Our first full day in Hanoi, Vietnam was a Sunday. Our daughter Andrea and her friend Jacob would not arrive until the next day so for this day it was mostly our son Aaron and us as we began to explore the area. There are various districts in Hanoi. Our hotel was on the border of the Old Town and also near the French Quarter. These are the areas we would explore in these early days.
Our hotel sits near Hoam Kien Lake so we decided that we would take a walk around the lake. When we got to the lake, there were quite a few people wandering around. One of the things we saw quite a bit of was young women often in traditional clothing who were posing for photos. This seems to be a popular trend in Vietnam. I presume they were planning to post on social media of some sort. Some of the photographers used smart phones, but others seemed to be professionals and even used light deflectors. At one point we even saw a camera crew with a young woman interviewing an older woman.
We walked along a path near the water. There are two islands in Hoan Kiem Lake. One of them has the remains of what looked like an old fortress of some sort. It’s called the Turtle Tower. The other island has a temple on it connected to the shore by a red bridge. To go out to the island and see the temple one has to pay an entrance fee so we didn’t cross over to check it out. We also saw some art pieces around the walkways among the well maintained gardens.
On the far side of the lake we stumbled upon a big celebration. Hanoi was celebrating the 80th anniversary of the formation of the national army. Along the side of the lake were all sorts of exhibits and photo ops. There was information on things like the army in song and literature, the various uniforms, the kinds of military equipment, etc. Although there wasn’t an emphasis on the Vietnam War, it felt a little weird seeing a celebration of the army that was America’s enemy in that war.
The photo ops were quite interesting. One of the first ones we saw had children holding guns as the military personnel stood around them. Others had people put in diorama type settings one might be in while in the military. People were quite enthusiastic, it seemed, to have their photos taken in these kinds of situations.
On the other side of the street from this celebration we saw a large statue and went over to check it out. I’m not sure why the person was famous. However, the interesting part was that a large group of people were there to pose for a picture in front of the statue. Most of the women were dressed in matching dresses. They stood on one side while the men (who I presume were their husbands) stood in a line on the other side. It took quite a while for them to get the photo together. Later we saw the same women posing in a group near the lake. They were hard to miss.
While Vietnam is a communist country, Catholicism is fairly significant in Hanoi. Three main cathedrals are scattered around the city. One of them was near our hotel. We checked it out and found St. Joseph’s Cathedral to be a rather unattractive building. While the architecture was interesting, it had a black and gray exterior which was unappealing. Since Christmas was near, they did have a large decorated tree in front of the church as well as a large creche scene set up nearby.
They were setting up lights around the church so I figured that seeing the church at night would be more interesting. I was right. The next evening we struggled to remember where the church was located. We finally found it, and lights now lit up the exterior of the church transforming it. The creche was also lit up and easier to see. However, the fun thing was that a group of children were there practicing for a song they were going to do on a stage in front of the church. They were doing dance moves and motions to the words of the song. It was not a traditional Christmas carol so I don’t know what the words were they were singing, but it was really cute.
We also walked a couple of miles to see one of the other Hanoi cathedrals. From the exterior Cửa Bắc Church appeared more interesting. It was painted a gold yellow color so it didn’t look as drab. They also had a nativity scene set up outside, actually two. One was a traditional scene, and the other had cutouts of children. We were able to enter this church and see the sanctuary. The most Vietnamese element to me was its color which was pinkish. Otherwise much of it looked like many of the European churches, although there was not as many chapels and embellishments inside.
On our second day Silvette and I wandered around the city streets on the other side of Hoam Kien Lake in the French Quarter. This area had both old and new elements. We saw some large shiny buildings while nearby stood older buildings which at one time would have been beautiful with ornate details. Unfortunately time had not been kind to them. Now they are pretty dilapidated and sad looking. We did walk by the Hanoi Opera House which is a major landmark. However, we didn’t try to go inside.
About noon Andrea and Jacob showed up after a long journey from San Francisco via Taipei. At that point all of us decided it was time to check out one of Hanoi’s more interesting features, the Train Street. This is a street where a train runs right down the middle of the street.
The street was a bit of a distance away, but we decided to walk there. We had not gone more than a block when we had a very funny incident. A woman approached carrying fruit dangling in baskets from a large pole she had across her shoulder. It was a typical way you sometimes see Asians carry things. She offered us fruit, but we said no. Then all of a sudden she took the long stick off her shoulder and put it on my son’s shoulders. She then took her straw conical hat and stuck it on his head. It all happened so fast. We were all laughing, and Aaron was being a good sport. At that point my daughter-in-law Michelle decided to buy some of the woman’s fruit so as a sales pitch it worked well and also provided entertainment.
It was a long walk to the Train Street with a number of scary street crossings necessary. As we were standing across from the entrance to the street, a woman approached Aaron and started talking to him telling him that the next train would come through in about a half hour. She helped us cross the street and enter the area and then showed us seats. Of course she did all this because she has a little coffee shop so we were now indebted to her. We ordered some Vietnamese coffee as well as some other food. We enjoyed it while sitting in short chairs at short tables. Here was another sales ploy that worked.
A few minutes before the train was about to come through, our hostess whisked away the tables, and she told everyone to get their knees in tight. I was on the other side of the track taking photos, and a woman told me to stand in a doorway. Then the train came through. It came fast, and it was close. There really were only inches to spare. Everyone was shocked at how close we were. Silvette took the best video of the action. I got a few still photos, but when the train went by, there wasn’t anything to really take a photo of as it was too close and too fast. (Double click the video below to see it full frame in your device)
Once we settled down from the excitement of the train, we began to walk back to our hotel following the track to the end of the street. It was a long walk back, and we were getting hungry. Michelle had a list of restaurants a friend who frequents Hanoi had given her so she took us to a hole-in-the-wall place for the typical Vietnamese phở. Silvette and I had never had phở before so it was a new experience for us. The soup was good although it did have a bit too much cilantro in it for my taste. However, it was filling and another Vietnamese experience.
With two days under our belt in Hanoi, it was time to move a little farther afield. Tomorrow we will take an excursion out of town so come back next week and learn about our trip to Ninh Binh south of Hanoi. In the meantime comments and questions are more than welcome below in the comment box.