We have finally rearranged our plans. Our trip to Cát Bà Island has been canceled but we are still taking a one night cruise to Hạ Long Bay next week. We are spending the rest of the time here at the Golden Sun Hotel in the old quarter of Hà Nội. There is so much to see that the risk of boredom is low and it is an opportunity to get used to being constantly hot and sweaty again.
First business this morning was to assemble the bicycles. The guys at the front desk were keen to be involved and took it upon themselves to take the bikes for a test ride.
Across from our hotel is a school. At the end of the school day, the road is closed to cars, but it is still completely insane with motor bikes. And, of course, it is very loud with all the hooting.
More tourist stuff in the afternoon, the best being the simplest which was a house owned by a family of silk dealers in which Bác Hồ spent a week at the end of August 1945 drafting the declaration of independence. Bác Hồ (Uncle Hồ), aka Hồ Chí Minh aka Nguyễn Sinh Cung, invited several people to contribute their ideas toward his Declaration of Independence, including a number of American OSS officers (the Office of Strategic Services was the precursor to the CIA). Major Archimedes Patti, the head of the American OSS operations in French Indo-China, believed it sounded very similar to the United States Declaration of Independence.
The simple facade of 48 Hàng Ngang where the declaration of independence was drafted.
