Two days of craziness - Day two

Our second day of craziness began at 4am...

We got ourselves out of bed early to get to the ANZAC day dawn service that was held at the Australian Embassy in Hanoi. The Australian, NZ and Turkish Ambassadors were there, as well as an elderly SAS soldier in full dress uniform and covered in medals! The ceremony was followed by a BBQ breakfast. We had been hoping for some vegemite, but we were more than happy with sausages, bacon, tomatoes and eggs. It was great to be surrounded by Aussies and to be a part of ANZAC day, even all the way from Vietnam. (We couldn't find any 2-up yesterday though! Probably saved ourselves a lot of money! hahaha!)



After the service, we walked to Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum (or Uncle Ho, as he's affectionately referred to!). Hi Chi Minh was the president of Vietnam, and when he died he wished to be cremated. However, the Vietnamese people decided instead to embalm him, and put his body on display. He is sent to Russia for 2 months every year for touch ups!



The Mausoleum opens at 7.30am, but even when we got there at 6.45 there were crowds of people. It's a very organised and official process. There are guards everywhere in white uniforms, who usher you quickly and quietly (Gwil got shushed!) down a line, past Uncle Ho's body in a glass case, and back out again. There is absolutely no dawdling! They'll grab you by the arm and lead you on if you look like you're about to stop!

After the Mausoleum, we visited the Army Museum. Another example of censored war history! They never show any Vietnamese army or people weakness - there are no Vietnamese victims, and no mention of how awful Napalm was on the country. There are however, loads of mentions of 'enemy' victims - including how many US & French planes they shot down. (The photo below is a sculpture in the Museum made up of parts from downed US/French planes. Mainly B52s.)



And after being excited for more than 3 weeks at seeing the Water Puppets, Em was VERY excited to get front row tickets to that night's performance! The puppets were amazing - much better than we expected. Water Puppets are a traditional Vietnamese art form. It began over a thousand years ago, when rice paddies were flooded, and the farmers began putting on 'underwater' shows, where just the puppets would be visible above the water.

Here is a video from one of the acts of the performance. Press play, then hit pause to let the video load. Once it's fully loaded, press play again.