Hanoi

After Ha Long Bay we travelled back to Hanoi, a journey that took about 4 hours.  On the way we stopped at a little village which specializes in ceramics.  Some of the ceramics were quite beautiful -- and the mode of transport from where they were made to where they were being sold was pretty incredible too!

We're just coming into harvest time here in northern Vietnam and I could see lots of signs of that happening.   Women out in the fields picking the rice, rice husks out in front of houses to dry, and piles of dried rice stalks also out drying.

Again I did my best to take some photos of the passing scenery...

(coming into Hanoi)

(the view from my hotel room in Hanoi)

And I particularly liked the herd of water buffaloes walking alongside the "highway".  I'm not really sure that highway is the best word to use but regardless of the condition of the road it is the main artery between Ha Long Bay and Hanoi - two very major destinations in northern Vietnam.

Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam, it has a population of just over 6 million people, and it is built on the banks of the bustling Red River.  A small village existed on the site of current day Hanoi as early as the 3rd century AD and the first defensive citadel was established in the 8th century.
French colonialists occupied Hanoi in 1883 and it became their main administrative centre.
On September 2nd, 1945, the free and independent nation of Viet Nam was proclaimed in Hanoi by Ho Chi Minh.
In July 1976 Hanoi was officially declared the capital of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

As with many areas in Vietnam, large part of Hanoi were destroyed by wars in the 19th and 20th centuries and yet to me anyway, Hanoi seems to still have a stronger feeling of 'history' to it than Ho Chi Minh City did.  I quite like this city.

Once we got to Hanoi we had a bit of free time in the afternoon and then that evening we went to a water puppet show.  Water puppetry is a very traditional Vietnamese art form, with the stage being a large 'pool' and all the puppeteers actually standing in the water and manoeuvring the puppets from behind a screen/curtain so they can't actually see what the puppets are doing.  It's quite a unique art form and I thoroughly enjoyed the performance.

The next morning I visited the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Complex.  This historic site is the holiest of holy for many Vietnamese, and where Ho Chi Minh's body is displayed in a glass sarcophagus (despite his wishes to be cremated).  The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Complex was built in 1973-1975 (after the war ended) and is built using native materials from all over Vietnam.

Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately because apparently the queue is often quite long) Ho Chi Minh's body is currently in Russia for yearly maintenance so I didn't actually get a chance to see the body.  The mausoleum itself though is still a rather impressive building, and I was there for the 'changing of the guard' ceremony.  Even when the body is not in the mausoleum the guards are on duty 24/7.

In addition to the mausoleum the complex is also home to several other buildings.  The Ho Chi Minh Museum is a triumphalist monument dedicated to Ho and the onward march of revolutionary socialism.

This Stilt House was apparently Ho's official residence, on and off, from 1958 - 1969.  Its simplicity reinforces his reputation as a man of the people.

One Pillar Pagoda, built by Emperor Ly Thai Tong (1028-54) was designed to represent a lotus blossom, a symbol of purity, rising out of a sea of sorrow.

The Presidential Palace.  In stark contrast to Ho's stilt house, this imposing colonial building was constructed in 1906 as the palace of the Governor General of Indochina.  Although Ho could have lived in this palace he apparently chose not to - especially when so many Vietnamese people were living in poverty.

The hotel I'm staying in here in Hanoi is located in a part of the city known as the Old Quarter - Hanoi's historic heart.  This area is absolutely pulsing with life and buzzing with motorbikes!
In the 13th century, Hanoi's 13 guilds established themselves in the city, each one taking a different street, and those streets are now known as the 36 streets in the Old Quarter.  Hang means 'merchandise' or 'shopping' and is usually followed by the name of the product that was traditionally sold on that street.  Even today many of the 36 streets are dedicated to a particular product, so you can shop on 'Sunglass Street' or "Silk Street' or "Fashion Street', etc.

 (Haircut anyone - right on the sidewalk (what there is of one) seems like a good place.)

This is actually a "bar", and I'm on the street corner kiddy-corner doing exactly the same thing ... having a beer.  It's called bia hoi - locally brewed draft beer which sells for about 15 cents a glass.  All you have to do is sit down on one of the little plastic stools and you're served a beer.  And you're literally all over the sidewalk and on the street. Quite the experience!

Hoan Kiem Lake - "Lake of the Restored Sword" is the centrepiece of Hanoi and definitely of the Old Quarter.   Legend has it that in the mid-15th century heaven gave Emperor Ly Thai To a magical sword that he used to drive the Chinese out of Vietnam.  One day after the war, while out boating, he came upon a giant golden tortoise; the creature grabbed the sword and disappeared into the depths of the lake - hence the charmed sword was returned to the lake where it came from.  And although I didn't see any there are apparently many large turtles that do live in the lake nowadays.

Ngo Son Temple, founded in the 18th century, is on an island in the northern part of Hoan Kiem Lake.  It's a wonderfully quite spot to sit and watch the hustle and bustle of Hanoi happen all around you.

St. Joseph Cathedral is like being transported back to medieval Europe.  This neo-Gothic cathedral was inaugurated in 1886.

Bach Ma Temple was built by King Ly Thai To in the 11th century and is one of the oldest temples in Hanoi.    It was built to honour a white horse that guided King To to this site and where he chose to build his city walls.  I particularly liked the staircase railings.

This is the Hanoi Opera House which took 10 years to build and was opened in 1911.  It was the jewel in the crown of French Hanoi.

As you can see, Hanoi offers a lot and really I've only seen the tip of the iceberg.  There are many museums, pagodas, old jails, etc., etc., that I'm just not going to have time to see.