Trấn Quốc Pagoda

A stone plaque commemorating the shooting down of a US Navy (not "USAF" as depicted) aircraft in 1967. Read the Vietnamese script and you can pick out the name of John McCain, the late U.S. senator, one of the airmen.

The northern temple, dedicated to the Taoist god Xuanwu, known in Vietnamese as Trấn Vũ, with a large bronze statue of him at the main altar.

Completed in 1906 as the residence of the French Governor-General of Indochina. It became the official residence of the President of North Vietnam following independence in 1954, and later of the President of Vietnam following reunification in 1975. Ho Chi Minh was said to have refused to live in the palace for symbolic reasons, though he used it to receive state guests. The building is not open to the public, but you can view it from the outside and take photographs.

The exit from the mausoleum takes you right into the grounds of the, uh, vestige, where Ho Chi Minh lived and worked from 1954 until his death in 1969. The nicely landscaped complex includes Ho Chi Minh's two homes (one a small one-story house, the other a traditional stilt house), kept shiny and "as he left them" by the authorities, as well as a garage with two of Ho's presidential cars and a carp-filled pond. You also get to see Ho Chi Minh's work room and Politburo meeting room. The Presidential Palace is nearby, but it's not open to visitors. Pamphlets are available in English, Chinese, French and Korean. Guided tours are usually available if you wait.

Built as a residence for the Vietnamese king, the citadel was mostly destroyed by the French, used as a military headquarters during the Vietnam War. It is now a as "Central Sector of the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long - Hanoi".

The city down south may have his name, but only Hanoi has the man himself, entombed in distinctly Lenin-esque fashion. Against his wishes, but that's how it goes. No talking, revealing clothing (shorts should be knee length and no exposed shoulders), or other signs of disrespect allowed while viewing; photos are allowed only from outside, in the grand Ba Dinh Square. Purses are allowed into the tomb, but expect them to be searched by several bored soldiers along the way. Left luggage is handled in a complicated scheme: there is an office near the street for large bags, with separate windows for Vietnamese and foreigners, and a further office for cameras, which will be transported to a third office right outside the exit of the mausoleum. Items checked in at the first office, however, will stay there. The mausoleum is closed for a couple months around the end of the year, when the body is taken abroad for maintenance. It is closed in the afternoons for maintenance.