Day 178 Jan 29 2015 Hanoi Vietnam

Entrance to Ho Chi Minh's memorial site

Ho Chi Minh's tomb in Hanoi

near Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi

great tasting caramel  ice blends

A small street near our hotel in Hanoi

Day 178  Jan 29 2015  Hanoi Vietnam

We spent  few hours reading about what we wanted to do in the next few days.  We ended up booking a 2 day 1 night boat trip around Halong Bay for tomorrow.  We then walked to the train station to see if we could get tickets on the night train to Hue.  When we got there they did not have tickets for the train we wanted but for one that left 2 hours later.  When we tried to purchase then we were informed that we needed our passports which were back at the hotel, so back to the hotel we walked.  We took a cab back to the station and purchased our tickets.   We had asked the hotel how much tickets would be and the quoted price was$60 USD  at the train station we paid $38 USD.  That is quite a mark up and it would have been more as the quote you in USD then convert at whatever rate they figure it should be in Vietnamese dong.  The tour agencies purchase most if not all the soft sleeper tickets and mark them up.  They have until day before the train leaves to return the tickets for a 10% loss but with the markup they charge it is well worth the bother for them.  We were lucky to be able to purchase the tickets at the train station.  After the train station we took a taxi to Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum.  It was closed by the time we got there but we were able to walk around the grounds surrounding it.  The Canadian embassy was also in the area so we stopped for a picture in front of the embassy.