exploring hanoi, vietnam



So we split our time in Hanoi into two parts.  First, Friday, December 19-Monday, December 22, then back again for Christmas Eve and Christmas. Hanoi is the second largest city in Vietnam and also it's capital.   For the first few days in Hanoi, we just explored and ate food the whole time.  Really, walked and ate food.  We stayed in a great hotel in the Old Quarter which is the touristy area of Hanoi, but also a really beautiful area with French-inspired buildings and roads.  We are talking cute storefront and tree lined roads.  Just to provide a little historical context, Hanoi served as the capital of French Indochina from 1902 to 1954.  The Old Quarter, near Hoàn Kiếm Lake, has the original street layout and architecture of old Hanoi.  Like I said, very quaint...except for the mass amount of motos that almost kill you every time you cross the road.  Nojoke.  If we thought walking in Cambodia was dangerous, Vietnam increases your chance of death by moto about ten-fold.  Anyways.  We arrived really late on Friday night, so we basically just went straight to the hotel and slept. 

 

On Saturday, we ventured out to sightsee, starting with a stroll around Hoàn Kiếm Lake.  We crossed over the iconic red bridge, explored the temple on a little island in the lake, and snapped some photos of Turtle Bridge.  There is some folklore surrounding this lake.  Stories of the Hoàn Kiếm turtle began in the fifteenth century with Lê Lợi, who became  an emperor of Vietnam and founder of the Lê Dynasty. According to legend, Lê Lợi had a magic sword given to him by Kim Qui, the Golden Turtle God. One day, not long after the Chinese had accepted Vietnam’s independence, Lê Lợi was out boating on a lake in Hanoi. Suddenly a large turtle surfaced, took the sword from Lê Lợi, and dove back into the depths. Efforts were made to find both the sword and the turtle, but without success. Lê Lợi then acknowledged the sword had gone back to the Golden Turtle God and renamed the lake Hoàn Kiếm Lake (or Hồ Gươm), “The Lake of the Returned Sword”. Here are some pictures from the temple and lake. 

 

Temple on  Hoàn Kiếm Lake

Turtle Bridge

Turtle Bridge

We then went to the Hỏa Lò Prison museum.  The Hỏa Lò Prison was a prison used by the French colonists in Vietnam for political prisoners, and later by North Vietnam for prisoners of war during the Vietnam War when it was sarcastically known to American prisoners of war as the "Hanoi Hilton". The prison was demolished during the 1990s, though the gatehouse remains as a museum.  The most famous POW to have stayed here was Senator John McCain.  They have his flight suit and some of his personal belongings on display. 

Cell block

Memorial for the political prisoner held during the French colonial era.

Gatehouse entrance. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent looking in shops and seeing different iconic places in Hanoi.  We stopped by St. Joseph Cathedral of Hanoi which looks like it was picked up from some random city in Europe and dropped right into the middle of Hanoi.  We walked around the outside, as the inside wasn't open, and found a beautiful Christmas mural on the backside of the property.  Since we were in the Christmas spirit, we of course took a photo. 

St. Joseph's Cathedral

Merry Christmas Everyone

The cutest little coffee shop.  We enjoyed some coffee and macaroons inside.

In order to best utilize our evening, we elected to go on a street food tour.  There were so many Vietnamese options that we were a little overwhelmed.  We wanted to try everything and also get a little history on the famous Vietnamese dishes.  We started the tour at 5 pm and didn't end until 8 pm.  We literally got some much food, it was ridiculous.  By the time we were done, I was seriously so, SO full. 

The best "pho" I'll ever eat in my life.  Delicious.

Lady making "bahn cuon" which is a rice crepe with pork.



Close up of the "bahn cuon".  Those are fried onions sprinkled on top.

Loving the food tour and the extremely small stools and tables we got to sit at. 

"Bun bo nom bo"--seasfood noodle dish.

A picture of the outside of the restaurant so I could remember the name.  They are very literal with signs.  It'd be like in America, if a restaurant served burgers, the name of the restaurant would be "Burgers."  Genius.  Very straight forward.

 Okay, so the real Vietnamese thing to try would have been the egg coffee, but since I'm overly sensitive to caffeine, I had to opt for the egg hot chocolate.  Essentially, it's coffee (or hot chocolate) whipped with egg and milk.  It creates the creamiest, richest, delightfully warm treat.  I have to say though, after tasting the coffee, I think the hot chocolate is the way to go.

On Sunday, we were back out exploring.  We started our morning with a visit to a Christmas Market at one of the cutest cafes I've ever seen.  There were all kinds of artists with handmade crafts.  I picked up a journal and some of the other girls also bought journals and some pottery.  I could have spent a lot more, but luggage space was limited.  We also bought some delicious treats and sat on the rooftop enjoying fresh truffles, fruitcake and something called a "holiday ball" or something, but it was chocolate-y and delicious.  I also opted for some hot coconut Chai tea which was a great decision.  It also came in the cutest pottery too, so of course I had to take a photo.

Perfect drink for a chill, Vietnam morning.

After the Christmas market, we decided to go see the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum which is the where you can actually walk into the mausoleum and see the dead (but preserved) body of Ho Chi Minh.  Apparently it is only open for viewing in the morning, so we actually didn't get to go inside.  I have to admit I was disappointed because I was pretty fascinated by the idea of seeing a dead guy's preserved body.  He died in 1969.  How do they do that?!  Science for the win.  Even though we didn't get to go inside, we did arrive in time to see the changing of the guards so not a complete loss.

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

Someone kept ruining all my photos.....

"Is this the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum?......"  We weren't sure.

Changing of the guards.

Later that night, we decided we wanted more egg coffee/hot chocolate.  We had heard of a secret little shop (from CNN's 48 Hours in Hanoi) that requires you to walk through a silk shop and climb a few flights of stairs, but it provides you with an incredible view of the lake.  We decided we'd go looking for it.  The directions were great, and we found it immediately.  We enjoyed the hot drinks and snacked on sunflower seeds because in Vietnam when you sit at a café, you eat sunflower seed.  So when in Rome (or Vietnam), do as the locals do. 

 

Success.  We found the café.

Sunflower seeds and hot chocolate/coffee.

On Monday morning, we headed to Ha Long Bay for a 2 night/3 day cruise which was incredible and so beautiful.  It required it's own post, so you can refer to my previous post to catch up on all that happened there. 

On Wednesday, December 25, we came back to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas in the city.  We booked nice rooms at the Hilton for Christmas Eve (I stayed Christmas too, Dad has lots of Hilton Honors Points, hurray!).  We attended a candlelit Christmas Eve service, ate some beef pho at a little street restaurant, and watched "It's A Wonderful Life."  We tried to incorporate some things we would traditionally do at home with something Vietnamese.  Because how many Christmases does one actually get to spend it Vietnam? 

At the Christmas Eve service.  I'm like the mom.  Always taking photos. 

On Thursday, Christmas Day, we started the morning pretty slow.  Kate-Marie and I shared a room which probably wasn't the best idea as both of us could sleep for HOURS.  We slept till almost 10:30, enjoying the air conditioning and comfortable beds.  We headed back to the cute café we had found earlier and enjoyed a long, lazy lunch.  Some of us called friends and family back home, while others read books or wrote letters and postcards.  I definitely missed home & friends & family, but it did feel really nice to just be with new people that already feel like family. 

We also checked out the water puppet theatre at the Thang Long theatre.  Borrowing from Wikipedia, "water puppetry  is a tradition that dates back as far as the 11th century when it originated in the villages of the Red River Delta area of northern Vietnam. Today's Vietnamese water puppetry is a unique variation on the ancient Asian puppet tradition.  The puppets are made out of wood and then lacquered. The shows are performed in a waist-deep pool. A large rod supports the puppet under the water and is used by the puppeteers, who are normally hidden behind a screen, to control them. Thus the puppets appear to be moving over the water. When the rice fields would flood, the villagers would entertain each other using this form of puppet play.  The theme of the skits is rural and has a strong reference to Vietnamese folklore. It tells of day-to-day living in rural Vietnam and Vietnamese folk tales that are told by grandparents to their grandchildren."  It was really different and something you wouldn't want to watch all day, but I love the history and tradition of it.  It was a fun, special thing to do on Christmas Day.  We returned to the hotel for about an hour to change clothes and dress up for our Christmas Day feast.  We went to a fancy French restaurant and enjoyed some delicious food.  For around $50, you got a three-course meal: one starter, an entrée, and a dessert.  I had shrimp bisque, seared scallops and pureed sweet potatoes, and then we all shared the desserts since they all looked good.  We got a chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream, black currant ice cream with truffles, and a cheese plate. 

Water Puppet Theatre.  The flat surface is actually a pool of water.

Dragon Puppets.  Sorry for the poor quality, I only have my iPhone with me.

Overall, it was a great trip.  I loved what we saw & did & tasted.  And I was so thankful to go with all the girls' I work with at IJM.  It was definitely a Christmas to remember.

Merry Christmas