Lakes, museums and markets

The day started off with our free breakfast of toast with either egg or jam. Not bad. We then walked to Hoan Kiem, the lake in the old quarter. It was quite tranquil compared to the rest of the city but still a little dirty. The willow trees surrounding the lake, hanging over the edge, made it more beautiful. Who doesn't love a willow tree? 

So the heat in Hong Kong was bad but different to Hanoi. The humidity here is much less but its reaching nearly 40 degrees. Museums then seemed like a genius idea. We were nearest to the history museum so spent almost an hour looking for the oldest object we could (3500-4000 before present, not to be mistaken with bc). 

The next museum we chose was the women's museum, apparently the best one. It taught us about the roles woman have taken throughout the last century, especially during the war, and particular women who have earnt awards for bravery or success. 

Hoa Lo prison wasn't far from the women's museum and is open to visitors. It no longer has any prisoners but has been transformed into a museum, showing the struggles of the Vietnamese prisoners when the French were taking over. It also portrays how the Vietnamese imprisoned American pilots when the Americans were trying to bomb Vietnam, but they looked after the pilots, giving them letters and such from home, allowing them to play games and celebrate festivals such as Christmas. I need to read up more about the Vietnam war though, I feel a little clueless. 

On our way back towards the hostel (we needed another shower) we passed a cathedral, not unlike the Norte Dame. Pretty cool. It was shut off to visitors though so we could only observe the exterior. 

After our shower and free beer we headed for food with my new friend I'd made called Hannah. She was rather chatty but was well travelled and so was interesting to talk to. We chose a street food place where I ate Bún Bò Nam Bô (there were more accents than that). It was noodles with greens, stir fried beef and peanuts. Rather yummy, but I'm a little afraid whenever I eat something that I'm going to get food poisoning. Just got to hope that my stomach is strong enough. 

After tea we walked barely 5 minutes to the night market, the clue is in the name. It was huge! Bigger than ladies market in Hong Kong. My mission was to find some cheap dresses as most of my clothes are unwearable without washing due to sweat (I've been doing a lot of hand washing, 6 pairs of pants isn't enough). Also, dresses would be so much cooler, especially if there was a slight breeze. I managed to find a few but the stall people wouldn't let me haggle and I didn't want to pay full price for anything, I wouldn't have earnt it (full price was like £3).