Eating and Walking in Hanoi

 After falling very much in love with Vietnam's biggest city, Saigon, I didn't expect to be too impressed by the country's smaller capital, Hanoi. But this incredible country surprised me yet again. 

Walking through Hanoi is a real pleasure. One minute you're on a wide, tree-lined boulevard admiring elegant five star hotels and the colonial Opera House, the next you're dodging motorbikes on the cramped, winding streets of the Old Quarter where the sunlight is obscured by a mesh of wires and cables connecting narrow, crumbling houses. A short walk north and you find yourself on the edge of a massive lake, sipping a beer on a plastic stool on the pavement. It's a great and interesting place.

Typical house in the Old Quarter.

Old meets new in Hanoi's Old Quarter.

This brave electrician is sitting on the wires to work, they are supporting his entire weight!

We spent our whole time in Hanoi walking, ignoring the protests of my poor blistered feet. We walked around Hoan Kiem Lake, dodging the enthusiastic students that hang around pestering tourists to practice English with them, and popped into Ngoc Son Temple where old men play Chinese checkers on the pagoda overlooking the lake.

Hoan Kiem Lake with Ngoc Son Temple on the right.

We walked around and around the shop lined streets of the old town, where you can buy everything from tomb stones to dragon masks to hiking gear. 

We wandered around Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum Complex and visited his house and gardens. The complex is the only part of the city where traffic is prohibited and hence becomes overrun with power walkers and families in the early evening. We would have entered the mausoleum to catch a glance at Uncle Ho himself, who lies there embalmed in a glass box most of the year, but he's away in Russia on his annual holiday, where scientists work to preserve the 45 year old corpse. The area is surrounded by guards who impose a strict and pointless one way system, sending us on long detours for the sole purpose of their own amusement.

Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum

Hanoi's Presidential Palace. Ho Chi Minh opted to live in a modest wooden stilt house nearby rather than in the opulent palace.

We walked the edges of the citadel, which isn't at all interesting, and visited three museums. The Military Museum, opposite Lenin Park, had a good collection of aircraft, tanks and canons from Vietnam's numerous struggles. The National History and the Revolutionary Museum weren't as interesting; there weren't any boards to offer an explanation of the history and instead visitors are left to piece together information from the endless displays of photographs. I think we left the museum with a more muddled up understanding of the history than when we entered. One thing all the museums had in common was their amusingly biased captions describing the 'puppet government', 'French colonial spies', and 'fascist bandits'.

Military Museum.

For two days during our stay we couchsurfed with a couple who lived in Tay Ho, the West Lake area that seems to be popular with expats. They took us to the Communist Restaurant, a place made to resemble life after the war, when people ate state issued food rations. On the inside the restaurant has an old cozy atmosphere, with rusting bikes and cracks jugs decorating the walls. We piled into a snug booth and our hosts ordered us a feast of different foods that were commonly eaten during the early communist period. We were even given food stamps instead of a receipt. The food was some of the best food we've eaten during our six weeks in Vietnam: fried pumpkin, sweet potato leaves, meaty spring rolls, stewed pork in soy sauce, tomato and chili fried tofu... it was delicious. 

Staying up in Tay Ho gave us the opportunity to explore West Lake and Truc Bach Lake, where we probably wouldn't have ventured had we stayed in the tourist area. We walked the whole length of the lake one evening in search of my friend and former editorial boss Colette, who lives here now. We spent an evening drinking beers and eating delicious local delicacies by the lake and got fully clued up about life teaching in Vietnam, which I must admit sounds very appealing. 

On the subject of food I can confidently say that Hanoi has some of the best food in the country. It helped that we had our couch hosts and Colette to guide us towards the local dishes that we might have otherwise missed, but we were in food heaven for a whole four days. Some of our favourites were:

Pho Chien Phong; sliced beef, onions and greens in a meaty gravy, eaten with fried bread.

Pho Cuon; minced beef and fragrant herbs rolled in glutinous rice paper, dipped into savoury apple soup.

Bun Cha; barbecued pork, rice noodles, mixed greens and the apple soup.

Nem; springrolls. We've had srpingrolls all over Vietnam and none have compared to the ones we've eaten in Hanoi. Stuffed with minced pork and vermicelli noodles, served with rice noodles and, you guessed it, apple soup for dipping.

Mixed herbs (incl. corriander, mint, anise basil, chili leaf, lettuce), white rice noodles, apple soup, bbq pork, springrolls.

We visited Hoa Lo Prison, where the French imprisoned and tortured Vietnamese revolutionaries. It's now a museum. I was again amused by the amount of propaganda in there. A small part of the prison is dedicated to the American War and a video shows American prisoners grinning like fools and having a wonderful time playing chess in the prison, which was by then controlled by the North Vietnamese. The subtitles explain how lucky the soldiers were to be captured by the Vietnamese, such a kind and humane bunch, and even suggests the prisoners were given presents from the guards upon there release. I'm no historian but that seems unlikely.

For a quiet break away from the chaos of the city we visited the Temple of Literature, a Confucianism Center and historic place where scholars would study before being tested by the king. The temple is also the site of Vietnam's first university, which was destroyed in the war. The flower-filled gardens, pond and ornate courtyards provided us with a quiet place to rest our weary feet after a sweaty day walking around the city.

Court yard in the Temple of Literature.

To top it off I managed to get a filling done in Hanoi for just $7.50/£4.50, not a bad saving considering the same dental work would have cost me $100/£60 in the UK!

How To Get To...

The city sights: Walk. Or be sensible and get a cyclo, moto or traditional taxi.

We Stayed At...

We actually stayed at two different hotels and spent two night couchsurfing.

Hanoi Cental Hotel: $15/£9 small but above average room located right in the center of the Old Quarter.

Fantasea Hotel: $12/£8.20 small but decent room located on the west edge of the Old Quarter.