We meet our tour guide Kim in the lobby of our hotel at 8 am. We start the day for a walk through the Old Quarter, were our hotel is located. One of our first stops is St. Joseph Cathedral. From there we continue walking. The street scene is fascinating. Lots of people sitting on small plastic stools having their meal from a street vendor or small restaurant. A few of them specialize in dog, which Kim tells us are farm-raised. Somehow that doesn’t make it sound any more appealing to any of us.
We walk through the food area - there are vegetables, fruits, seafood and meat on display. So different from our shrink-wrapped supermarket foods!
After a couple of hours of walking we go to the area where a train runs through the middle of a community - much like a street. We arrive just in time for a train, then walk along the narrow walkways between the tracks and the buildings. Women are cleaning chickens out in front of their homes. Most of the shops along the track are closed because it is Sunday morning, so we stop nearby for a coffee and to watch what appears to us to be the traffic chaos. It’s a Sunday so the traffic is not as intense, but it still feels overwhelming. So many motor bikes, some driving the wrong way on one-way streets! Yet, we really do not see any accidents even when there are five-way intersections.
Around noon a van picks us up and takes us to Indochine Restaurant for lunch. The menu includes soup, salad, appetizer, then pork, chicken, shrimp, eggplant and rice followed by fruit for dessert. We are stuffed!
Around noon a van picks us up and takes us to Indochine Restaurant for lunch. The menu includes soup, salad, appetizer, then pork, chicken, shrimp, eggplant and rice followed by fruit for dessert. We are stuffed!
Following lunch the van takes us to the Temple of Literature, the first Vietnamese university. Kim explains the significant buildings and monuments. It is graduation day and fun to see the young people dressed for the occasion and having photos taken.
Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum is next. We learn about some of the history of Vietnam, Ho Chi Mihn’s life and that he wished to be cremated when he died, but that the leaders of Vietnam instead wanted him entombed here. We walk by the small buildings where he lived.
Close by is the One Pillar Pagoda, which was originally constructed in 1049 by Emperor Lý Thái Tông in gratitude for the birth of his son. In 1954 the French destroyed the pagoda as they were withdrawing during the Indochine war so the one we visit is a rebuilt version. Tran Quoc Pagoda on West Lake is a 15 - 20 minute drive away. It is the oldest Buddhist temple in Hanoi, dating back to the Sixth Century.
It’s approaching 5pm when we hop into cyclo’s - bicycle taxi’s - for a 30 minute ride around the Old Quarter to the Water Puppet Show. This is one of the more unique forms of theater I have seen. There are puppets controlled through pipes underneath a 2 meter pool of water. Live musicians sing and play instruments to tell the stories as the puppets are manipulated by people behind the curtain. It’s something to say that we’ve done once, but this is Dan’s second experience. Lol.
Dinner tonight has been arranged the Home Restaurant. It’s an upscale venue with a set-course menu. The meal is good, but we all agree that our Indochine experience was better.
Our driver and Kim, our guide, deliver us back to the hotel a little after 8 pm. It has been a very long day.
Dinner tonight has been arranged the Home Restaurant. It’s an upscale venue with a set-course menu. The meal is good, but we all agree that our Indochine experience was better.
Our driver and Kim, our guide, deliver us back to the hotel a little after 8 pm. It has been a very long day.
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