The Temple of Literature

Everyone knows I love to read. So what better excursion than going to the Temple of Literature. But before I went there I had other things to do.

On my last day in China which I spent in Guangzhou I walked most of my time around in shopping malls. First a small one, and then a bigger one. Even though I tried my hardest to withstand all these offerings, in the end I gave in and bought some small things. Of course small things add up too and I had another bag in hand when I arrived at the airport.

So on this lovely Monday morning I walked first to the post office which I had noticed on my round about the lake.

As I said I only had small stuff but these few things added up to three kilograms. So now they are on the way to my office and will hopefully await my return.

I had looked up online what else there was to do in Hanoi since the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum was closed on Mondays. And on this list for day number 2 I saw that there was a visit to a restaurant to eat some fish. Since I had a lovely fish on the food tour I was ready to try this one. Of course it was still super hot in Hanoi but since I couldn’t change the weather, I would just work with it.

At the restaurant I met a French woman traveling for business who had gotten a recommendation for this place from a friend of her’s who had lived in Hanoi for a couple of years. So I was at the right place.

After lunch I was finally ready to see the Temple of Literature. It was only a 25 minutes walk but of course in the heat it felt more like hours. The temple was not only a temple but was also the oldest university in Vietnam established in 1076. It had steles right next to the entrance to remind the horse men to get off them.

On these turtle steles the names of the persons successful at the royal exam were inscribed and are therefore very important documents.

      

It was a really lovely building with five different courtyards. But there were no books on display which I would have preferred to see. On the other hand books in this heat and humidity don’t survive very long. I walked back in the heat to the hotel but made a small stop on the way to have a sugar cane juice and later a freshly made watermelon juice. So tasty!
Just by watching the women on the motor scooters I got hot flash. They really don’t want to get tanned here.

For dinner I met the Austrian guy again since it was my last night in Hanoi. The next day I would leave to Ha Long Bay. We stayed near the lake area and eventually settled on a restaurant right next to the lake. Th view was great but dinner was not so good and really expensive.

We said goodbye early since I wanted to do some shopping, but another torrential rainfall changed my plans. I had started moving in the direction of the hotel once it started but when the rain began in earnest I stayed the rest of it underneath a small roof. I was waiting for quite while. Yours, Pollybert