Hanoi (Tuesday 1st December)
So we landed in Hanoi too late on Monday night to do or see anything as apparently Vietnam has an early curfew, so we got straight to our hotel and chilled out after a stressful day of travelling.
On the Tuesday, we got up nice and early and had a good sit down chat over breakfast with the receptionist at our hotel. He gave us some great recommendations of what to do for the day and what to do after Hanoi. So we set off on foot from our quiet hotel, and once through the front door, we were immediately hit by noise and pollution. There was an unbelievable amount of mopeds and motorbikes every where, either bussling down the streets or parked up on pavements!
Our hotel was set in the Old Quarter of Hanoi, which is a beautiful district full of French colonial style houses, most of which have preservation orders on them, but have not been touched for years, which to be honest is a real shame.
Our first port of call was the Ho Chi Minh Complex of buildings which including a pagoda, mausoleum, museum etc etc etc. This huge area of Hanoi was dedicated to the dead ex leader of Vietnam who helped to beat the Americans. Now bearing in mind this dude has been dead for a number of years, it is almost like the country can’t move on and the current leader leads in Ho Chi Minh’s shadow. The museum was dedicated to the life works of Ho Chi Minh, and the effect that Vietnam thinks Ho Chi Minh had on the rest of the world. It was very propaganda-esque and very unnerving but also very eye opening at the same time. Very socialist lol! At this point I must quote the guidebook as it is very apt; “Completely unique to Vietnam are the conceptual displays symbolising freedom, reunification and social progress through flowers, fruit and mirrors.” Says it all really!!!
The concrete, imposing facade of the museum with Hammer and Sickle adorned on the front, and the large Ho Chi Minh statue that holds centre stage in the museum.
We then went on to see the One Pillar Pagoda, which was very picturesque. Built in 1049, and a prayer here is said to bring good health and fertility.
One Pillar Pagoda and Naomi paying her respects and saying her prayers ;)
Then we walked around the mausoleum gardens (there was no point going into the mausoleum and Ho Chi Minh’s preserved body was in Russia on holiday for maintenance lol) so we continued past the presidential palace and onto the mahusive West Lake. However, and very unfortunately, it wasn’t until getting to West Lake that we realised how bad the pollution in Hanoi actually is. You can not see from one side of the lake to the other (even though it’s big) and there were tons of dead fish in the lake, not a pretty sight.
However, the oldest pagoda in Hanoi, Tran Quoc built in the 6th century, was situated in the middle of the lake so we kept our hopes up, and our optimism paid off. A beautiful sight especially when reflected in the waters of the Lake. We also got to see a Buddhist womens ceremony take place while there.
We took a nice stroll after this back to the centre of Hanoi and we visited the Temple of Literature, which is the site for the first National University in Vietnam, dating back over 1000 years, and created by Confucius. Although some of the buildings had obviously been restored, there were some artifacts that were incredible. Including the turtle shaped stone stelae plaques with old scroll written on it from 1442 that was the first honours roll for the university, bearing the names and birthplaces of 1306 doctor laureates!
By this point we had been walking for about 7 hours with a brief pitstop for lunch, so decided to head to Lake Hoan Kiem near our hotel and have an ice cream and chill before going out for dinner. The lake was set in a park, and it was amazing the number of people who were exercising and doing Tai Chi. A very health conscious country.
Dinner was in one of the best renovated French colonial buildings in the old quarter, all original features and with a rafted ceiling on the upper floor. Beautiful to see the craftsmanship. We ventured into a small bar after for a drink before bed and made friends with a Vietnamese NGO who helped us to understand Vietnamese culture and lifestyle. I think it shocked us all as to how similar many modern Vietnamese customs and thoughts are very similar to ours back home!!!!
By the end of the day, we had realised we had seen most of what Hanoi had to offer and decided to go on a 3 day tour of the legendary Halong Bay! We were just looking forward to escaping the pollution and the noise of Hanoi!
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