After a good feed at the Green Tangerine restaurant and a sedate ride home in a cyclo, had to pinch a fan from reception as aircon had failed.Therefore a sweltering nights sleep!

Up early for a sightseeing marathon.The ubiquitous PHO for breakfast with extra chilli (beef soup with rice noodles and spring onions) at 7 am. First of all the Temple of Literature, Hanoi's most revered temple. A calm place to go, it's a confusian sanctuary and Vietnam's oldest university. It has a series of five walled courtyards and 82 'stelae' , stone plaques mounted on huge carved stone turtles that record the names of graduates from as early as 1442.

Up the road.....to visit "Uncle Ho". Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum is an austere piece of Communist architecture containing his embalmed body in a glass tank. Soldiers in white uniforms posted at five metre intervals made sure everyone behaved themselves. The no talking rule added to sombre atmosphere inside. Then whizzed round to The Presidential Palace and Ho Chi Minh's house on stilts- he prefered the simple life. Just had time to get some lotus bean sweets before jetting to the One Pillar Pagoda. It's structure is designed to resemble a lotus petal the Buddhist symbol of enlightenment. Mini-bus upto the Museum of Ethnology an interesting place "really" to discover all about the 54 tribes that make up Vietnam. There's a brilliant reconstruction of one of the tribes' dwellings- a house on stilts with a distinctive high steeped roof. On to the Jade temple on Hoan Kiem lake via the beautiful red-laquered 'Huc' bridge.A bizarre stuffed 2.1m long turtle caught in the lake circa 1968. It is all to do with the legend of the restored sword don't y'know! By now getting hotter and sweatier we set off up to West Lake for the beautiful and most ancient Tran Quoc. A Pagoda pillared with white buddha's.

WOW! What a day of endurance, one last quest-The Water Puppet Theatre. An hours worth of stimulating, non-stop, aquatic entertainment, a must see in Hanoi. All this caper originates from the rural peoples who tended the paddy fields, knee high in the waters of the Red river Delta!

Meanwhile, back at the Volga (aircon fixed), we meet up with Tho, our Intrepid expedition guide. It starts for real tomorrow!!....