food poisoning fun but I'm going to attempt some tomorrow- in the mean time soup and sweet potato fries was an excellent dinner, though I could have had it at home to be honest

Laura x