Jane Fonda would be proud

Today was communist party appreciation day. We started off this morning by catching a cab across town to the Ho Chi Mihn museum. As scary as cab rides are here, it was like a walk in the park compared to crossing the street in this town.

Ho Chi Mihn in Vietnam is the equivalent to George Washington for us yanks. They hold the guy in great reverence. The museum was an artful display of their founding father's life, education and leadership. Pretty interesting, but would have been better if more had been in english.

It's funny--Anna is like a rockstar here. Apparently it's good luck in Vietnam to touch a blonde-haired kid. Lots of locals want to get their picture taken with our Anna. Stardom has been hard on her--but she's taking it in stride.

After the museum, we paid our respects to uncle Ho's pickled remains at the national mausoleum. Ho had wished his body cremated, but the communist party of Vietnam, with encouragement of their friends the Russians, elected otherwise. They decided that it was more important to preserve a nationalistic symbol than follow Ho's wishes. The experience was very somber and formal; we were escorted through the chamber on a red carpet by armed guards in a two-by-two line. Very Leninesque.

Then after a quick walk by Ho's modest Thai-style stilt house, it was off to the Temple of Literature--the first institute of higher learning in Vietnam, founded in 1092. Like much of this city, there are pretty impressive historical sights like the Temple, set amongst the chaos of the city. Inside the walls of the compound, we found peaceful lotus ponds and courtyards with temples, pagodas and gardens. We met a young Vietnamese electrical engineer who came to the compound to practice his English. People here are really friendly and definitely welcome Americans. Obama is also very popular.

Lunch was at KOTO, a restaraunt-charity that benefits Hanoi's street kids. The program trains 16-20 year-olds in the culinary arts and English. So far 300 kids have gone through the program with a 100 percent placement rate following graduation. The food was good but we were a little perplexed when they wouldn't accept an american $20 bill because it was too old--guess they don't like wrinkled money.

Hallie also decided that she simply had to have a haircut. So she and Courtney went off to find a salon in the tangle of streets near our hotel. She came back with a much cropped-mop and a smile on her face. She'd been able, somehow, to convey what she wanted to a stylist who spoke no English.

Last but not least, we took in a "water puppet" show. Water puppetry is unique to Vietnam. Apparently, farmers created puppet shows while working in the flooded rice paddies of the Red River delta. The puppeteers are hidden behind screens and work puppets on long, submerged poles. Fascinating.

Tomorrow it's off to Ha Long Bay and an overnight on a junk. Then we'll spend a night on Cat Ba Island and then back to Hanoi in time to catch the night train to Hue.