Hanoi

Having had our business and tourism concluded in Bangkok we headed for Vietnam, this time for Hanoi as neither of us had ever been there. 

Hanoi old quarter

Arrival was pretty easy, the customs noticed (x-rayed) a watch box in my luggage and it came out with pieces of red tape on it. The officer asked what watch it was and as I replied "Seiko" he said "Ok" and waved me on. 

The arrival hall was hectic with all kind of things going on and I just accepted one chap offering a ride to the old quarter where our hotel was. Of course he charged us more than usual but only later I figured out he took us for more than double, it still wasn't expensive though but it smarted a little knowing he had literally taken me for a ride.

The ride took nearly an hour to get from the airport to the old quarter, Hanoi seemed to be pretty well developed but compared e.g. to Bangkok still way behind. At one point we passed over the Red River, the main river crossing Hanoi on it's way to the sea, it also splits in Hanoi to Duong river and goes to the sea at Haiphong.

As we arrived the old quarter the streets were jam packed and police/ military had blocked some of the streets. We had to take our luggage and walk the last block but there the police stopped us from going and showed us to take a circular detour. Oh well, said and done we slogged around a couple blocks back from what appeared to be the way to go and it was even more jampacked by vehicles of all kinds, people and whatnot.

Then we arrived at a junction from where we could see our hotel and tried pointing it to the police at he barricade to let us through and at first hey just ignored us but some locals did say something in Vietnamese that I don't understand and slowly they understood we only wanted to go check in and let us through. Bit of a weird start of our stay. Anyway, at the hotel La Lisa we were given a room that was a bit different from the website but it would do. The evening was busy on the streets with the barricades, the hotel staff told us it was some kind of police parade event so we didn't bother going further afield considering the treatment we got at the barricades earlier. The other thing was the weather, it was very cool and overcast so we had to wear our hoodies in the evening when we went out for dinner to restaurant inside the barricades. Night time sleeping was great as we just left the window open.

Next morning the barricades were gone and we went out in search for breakfast, we settled on a shop across the street selling local sandwiches (banh mi) and local coffee. After that we waited for my local friend Quyen that was bringing me some Seiko that I had bought earlier, he came along with a translator as he was not very proficient with English. 

Then he took us to the Hoa Lo prison or also known as 'Hanoi Hilton' that according to our translator is still partly in use even today for the court house that is next door. The prison was originally built by the colonial French and used for political prisoners until Vietnam gained their independence, after that it was used for US prisoners of war, hence the Hanoi Hilton moniker. Most of the prison was demolished in the mid 90's and the remaining part exists today as a museum. The displays mainly show the prison during the French colonial period, including the guillotine room, still with original equipment, and the quarters for male and female Vietnamese political prisoners and then the US-Vietnam wartime. The French colonial era is quite depressing as the prisoners had not done anything per se except having the wrong opinion.

Hoa Lo Prison a.k.a. Hanoi Hilton

After the prison museum visit we went for some Vietnamese coffee nearby, it was located in a old French colonial building with a lovely atmosphere and also delicious coffee.

The afternoon Quyen took us to a local bonsai nursery/ exhibition/ market. The trees there were in their thousands, one prettier than the other. I didn't dare asking prices as it would anyway be impossible for me to take one on the airplane.

Bonsai tree exhibition/ nursery

As we didn't fancy going for war museums with the propagandistic vitriol we had seen in the "Hilton", we decided instead go see the museum of ethnology which displayed the many different tribes of Vietnam, their tools, handicraft, way of life and dwellings. It was very interesting as well as they had life sized buildings that had been erected there by the representatives of the tribe.

Vietnam museum of ethnology

Entrance

Traditional vessels

Traditional vessels

Traditional houses

Traditional houses

Traditional long house

Traditional Viet houses

Traditional house

As we were running out of things to do we went to see the Botanical garden that was not so much about plants but I think mostly for the trees in there. Huge grandfather trees were everywhere and quite a few locals enjoyed the tranquility from the city's hum. In one corner was a cafe where we had coffee and ice cream before we headed back to the old quarter.

Hanoi botanical garden

The best way to see a city is often the hop on - hop off bus, we booked a tour on it without any hopping and enjoyed the scenery from above. The tour is good for the national monuments and the villa district and one gets ear plugs to listen in on the running commentary about buildings and their history. We also discovered Hanoi is littered by small lakes.

Hop on - hop off bus

They say if you have not had ice cream here you have not really visited Hanoi

Local rickshaws

Opera house

City views

City views

Old temple and fort

Uncle Ho's mausoleum

Lenin

City views

City views

City views

City views

City views

Breakfast by the rail road - Hoan Kiem District

We walked off one early morning to get to the rails. Luckily we were able to get to an open cafe and some breakfast as we later learned that the whole train track scene is being closed down by the Gov't as a tourist had (fatally?) injured herself whilst taking selfies with the passing train. Doing some ex tempore googling it seems it has been closed down or attempts to restrict access. It is understandable as full size long distance trains rumble through the buildings just at an arms length from where one sits drinking coffee.

Flagged road on our walk

Hanoi old quarter

Old quarter

Confucius

Old quarter

Old quarter

P. Cầu Gỗ street

Old quarter

Old quarter

Shark Jaw building

Hanoi St Joseph's cathedral

St. Joseph's Cathedral in Hanoi, which was built during the French colonial period, is a typical example of colonial architectural works in the capital of Vietnam.

At the grounds of St. Joseph's Cathedral before it was built, there used to be a Buddhist pagoda named Bao Thien. This pagoda was the biggest and most sacred during the Ly-Tran Dynasties. At the end of the 18th century, some parts of the pagoda were destroyed to set up a market. Then, the cathedral was constructed at the site, initially of wood. It was reconstructed with baked clay in 1884, and on Christmas of 1888, its construction was finished.

During the French colonial period, Catholicism was widely spread, and St Joseph’s Cathedral became the center of Catholicism in Northern Vietnam. It served as a religious destination for thousands of Catholics in the Northern region as well as a hiding spot for Vietnamese revolutionary soldiers.

In 1954, after the retreat of French colonists from Northern Vietnam, the cathedral was closed and put under the administration of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam government. It was not until Christmas in 1990 that the cathedral was opened again for the Catholics.

Load of people thronged the front of the cathedral for selfies and group pictures, the main doors were closed but one could enter from the side door.

Inside the cathedral

As our last day in Hanoi we went to visit the Ngoc Son temple we had now passed nearly every day on our way somewhere. One had to pay admission to get in and then you passed the bridge on to the Island. The temple was quite busy and also had a room with 2 stuffed turtles that according to the poster weighed around 250kg at the time. Apparently they had enjoyed the smaller islet, , a bit away form the temple. We could still see many small turtles swimming about and chilling on the mangrove roots.

The Ngoc Son temple in the Hoan Kiem Lake

Ngoc Son temple

Ngoc Son temple

Ngoc Son temple

Ngoc Son temple

Ngoc Son temple

Turtles chilling

Turtles chilling

Turtles chilling

Thap Rua islet

Thap Rua islet

Thap Rua islet