Although Gautam and I tried to avoid spending too much time in urban areas, as we are both from/live in major metropolitan cities, Gautam New Delhi, and myself in NYC, we couldn't help but get sucked into the fast paced and unique lifestyle of Hanoi.
Hanoi is usually a jumping off point for tourists to head out to Halong Bay on the coast, or up to Sapa in the northern mountains, you can read about my time in Sapa here. However Hanoi is a fast paced, motorbike filled, cultural and cuisine epicenter you'll want to explore for a few days. There is plenty to see, dozens of temples, food tours, The Woman's Museum, Ho Chi Minh Museum, the Hotel Hilton, and the famous Hanoi Train Street. We did not make it to the Hanoi Train Street which only gives me one more reason to go back!
Hanoi
First impressions of Hanoi, the street vendors can fit what looks like an impossible amount of stuff on a bike to roll around and sell to locals or tourists. I adored the variety of shops that all appeared to sell seemingly one item, such as fabrics, pots and pans, shoes, fake flowers, or real flowers and any odds and ends you can imagine.
Temples Temples Temples
There are dozens of temples to visit in and around Hanoi but Guatam and I visited the Tran Quoc Pagoda, a Buddhist temple, and the Temple of the Jade Mountain, a Confucius temple. Both of these temples are in the middle of a lake accessed to by a bridge, are about $5 American to visit, and are closed for a few hours in the middle of the day. When visiting these temples it's important to be mindful of your attire, especially for women, to have your shoulders and knees covered. You will not be turned away but these are religious spaces and it's important to be mindful.
Tran Quoc Pagoda
Temple of Jade Mountain
The Woman's Museum
If you're feeling yourself being templed out I suggest going to The Woman's Museum. Here I fully suggest spending the extra $5 to get the audio guide, (audio guides are always preferred for me) but if you don't you will miss out on what I found to be the most interesting and inspiring information.
The Women's Museum is made up of four floors, first floor being marriage customs and child rearing throughout different ethnic groups in Vietnam, the second floor explores women's contribution to agriculture, the third (and my favorite floor) was the history of women in wartime, and the forth floor is fashion.
Welcoming you to the museum is a collection of portraits of strong women who bore the sacrifices of losing fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons in the Vietnam war, while encouraging comrades to continue the fight, and maintaining their agricultural and family duties.
Something you learn quickly in this museum is that the Vietnamese women are BADASSES! Truly they may have answered the question "Can women have it all?" Gautam and I spent a fair amount of time learning about marriage, child rearing, and agricultural practices but the floor we were absolutely mesmerized by, was the women in war time floor, so much so we closed down the place and never made it to the forth floor.
A brief (and simplified) history of conflict in Vietnam. The Vietnamese were once occupied by the French, but the Vietnamese organized a revolution in the hopes of becoming an independent communist country spear headed by their leader Ho Chi Minh. After successfully gaining liberation from the French, Vietnam was separated into North and South with the promise after one year they were to come together and vote on a new government and leader. However, that never came to be, as the United States jumped in to support the democratic south in the hopes of preventing the spread of communism from the north which was supported by China and Russia. After a long and bloody war, the United States withdrew in 1975 and Vietnam later became a single-party socialist republic. That is an incredibly brief summary, if you are interested in learning more there is a great PBS docu-series called The Vietnam War. I suggest watching it before visiting Vietnam.
Something special about Vietnamese Women is that they made up nearly 40% of the front lines in every conflict. There was, and is, a beautiful amount of women in leadership positions in committees, government organizations, and military forces. The perseverance and tenacity in which these women showed while under fire driving trucks in the pitch blackness of night, the humanity while being kept in traitorous POW camps, and the fearlessness when facing exile or execution all while maintaining the family structure and necessary agriculture responsibilities was equally inspiring as it was melancholy.
I walked away speechless, Vietnamese women are the toughest and kindest people I have had the pleasure of meeting. I can not recommend this museum enough!
Food Tours:
Something you must do in Hanoi is a food tour, Gautam and I organized one with our hostel with a company called OneTrip with Local. What is so lovely about this organization, is it brings young Vietnamese students who want to practice their english to young people from all over the world to experience local Hanoi cuisine. We were brought around by our guide Trân to try a variety of different street foods.
Many street vendors sell one kind of dish and we tried bahn mi, egg coffee, dried snacks, and fruity desserts. I suggest keeping an open mind as some things may be unfamiliar, but I found nearly everything to be delicious. There are some potent dried snacks that are definitely an acquired taste! But truly the whole experience was yummy especially the original egg coffee. We were taken to the hard to find, and often missed by tourists, cafe with original famous egg coffee. YUM!
Ho Chi Minh
Another attraction to see is the famous Ho Chi Minh Museum, Vietnamese leader has been petrified and kept in a glass case, a deeply spiritual place where pictures are not allowed and dress code is STRICTLY enforced so men and women cover your knees and shoulders. And when visiting the Ho Chi Museum make sure to put "Entrance" in google maps or you will be put all the way on the other side of the grounds. Lastly, be sure to get there before 11am. The museum closes it's doors to visitors after 11am for varying ceremonies but once your in, you can stay as long as you like.
Visitors can view Ho Chi Minh's old living champers, cars, negotiating offices, and a museum about his accomplishments as a leader of Vietnam, even Ho Chi Minh himself!
Opera
For our last night in Hanoi Gautam and I decided to splurge a little and go to a show at the Hanoi Opera House dressed to the 9s. The Opera was called My Village and was a stunning acrobatic ballet. We ooo'd and aawww'd as if children at the circus, it was a beautiful display of acrobatic and dance talent. If you can swing the $80 to see it I couldn't recommend it more.
As usual pictures are not allowed during the performance so here Gautum and I after the event.
Hanoi was a beautiful stop along the way of my South East Asian journey and the last with Gautam as he had to go home to work as I continued on. Thank you to him for all the pictures of me! Follow him on his insta @arymangk
I do hope to return to this beautiful city but for now I go on and, as always, keep curious.
-Ms. Uncharted
