Vietnam - Day 1: Hanoi

Day 1 of the tour actually began at 6pm today so I had the entire day to find my way around the capital city of Vietnam, Hanoi.

The capital of Vietnam is a charming city with a population of over six million. Hanoi is famous for its beautiful lakes, shaded boulevards, verdant public parks and its thriving Old Quarter, which is an architectural museum piece with blocks of ochre buildings retaining the air of a 1930s provincial French town. As Vietnam develops to compete with other South-East Asian countries, the beautiful Hoan Kiem Lake reflects the contrasts of modern office buildings, old Buddhist temples and the tangle of ancient streets in its still surface.

My itinerary included: Ho Chi Mihn's Mausoleum, Temple of Literature, Hoan Kiem Lake and Old Quarter.  I really pounded the pavement to see everything I wanted to see in Hanoi before my tour started.

Hanoi is a very interesting city.  After my adventure getting into the city last night, it was a bit intimidating getting out into the town by myself but didn't want to miss seeing anything.  When I walked out of my hotel I was basically in an alley that was full of women selling food.  There was barely anywhere to step to walk down to the road.  The roads in Hanoi were no better - stores spilled out onto the sidewalks, pop-up restaurants and motorbike parking took care of any spare sidewalk space.  You got used to walking in the street quickly although the number of motorbikes barreling down the road (no lanes, just where ever they found a spot) was a bit disconcerting.  Crossing the road was a challenge too.  The guidebooks advice proved correct - to cross the street you just look straight ahead and start walking; keep an even pace and don't look at the drivers or they may freak you out and you'll be stuck in the middle of the street.

Hanoi Street

Shopping

As you can see, there are no lanes.  I loved my guide, Ha's, description of driving in Vietnam: Flexible!  Or as my Cambodian guide, Ly described it, "you can drive anywhere, left, middle or right."  You can stop your bicycle in the middle of the road and sell bananas too!  What you can't get from these pictures is the noise - everyone is honking their high pitched little horns at everyone else and they are doing it every single second.

But I managed to make my way around and hit all the highlights:

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

One Pillar Pagoda

Temple of Literature (Vietnam's 1000 year old University)

Hoan Kiem Lake and the Turtle Pavilion

Opera House

Water Puppet Theater for a show

Puppet Detail

Not everyone enjoys the water puppet show but I thought it was wonderful.  The live orchestra plays traditional Vietnamese music and the puppets are just so creative telling ancient Vietnamese stories.