[The following post is from the archives of my In Search Of Incredible blog, originally published on 9 August 2013. Minor edits have since been made from the original post to update some links and info.]

31 March 2012, Saturday

Morning call: 7:30am

Our itinerary for the day was quite light, so we woke up slightly later than usual, and had a relaxing breakfast consisting of the usual omelette, fluffy baguette and Vietnamese coffee at our hotel before setting off. First stop was the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. We asked the friendly receptionist for directions and she told us to take a taxi there, and helped us call for one. Vietnamese are really friendly and helpful, and they generally speak quite good English.

It was a short taxi ride and we arrived at 9:05am. As it was a Saturday, there were loads of people, mainly locals, and we joined the long queue to enter the premises. Admission is free but the opening hours are quite short – 8am to 11am, and last entry is at 10:15am, so I was quite anxious and hoped that we were not too late. Thankfully, we made it.

As Ho Chi Minh is a revered figure for all Vietnamese (he was their prime minister from 1945 to 1955 and a symbol of the united, communist Vietnam movement), there are strict dress codes and rules for entering the mausoleum. You have to wear long trousers and shirts/polo T-shirts. Hats, bags and cameras are not allowed. Visitors are also required to remain silent inside the mausoleum as a mark of respect. There is a counter for you to deposit your bags and cameras at the entrance.

We queued for about half an hour before we could enter the mausoleum where the body of Uncle Ho (as he is affectionately called) rests. Security guards are stationed all around to regulate traffic and to make sure no one takes any sneaky photographs while they are inside.

You enter the room from one side and walk around the glass enclosure to view his embalmed body, before you are whisked out of the exit on the other side. All in all, you only get to spend around 20 seconds in the room. The body was perfectly preserved despite his passing more than 43 years ago (he died in 1969), and it wasn’t gruesome or anything. Just like a wax figure.

We heard stories that many Vietnamese openly cry when they see Uncle Ho’s body, but we didn’t encounter any such zealous locals during our visit. Still, it was quite an interesting experience and I could really feel the respect and reverence that the local Vietnamese had for him.

After retrieving my bag and camera, we proceeded back to the Old Quarter, where our second stop was. Another “famous” attraction in Hanoi is the water puppet show, and you can catch it at the Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre, located right beside Hoan Kiem Lake.

We bought first class tickets at 100,000 VND (S$6.30) each and also paid 20,000 VND for the camera fee. There are also second class tickets available at 60,000 VND. Luckily the tickets were cheap, because I didn’t enjoy the show very much. Maybe I was not in the right mood, or I had too high expectations, but it did not captivate me the way I normally would have when watching musicals or live performances.

After the show, we continued to walk around the Old Quarter yet again, trying to spot any streets we might have missed out on previous days. I did buy some items today – a black cap with a red star (20,000 VND), a red T-shirt with a yellow star (50,000 VND), a silk sleeping bag that will be really useful when you encounter unclean beds during your backpacking trip (US$4), 3-in-1 Vietnamese coffee sachets (60,000 VND) and seven 3D paper greeting cards at 20,000 VND each. We also bought 1kg of juicy mangoes from a mobile roadside seller for 30,000 VND. The lady removed the skin and sliced the mangoes for our convenience, and they were really sweet! Good buy.

For dinner, we decided to be more adventurous. We had seen the locals sitting on stools and eating at the roadside stalls, and were tempted to try it out too. I figured that I was near the end of my trip, so I could risk having a stomach upset and finally indulge in some genuine street food. We didn’t know which stall was good, so we chose one that was crowded with locals – always a good indicator of the quality of the food. It was a noodle stall manned by a middle-aged lady, and all the stools were taken up.

After standing around waiting for around five minutes, we spotted someone leaving and immediately swooped in before others could. We didn’t know what to order so we asked the lady boss for recommendations. She served up three bowls of glass noodles with fried fish skin and vegetables. It was super yummy! We didn’t even know how much they cost until we paid up after our meal. Turned out the three bowls of noodles cost only 35,000 VND (S$2.10) each! Proof that the best food is not always the most expensive.

After the satisfying dinner, we walked back to the night market in search of dessert. We found a roadside stall and bought two bowls of dessert for 25,000 VND (S$1.50). I had red bean soup with coconut milk, which tasted like our local Singapore dessert pulut hitam. Mum and dad shared a bowl of coconut-based dessert with jelly, something like our local burbur cha-cha. Both were yummy too. Street food rocks!

After that, there was really nothing else to buy or see, so we headed back to the hotel for our last night in Vietnam. Mum and dad would be flying back to Singapore the following day, while I would head to Cambodia for the last leg of my trip, so there was quite some packing to do.

Mum and dad had very kindly brought me replenishments from Singapore, so I had fresh clothes to wear in Hanoi and Cambodia. Besides my worn clothes, it was also a good chance for me to offload some of my purchases from the first 22 days to mum and dad, so I would be able to travel lighter in Cambodia. I know that’s cheating, but hey, I’m sure other backpackers send home some of their stuff during their trip too!

With my bags packed, it was time to turn the lights out. Goodnight Hanoi, for the last time.