Independence Palace

This is a back blip from our last day in Vietnam. We spent the morning looking round the Independence Palace which was just a short walk from the hotel. 
The fact that the tanks are the first sight on going through the gates seems quite significant given the history. It was stormed by the “Liberation forces” in 1975, the President then surrendered and has been the scene of some significant events in Vietnamese history.

After 16 fascinating days packing up had to be done and we were collected late afternoon for the drive to the airport.
I had to include a couple of extras taken from the car when we were stopped as one of my abiding memories of Vietnam will be the the traffic in the big cities .125 cc mopeds going in all directions as they skilfully weave through with multiple occupants apparently ignoring red lights, green crossing signals and using the pavement quite happily. We had even by the end almost mastered the technique of crossing roads just walking slowly and steadily and allowing them to avoid us !