Hello to everyone - Janet speaking

Today I have been on a five hour walk through Hanoi. First off I was aiming for a lake which is about 500 meters from here. "Ho," said I to myself, looking at the lying map - "turn right at the top of the road, turn right again go straight ahead, I can't miss it." I did arrive there a couple of hours later.

Richard got some money out of a teller machine yesterday - "How much did you get?" said I. "Millions."
he said. We worked it out, and he had got $12.95, so he had to go back and have another go.

The underwater marionette theatre is opposite the fabled lake, so I joined a throng waiting for tickets. There was quite a long line, and progress was very slow, so after about half an hour, it was my turn. There was a tiny sign which said "Sold out for today - Buy ticket for tomorrow" The group behind me had to leave tomorrow, so were unable to see it - they were not happy.

Walking along today, I came to a battered old shop. It had a loudspeaker out at the front, and in the back of the shop was a wizened long haired old man, who would have weighed four stones wringing wet, playing a decrepit piano which was new when Beethoven was a boy, horribly out of tune, but he was playing Bach's No. 1 prelude. I don't know why but I was reduced to tears.

After that I went to the Ho Chi Minh Museum, which is an imposing humourless pile of Stalinist architecture. On top of that it was closed, but the good thing about it was that I met a French couple on the steps, with whom I spent the rest of the day. She had worked in Moscow, and they were both so interesting. His name happens to be Christian Barnard, and they described being in South Africa, and news of his name getting out, so they were hounded by media people for interviews. That must have been quite a while ago, because I don't suppose many young people today would even remember who he was.

As Richard has said - there is a vast difference in the people. They are all after our money, which is understandable, but it seems that they have lost any joie de vivre, and even seem to be abrupt with one another. We had breakfast this morning in a nearby cafe - it took us over an hour because the passing street parade was so fascinating, and a Vietnamese woman on a motorbike came up to another Vietnamese woman with bananas (which looked fine), in two baskets at the end of the pole over her shoulder. The motorbike woman, picked a hand of bananas up, inspected each and every one so carefully, then promptly put them back, and without a word - drove off.

More anon after the marionettes.

Love from Janet