Vietnam: Hanoi - A cold Têt in the city of reflections
- Where To Go Next By I&P
- Feb 6, 2023
- 4 min read
After a flight without any issues, we arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam's capital city.
We were so happy everything went well that we completely forgot to ask about the shuttle provided by Vietnam Airlines to go to Hanoi's city center, and got a Grab instead, which was probably a lot more expensive.
After we crossed the wide Red River, we reached the city itself. It has a lot of 5 to 10 storeys buildings, fancier but sadder than Ho Chi Minh City as they were not decorated for the upcoming vietnamese new year, and wide avenues. Traffic in the city is acceptable, especially when compared to Ho Chi Minh City - we could walk on most sidewalks and the majority of traffic lights were actually respected.
Some neighborhoods even had a Parisian vibe with the oak trees on the wide sidewalks, and the grey and cold autumn weather. 🤧. But in some other neighborhoods though, we felt we were back in Ho Chi Minh City. 😖
For this first afternoon, we visited Hanoi's old quarter and came across the French neighborhood where a replica of Notre Dame is located. We were particularly impressed with the way the cathedral was lit up at night.
We continued walking and reached lake Hoan Kiem, the lake of the Returned Sword. The lake is linked to a legend where a king in the 15th century returns a holy sword to a Turtle God, after having defeated the Chinese armies. I would have kept the sword! 😜
Another reminder of this legend, and one of the symbols of Hanoi, is the famous gate on one of the lake's islands, Thap Rua, which means Turtle Tower.
The other island on the lake is the site of the confucian temple Den Ngoc Son, connected to land by a beautiful red bridge that you can cross after having paid 30k VND. We came back later that night and regretted not having waited to visit it, as the night lights on the bridge were stunning. Those islands were really photogenic as their buildings reflected perfectly on the calm water of the lake.
The other famous place to visit in Hanoi is the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum. "Uncle Ho", as the Vietnamese called him, was the president of North Vietnam, who was able to gain North Vietnam's independence from the French after the Second World War. He then played political alliances with the USSR, China, the USA and France to build an independent and free Vietnam.
His mausoleum is a huge block of cement in front of a very wide avenue closed to traffic - probably where the Vietnamese armies would parade in front of their leaders (you know, with tanks and big missiles...🚀).
On the other side of the mausoleum though, you can find a park with the One Pillar Pagoda, which is effectively a pagoda built on top of a pillar.
There were some funny drawings about the laws of Karma that were fun to read. The dos and don'ts to lead a good life, in this life or the next. I am sure some of us will have great fun reading this 🤪. We will post the rest on Instagram.
Going back to the old quarter, we passed the Hanoi Flag Tower next to the Military museum.
And we had a drink on Train Street, which is actually a street built on the train tracks, with actual trains going through. So a few times a day, the police had to block tourists and especially the traffic so that the train could pass. (tough job as the motorcycles will try to pass until the train almost runs them over 😱)
On that day just before the Têt, the Vietnamese lunar new year (also known as chinese new year), we noticed that Hanoi became a lot calmer, with people just wandering around in nice clothes (more reddish than usual). With the sun out for the first time in several days, it was awesome to walk around the quiet city. People were nice and wished us a happy new year. 🎆😺
We could see some of the new year traditions like buying a chicken impalled by a flower or gifting a whole small tree and have it delivered by motorcycle.
We also went to see the Hanoi's opera house, which had some features of the Paris opera house.
We wanted to enter the temple of literature but it was closed that day, so we kept walking and stumbled on a gorgeous park with a small lake. Lake Go Kim Chau has an island in the middle with an old tree and a Chinese gazebo. The whole place was filled with artistic and artisanal pieces of artwork including decorations and calligraphy. You also had big red fake lotus flowers floating and reflecting on the lake. It ended up being one of our favorite places in Hanoi!
We concluded our stay in the Vietnamese capital by spending the evening near lake Hoan Kiem, where the Têt celebrations were taking place. There were concerts as well as food and balloon vendors (that had so many balloons we couldn't even see their faces). People were having fun walking around, dancing and enjoying the ambiance in this festive, cool evening.
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