Day 24 - From Prison to Puppets to Pleasing messages 4 the Mums on Mother's Day. - May 12

A full day planned for Mothers Day in Ha Noi.  After a leisurely "free Brekkie" our first stop for the day was the Hao Lo Prison, sometimes called the Ha Noi Hilton. Rather sobering to understand the history and see firsthand some of the cells and photos and get an appreciation for what it might have been like.  Not sure everything was portrayed as it happened but we agreed it was a worthwhile couple of hours.

   Outside the HaNoi Hilton - Hao Lo Prison

According to the websites we had visited, the Temple of Literature is one of the top ten sites to see so of course off we troop. Interesting, but not a must see, though the statues of Confucious and his buddies was worth a photo!

    Confucious say 50 Days in Asia not enough holiday!

Then a walk back to Hoan Kiem Lake and a short stop for afternoon tea then off to the Water Puppet show.  A treat for the Mums amongst us.  What a delightful hour with live music and oration and a colourful show of puppets I a ten metre square of water depicting life in Vietnam, definitely worth the VD100,00 NZ$6 each.

   Puppets in action

Agreed that we'd done enough walking today (around 5 km) in 32+ degrees so back to the hotel for a freshen up, then the girls chose New Day Restaurant for Mothers Day dinner and the Tamarind Restaurant for dessert - both very lovely, we could get used to this no cooking every day!  A very pleasant way to finish Mothers Day in Ha Noi.

PS Happy Mothers Day to Mum Eleanor and Mum Rita, sorry we didn't ring or visit but we were thinking of you!