Hanoi Highlights

Welcome to Hanoi! We spent four full days exploring the city and feel the best way to share the sights is through a lot of photos. Join us for a brief excursion through the streets of Hanoi's Old Quarter and surrounds!

We walked everywhere, so we saw a lot on the streets. Typical sights include rows and rows of parked motos (as well as rows and rows of oncoming motos!), streets lined with shops peddling the same product (in fact, from their origins these streets were named according to the item they sell, though now many do not sell the same thing, they still have a street devoted to a certain product, like silk street, toy street, shoe street, counterfeit street {where they sell the fake money used for ceremonies and such}, etc.). We also visited Hanoi's market and had an early morning when we returned from Sapa during which we actually saw streets devoid of motos and just waking up with merchants sweeping their store front sidewalks.

We visited two museums in town and learned more of the history of the American War (as it is referred in Vietnam) at Hoa Lo Prison Museum {aka "Hanoi Hilton" by POWs} and the lives of Vietnamese women at the Vietnamese Women's Museum. We found ourselves referring to what we learned at the Women's Museum frequently as it was so informative. The exhibits cover family life, marriage, birth rituals (and look at these from the perspective of both the majority Vietnamese culture as well as the many different minority tribes), street vendors, single mothers, fashion, and war heroines. In our collage from the prison you'll see a flight suit - that belongs to Senator John McCain. As has been the case throughout Vietnam, the explanation for the ways the prison was used through the years (first by the French to detain political prisoners - essentially communist party members who opposed French colonial rule and later by the Vietnamese to detain American POWs) was chock full of propaganda. They even had eery music to go along with the different exhibits. They painted a rosy picture of life for POWs that somehow seems a bit too idealistic...

One of our favorite activities in Hanoi was the night at the Water Puppet Theatre where we saw a performance of the traditional art of water puppetry. Anthony read about this form of story telling and also saw it featured on a travel program and put it on our list for the trip months before we left. We considered catching a show in Ho Chi MinhCity to be sure we didn't miss it, but the art form is said to have originated in fields in the north and we preferred to see it here. We really enjoyed the show and loved seeing the stories unfold through the puppetry. The puppeteers stand in the water behind the curtain manipulating these beautifully carved puppets from long bamboo poles. An orchestra sits to the side playing beautiful music on traditional instruments. The show is definitely a highlight of a visit to Hanoi!

After the water puppet theatre, we found ourselves in the middle of an open-air, middle-of-the-busy-street performance. Motos simply parked themselves right in the middle of traffic to watch and those on foot simply filled in the spaces. We watched acrobats, a magician (we could see all the secrets to his tricks from our spot... uh-oh :) ), and an in-sync-like boy dance group. It was really interesting to just stand in the middle of a busy major thoroughfare to watch these acts (we couldn't tell if they were amateur talent night type of things or not; the magician certainly seemed to be!).

On our Saturday morning, we made our way out early to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum where "Uncle Ho" (as he is referred by the Vietnamese people) is interred in a glass sarcophagus for those who wish to pass by and pay their respects. We thought it would be an interesting cultural activity to witness so we joined the queue and made our way past his preserved body (which travels annually to Russia for two months for touch-ups). Interesting fact: Ho Chi Minh requested a simple cremation, yet here he lies eternally for all to see. Our walk also led us past the Flag Tower, Vietnam's tallest flag and a World Heritage Site. Within the Mausoleum Complex are also a few other sites of note - Ho Chi Minh's Presidential Palace and a stilt house that is a replica of his home (or maybe is his home relocated, we had some confusing information on that and actually did not end up going over to see it!) and the One Pillar Pagoda.

The photo at the bottom right (above) shows St. Joseph's Cathedral which was just around the corner from our guesthouse and served as a landmark as we navigated our way through the city. It looked beautiful in the early morning sunlight and actually did not have one moto in the lot, which we had not seen at any other time!

After the Mausoleum, we walked to the Temple of Literature. This is one of Hanoi's oldest sights; it is dedicated to Confucius and is the location of the country's first university. It is a long complex made up of five courtyards with different themes. In one, you find the stelea of the philosophers - over 80 stelea devoted to the many teachers of the school. Toward the end is where you find the temple devoted to Confucius with a large statue surrounded by statues of four major university leaders and professors. Once again, the architectural style is stunning. The complex itself is a nice, quiet respite from the hustle and bustle of the city surrounding the serene environs.

On the morning of our final day in Hanoi we'd arrived at 5am on the overnight express train from Sapa. Since it was too early to check into our room, we took advantage of the quiet morning and enjoyed people-watching and resting at Hoan Kiem Lake and were able to get in to visit the Ngoc Son Pagoda just as it opened for visitors. The early morning is a great time to see the people of Hanoi come out to the lake to exercise and begin their day - we saw tai chi classes, aerobics, runners, and several individuals doing their own thing. On the red wooden bridge (The Huc) that leads to the pagoda, several people used the railing as a balance bar, dance barre, and support for some intense sit-ups. We felt almost lazy since we were just waiting for the pagoda to open at 7am! This pagoda also has an important history as the site where a giant turtle took a sword from the hero Tram Hung Dao who had defeated the Mongols. The sword now remains in the lake protected by these giant turtles (of which sightings are reported at random; do they exist? we just don't know for sure :) ) for a time when it may be needed to protect Vietnam again from invaders. There is a preserved specimen of the turtle in the pagoda along with an altar to the hero and other traditional relics; we also enjoyed the fact that two boxes of mixed flavors of Oreos were left as an offering.

When we were not busy meandering through the streets, we found time to enjoy great meals and discovered a fabulous little bakery where we enjoyed daily chocolate chip cookies and apple-cinnamon-oat muffins {we'll leave it to you to guess who ate which treat ;)}. In fact, after we visited Ngoc Son Pagoda, it was finally time for Joma to open, and we treated ourselves to a big breakfast! We also discovered a really amazing ice cream place where we ate lunch of a banana-split Hanoi style and a chocolate lovers' dark chocolate ice cream sundae (we bet you can guess who ate what this time, too...); sometimes, you just need a treat after a long night on a train!

We found Hanoi to be a great city in which to walk and spend time. We heard many stories of busy streets and crazy traffic and touts trying to scam tourists, but we keep calm, stay alert, and prepare ourselves with information on reasonable taxi rates, so we had no trouble. You can always say no and walk away from a tout or a driver trying to pull a scam and it's up to them to realize they can either make a fair sale or no sale. We loved Hanoi and feel we definitely got a good glimpse of the local life and a little history during our brief stay.

Hòa bình và Tình yêu!