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| Marg in historic Hanoi |
Arriving back into Hanoi from our wonderful
experience at Sapa, we returned to the Hanoi Hm Boutique Hotel.
It was so well
located, right in the heart of Hanoi's old quarter.
Hanoi is Vietnam’s capital and the 2nd largest
city (around 7 mil people).
It has an historic centre which we were keen to
explore.
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| Traditional tube houses of Hanoi |
When we say historic, we mean, very, very old.
Hanoi celebrated its 1000th anniversary in 2010 !
Stepping out of our hotel, we were plunged
straight into the old quarter, with a tangled web of narrow streets,
overshadowed by two and three story buildings.
It was humming with the sound of motor
scooters and street sellers.
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| Chaotic but organised traffic |
The buildings are the traditional tube houses,
a style of architecture that is apparently unique to this part of Hanoi.
They are called “tube” houses because, way
back, the government tax was based on the width of your house – wide house =
big tax.
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| Shoe street corner (behind the basket bicycle) |
This resulted in houses being built that are
very narrow at the street-front, but that penetrate deep into the city block.
This long narrow tube-like shape has
courtyards to let the sun in, and now days, shops at the street-front.
Setting out for a walk, we were amazed at the
way the traffic seemed chaotic, yet somehow, survived to reach the next
intersection.
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| Hoan Kiem Lake with Ngoc Son Pagoda behind |
We learned that the best way to cross the road
was to just step out into a gap, and keep walking at a steady pace to the other
side.
The drivers/riders judge your pace and
distance and somehow, they miss you.
Onward we went, looking braver than we felt.
We walked along the “Paper street”, “Tin
Street”, “Shoe Street” and other streets so named because of the wares made and
sold there. It was absolutely fascinating.
Later, we came across the attractive Hoan Kiem
Lake, and on a small island in the centre, was Ngoc Son Pagoda.
The lake was surrounded by walkways, and the whole area was lovely.
Moving on, we visited ancient temples, the Chua Lang Pagoda, One Pillar Pagoda, the Temple of Literature, Museums, and other interesting places.
Really tired by this time, we headed back to the hotel to rest up before dinner.
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| Chua Lang Pagoda |
The lake was surrounded by walkways, and the whole area was lovely.
Moving on, we visited ancient temples, the Chua Lang Pagoda, One Pillar Pagoda, the Temple of Literature, Museums, and other interesting places.
Really tired by this time, we headed back to the hotel to rest up before dinner.
That day was Marg’s birthday, so in the
evening, we visited a nearby French style restaurant to celebrate.
The restaurant had a lovely décor, the service
was good and the food was great.
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| Water puppets |
The next day we did more sightseeing, this
time, outside the old city.
We managed to find our way to Ho Chi Minh’s
Mausoleum, the Opera House, the Presidential Palace and other places.
All up,
we saw heaps and had a great time.
We really liked Hanoi, its ambiance and its
people.
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| Our boat for the Ha Long Bay trip |
Marg found it on Grab-One in New Zealand, and
their price was so good that we bought a tour straight away.
It was cheaper than
what we could have done, if booking everything ourselves.
This was a departure from our normal style of
independent travel - we were keen to see how it would work for us.
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| Some of the many Ha Long Bay islands |
The next morning, we caught the Go-Asia bus
for a four-hour drive to Ha Long Bay.
This was to be the first part of our tour
with them.
Ha Long Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
It’s on the Vietnamese coast, about 160 km south of Hanoi.
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| Ha Long Bay fishing boat |
The Bay is full of islands, each one covered
in jungle and interesting limestone rock formations.
Our trip around Ha Long Bay was to last for
two nights, and done in a traditional Vietnamese boat, converted to accommodate
tourists.
There were 10 of us on the boat, in six
cabins.
Our co-travellers were of mixed age and nationality, and good company.
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| Ha Long Bay boat community |
We set out into the Bay, and we were
immediately taken with the stillness of the water and the incredibly
atmospheric mist that we sailed through.
Over the next two days we stopped at various
islands, including the Sung Sot cave and others.
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| Drinks on our last night in fabulous Hanoi |
We ate beautifully prepared fresh
Vietnamese food, had a Vietnamese cooking class, and generally relaxed and had
a fabulous time.
On the second day, we also took ourselves off
on a kayak tour of the bay.
We paddled around one of the more interesting
islands - a big rock really - and found a whole community of boats on the other
side.
The boats were the homes of local people, who
live off what they can get from the sea.
We waved at them and they waved back – quite a
friendly lot.
Too soon after, we had docked again, and were
returning to Hanoi for the night.
The next day, we did a bit more sightseeing in
Hanoi, then ended up at one of the local bars for a drink and a bit more people
watching and relaxing.
Then at around 6:30 pm, we were picked up and
taken to the train station, ready for an overnight train trip south, to Da Nang. and Hội An.