I woke up to the sound of constant beeping and a brightly lit room so I expected it to be at least 9am, but I was disappointed to find that my clock read 6:45am! There was no chance of sleeping past 7am in Hanoi as the city just came to life as soon as the sun had risen. We had a shower and then went to eat our complimentary breakfast. We then walked to the 'Travel Agent' to re-book our Halong Bay trip, even though we were a bit reluctant to pay for the thing for a second time. We walked to 'Hoan Kiem Lake' to visit the 'Den Ngoc Son Temple'. The temple was accessed via 'The Huc Bridge' which was a red-lacquered wooded arch construction. It was quite pretty and the lake looked a striking green colour up close. The 19th century temple was sheltered amongst ancient trees and we got to see a six foot long stuffed turtle within a glass cabinet display. The turtle was found in 'Hoan Kiem Lake' in 1968 by the local people. Andrew had seen one too many temple so after a quick loop around the exterior we headed back over the bridge and walked to 'New Day' restaurant. We had something to eat along with a beer as we had discovered that a beer was the same price if not cheaper than a soft drink in Hanoi. We then managed to hail a taxi that quite happily agreed to use the meter, so off we went to 'West Lake'. We asked to be let out at the 'Tran Quoc Pagoda' which we were but unfortunately it was closed between 11:30am and 1:30am which was when we turned up. We were surprised at the sheer size of 'West Lake', which seemed to go on forever, as well as the numerous dead fish floating on the water! We walked across the causeway to 'Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum' which was reached via a wide, French tree-lined boulevard. It was just what we needed as the sun was beating down on us and it was quite unbearable without any shade. We couldn't get to see the mummified remains of Uncle Ho as he was getting his yearly make-over but we randomly caught the changing of the guard outside of the mausoleum. We then walked to the 'Military History Museum' which focused mainly on the French and American wars. We entered the first section but there was very little signage in English so we didn't quite understand the majority of the displays. We thought that was the entirety of the museum but once we left the building we noticed a small sign directing us upstairs to the next section. I wasn't exactly enthralled by the displays but we made our way through the adjoining rooms until we made it to a forecourt which was full of weaponry. The centrepiece was a mangled wreckage of assorted American planes piled up against a tree. The thirty metre high 'Cot Co Flag Tower', a remnant of the 19th century citadel, also stood within the forecourt displaying the national flag. 

It really was such a hot day and I was beginning to get tired and grumpy but we eventually made it back to the 'Old Quarter' where we sat for a nice cold beer in 'Le Pub'. We managed to get a stool so we could look out over the street and observe daily life. We ended up staying for a couple of drinks as we couldn't face walking any more in the sun. Once the sun had begun to set we walked to 'To Tich', which was basically a street selling all manner of souvenirs. I didn't know what I expected but I thought I may have found something I wanted to buy, which was not the case! On our way a local man pointed at Andrew's feet whilst shaking his head which made him feel a little uncomfortable and puzzled until the man pulled out a tube of super glue! He wanted to repair Andrew's shoe but Andrew obviously declined as the cost would have been a scam. However, we couldn't quite believe that the man had managed to spot the split in his shoe in the first place. 
As we were strolling through the 'Old Quarter' I spotted a lacquerware shop and ended up buying a set of bowls and chopsticks as well as a trinket box which Andrew thought was disgusting. We went to eat at the '69 Bar & Restaurant' but the food wasn't as good as the Rough Guide had claimed, as the pork was really over-cooked and chewy. The building itself was impressive though as it was set within a traditional tube-house. The staff were also very attentive as they showed us the Vietnamese way to eat our dish. We returned to our hotel and sat in the communal area until the owner rang us a taxi. He then disappeared but another member of staff told us that our taxi was waiting, but we reached the end of the narrow street to find a taxi pulling away! We were told to wait while the staff member ran back to the hotel, but the owner then turned up and got on his mobile to find out where the taxi had gone. A taxi soon pulled up and we were told to wait once again while the owner went to talk to the driver. We had already been told that the price would be 15,000 dong which the owner confirmed with the driver. We reached 'Hanoi Train Station' where Andrew handed 15,000 dong over to the taxi driver who just shook his head. He then said it was 50,000 dong not 15,000 which there was no way we were going to pay, especially as 24,000 was flashing on the meter. The driver went to shut the car boot but Andrew quickly managed to grab our stuff. In the end Andrew pulled a few more dong from his back apocket and we just walked away. I was stupid to think that the owner of the hotel was helping us out, as he was clearly in for a cut! Anyway, we were soon allowed onto the platform but to reach it we had to walk over a number of train tracks in the dark. We found our car and I immediately lay down on the bed as I was feeling exhausted. It was called a soft-sleeper, which cost more money, but it felt like a hard-sleeper. However, there was a pillow and a blanket so I got as comfortable as possible as quickly as possible in order to sleep. We were hoping that we would have the four beth car to ourselves, but no such luck as two other people joined us, but at least we had the lower bunk. I fell asleep almost as soon as the train pulled out of the station, which happened to be five minutes earlier than scheduled so it was lucky we were there on time.