I got up at 7 and found that the hostel was already serving breakfast but there were a few people so I had to wait a little. It was decent with eggs, beans in sauce, salad, bananas and toast. I ate and then headed out to see a few places as I should get my washing back at 10 which would give me time to shower and join the walking tour at 10.30 organised by the hostel. I went towards the lake temple but decided to see the citadel first, it was just gone 8 and the gates were locked. I walked to the military museum and decided to go in for 40k. I saw the cafe after I had paid where Dave said you could sneak in through. The museum had a flag tower and a lot of planes, tanks etc in the grounds. I saw those first as it looked like it might rain and then went into the buildings. There was a fair few photos and exhibits but as per other Vietnamese museums not too much to tie it all together. I did find it interesting that they had proper weapons like guns, bazookas and sea mines but they also used pitchforks and made booby traps. I went through the museum and it took a while so I finished close to 9.30 having gone the wrong way through from the recent wars history and finishing with the ancient. The last room had proper descriptions but most rooms were about the Vietnam was against the US. I went to see if I could get my laundry but they did not have it yet and told me 1 hour which would mean I would miss the walking tour so I went back to the hostel and tried to get another bed where I wasn't so close to others. I had to check out anyway and book in again at 2pm so I had a shower using my mini towel and t-shirt to dry myself as my towel was at the laundry and then I checked out and waited for the tour to start. The girl running the walking tour came round and said it was cancelled as they didn't have the 5 people required since there was only 3. I waited to see if we might get more people but then left. I went to the old city gate not too far away that I'd stumbled on the day before and then from there I carried on East to see if I could cross the river on a different bridge. It was a similar story although I did see the murals again in the sunlight, the bridge was traffic only. There was a market nearby so I had a look and found an overripe mango for 10k which I ate as I went north towards the lake. I went past a street hairdresser charging 45k which I was considering going to but first I went to an area on the lake where there was a few temples. the first was locked, the second made me get to 2 dead ends visiting it and was ok but not special. I bought a big quantity of Tofu nearby for 15k which I ate slowly during the day. The third however was actually 2 separate places, quite nice and the 2nd one had a ceremony going on with a dancer throwing 2k bills around and people grabbing them. It was an unusual experience I was glad to have seen. I went back and decided not to get my haircut now as I had places to see that were now open as it was past 1.30. I made my way to the temple on the lake which was open and free. I had a look around and not surprisingly it was busy bit not too bad. I went South after that and got to the place to see Ho Chi Minh's house but I decided to skip it as it was 40k and its just a house. I had a look at the museum which was also 40k and the mausoleum seemed shut, although I'm still not sure where the entrance is. Instead I walked to the citadel which I really wanted to see and it was 30k entry which is not bad. The site was big and was a UNESCO recognised as it had been built 1,000 years ago and amended a few times by different rulers. There was a bit of history on each of these rulers as well, but then there were also 2 Vietnamese your groups with a really loud guide. I finished just after 4 and the place was open until 5 so I'd timed that a bit badly but it was too late for the other places which shut at 4.30. I went to pick up my laundry and it was all fine and then I picked up some rice vermicelli and went back to the hostel.
I had a rest before 6pm when I got a glass of beer and sat for a bit before having a shower so that I didn't have to the next day and I went out to use the internet. The first place didn't work for me, the guy didn't want to log me in so I left after a bit and got a banh my - I really was eating a lot. I walked across and found the internet place with the not so good computers and that is where I'm now sitting typing away. When I first started this blog I imagined I would at some point have live blogging, it was the dream, but google translate didn't work and this website didn't like working on my phone so it never happened, but now you could have read this 1 minute after I typed it
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