Towers, tales and troubles of Hanoi

Welcome back! I am happy to have you again on our journey through South East Asia. Land in Hanoi with us and have a glimpse into Vietnamese culture. 

Hoàn Kiếm lake with the Turtle Tower. According to a legend, a turtle appeared to Emperor  Lê Lợi while he was on a boat  in 1428 and reclaimed a sword given to him by the Dragon King. This is why the lake's name means "Sword Lake". There are even still some real turtles inside

A city full of cultural surprises 

Having arrived in Hanoi, we realised that is what not only much colder than we expected (the average temperature being 22 degrees), but also what we considered to be chaotic traffic in Manila, Bangkok and Phnom Penh was really nothing compared to the Vietnamese capital. Crossing the street means: "Close your eyes and hope for the best". Sidewalks are blocked completely by all the shops expanding outside with vendors sitting around on plastic chairs (can anyone explain why?), motorbikes are not only parked but also driven all over on the pavement, and crosswalks are a foreign concept here. Here is a little video to illustrate a part of the everyday madness:

In addition to that, despite Vietnam being the second largest coffee producer in the world, finding coffee to fuel our day proved to be a nearly impossible task - at least the coffee we are used to. The small, so-called cafés in Hanoi mainly sell extremely strong black varieties and cà phê sữa nóng - coffee with sweetened condensed milk (don't ask me how to pronounce it). Call it cultural resistance or not, but tea was more appealing to us here:

However, things being different does not mean they have to be bad. Despite all complaints, Hanoi has plenty of good "fuel" to offer as well. Concerning coffee specialties, they like to put all kinds of crazy stuff inside, including egg yolks and yogurt. Only in Vietnam!

Cà phê sữa chua: yogurt coffee on the left, egg on the right (cà phê trú'ung) - with the obligatory mouth cleaning tea

The left one is cà phê đá - Vietnamese iced coffee

Of course, there is an abundance of fried rice and noodle varieties...

.... and fresh fruit

Another thing that surprised me was the omnipresence of the Communist hammer and sickle. After learning what this ideology can cause (not only in Cambodia), it seemed quite surreal to me - but Socialist Republic Vietnam is, after all, ruled by a Communist party. They even have the star on their flag and a Lenin Park.

Hanoi's Flag Tower

This symbol is at every corner

Chinese in Vietnam

Our eager hotel* receptionist gave us a map of Hanoi on which we traced our exploration path. First, we visited Văn Miếu - the Temple of Literature. This Confucian temple was the birthplace of the first national university in Vietnam, built in 1070. Subjects were Chinese language, philosophy and history. Apart from its numerous pavilions and halls, it now exhibits school items, uniforms and diploma of former students. 

Temple gate

One of the five courtyards

The names of those who passed the royal exam, conducted by the emperor themself, and graduated are written on these steles

There was a little boy loudly imitating this dragon in the cortyard - adorable!

The crane and the turtle are omnipresent symbols of longevity in Buddhism. Together, they stand for a long happy life

Being  a holy place, you find a lot of colourful altars here, often to the important figures of the former university

View from the top floor

In a park outside the temple, people of all ages were playing exercising and resting - indeed, all the life in Hanoi is going on outdoors

Holy grounds and charity food

Interestingly, even though over 80% of the Vietnamese consider themselves atheists, religion still plays a big role here. But maybe this is just for the tourists - anyway, another Confucian, or in this case also Taoist temple we visited was Ngoc Son, the Temple of the Jade Mountain. To access it, you have to cross the bridge over Hoàn Kiếm Lake and pass the elaborate gates. As mentioned before, the lake is affiliated with turtles and you can even see the body of an apparently 400 year old individual inside the temple.

Chinese-style paintings at the second gate

An altar in the temple

Then there was also the Trấn Quốc Pagoda, the temple with many names, almost 1500 years old and relocated from Red River to Hanoi's West Lake (Ho Tay).

View of Trấn Quốc and West Lake

This pagoda is popular at sunset, but closes around 6pm

Unusual: Female Buddhas are worshipped here as well

One of the numerous pavilions where monks pray. We saw some wandering around

Because Vietnam is (unfortunately) still a developing country, there are many places people established where you can spend your money for a good purpose while enjoying yourself. So we paid a visit to KOTO, a training restaurant where street youth are given the chance to become chefs. Your meal is prepared by cooks who are still learning, so we didn't expect too much. This why we were very pleasantly surprised by the quality of the meals.

Pumpkin-mushroom-veggie delight with chewy brown rice

This fun is a little pricey, but the creative menu and the friendly and genuine service make up for it. Also, by the time we visited, the apprentices were having a meeting near the entrance so when we left, each one of them thanked us and waved us goodbye. :) 

The heavy load of Vietnamese women

One of our must-dos in Hanoi was the Vietnamese Women's Museum. On four floors, it covers the family, traditions, history and fashion. Women's fate throughout the ages, their role in war, education, special success stories and bizarre childbirth traditions were just some of the aspects you could learn about.

There was also in interactive part where you could try and lift the famous carrying poles with baskets you see everywhere on Vietnamese streets. It was harder than expected - and women drive them around on bikes!

Essi has the situation completely under control...

...while I was struggling to keep my balance :P

Traditional costumes for men and women

(Thankfully) outdated beauty standard: Dying your teeth black (Japanese did it too)

An area dedicated to spiritual aspects: The mother goddesses, princes and princesses of different nature phenomena

Traditional Vietnamese instruments

Views of Hanoi

Our days largely consisted of strolling through the city and finding landscapes worth a closer look. It has to be said that Hanoi is very walkable, so we didn't even need any kind transport to reach our destinations (and honestly, I would have been scared to try). Enjoy our impressions of the day and night in the Vietnamese capital. 

St. Joseph's Cathedral, Hanoi's oldest church, built by the French colonialists in 1886

The back side of the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum where the former president lies

The President Palace. Apparently, Japan was visiting at that time (what a coincidence!)

Lotus fountain in a park. Lotus is found here very often as the Buddhist symbol of purity 

View of Hoàn Kiếm lake from a rooftop café

Red moon over the Red River

West Lake

House in the richer area

Hoàn Kiếm lake at night

West Lake with Trấn Quốc Pagoda view

One night in Hanoi...

Not only Bangkok is famous for its nightlife, but so is Vietnam's capital. We were too tired for a proper club night, but we did visit a few bars - especially in the Old Quarter, which is crowded with backpackers and foreign residents every night. Usually the establishments close at midnight, so you better get your share while you can. But some places are also open around the clock if you feel like continuing your after-dark experience.

But honestly, the 24-hour bars were a bit of the shady sort. Apart from some suspicious individuals, we came across a very curious but alarming party trend: Funky balls. If you never heard of these (as we didn't): It's balloons filled with laughing gas (nutrious oxide) which you simply inhale. Sounds like harmless fun, but it gets you high very easily and can even cause brain damage if consumed in too large amounts. People didn't seem to care though and those whose empty balloons started to pile up on their tables were behaving very strange. Harmless, but still... strange. The trend only came up last year and you can buy balloons for a few Vietnamese dong at every bar. No, we didn't try.

Because you can have fun without balloons :)

As I already mentioned, the real life is found on the streets in Vietnam, and so is the food. A lot of restaurants and cafés serve outside, so you can relax and enjoy the cool night breeze (so cool you have to wear a jacket).

Vietnamese hot pot on the street - you cook the noodles, meat and veggies ingredients yourself in the broth

Don't forget street markets - they are everywhere. We stocked up with the last souvenirs on Hanoi's Night Market, which was conveniently close to our hotel.

Our three and a half days in Hanoi, the city that never ceased to impess us, were over faster than we could think. Around midnight, we boarded our plane for Seoul, South Korea, where we were going to meet our Keio friends Alizée and Tiffany (spoiler: never take a night flight under 8 hours). But that's a story for the next post. See you soon :) 

* Lovely place to stay in Hanoi