Sunday 13th November 2022
Today’s our first full day in Hanoi, and we set off to explore the Old Quarter. We passed a lot of interesting streets and shops, including a brightly coloured lantern store which I really liked.
A little later, we came across a shop selling bamboo ladders, which I also thought was quite cool.
For lunch, we went to Chả Cá Thăng Long. It was absolutely packed and we had to wait outside until a table was ready. Pretty much the only dish served here is Cha Ca, fish fried with turmeric and dill. They bring a little gas stove to each table, which you cook the fish on.
It also comes with rice noodles, spring onions, herbs, peanuts, and a dipping sauce. You put a bit of everything into a bowl, then mix it all up. It was amazing. Probably one of my favourite Vietnamese dishes.
After lunch, we continued walking until we got to train street. It’s now forbidden for foreigners to walk over the train tracks and so it was very quiet, though still a cool place to see.
We carried on walking until we reached the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum. It was a bit if a mission finding our way in, and we ended up walking most of the way around the perimeter. Several people along the way seemed to think it was closed. I don’t think they were trying to scam us as most of them appeared to be confused tourists!
We were just about to give up, when we found a way in. You have to go through a security scan to get in (we’d passed a couple along our way but they were all closed).
The first building we came to was the Ho Chi Minh museum. We didn’t go inside (there’s an entry fee if you do want to) but it’s quite an imposing building.
Just beyond the museum is the Chùa Diên Hựu Buddhist temple. It’s a relatively small temple, but very colourful and ornate inside.
Behind the temple is the one pillar pagoda. I must admit it was way smaller than I was expecting, a little underwhelming but still beautiful.
We continued walking until we reached the mausoleum itself. We couldn’t go inside as apparently the remains of Ho Chi Minh are sent away for maintenance during October and November. If you come another time of year, it’s open to visitors in the morning only.
It was still worth seeing the mausoleum from the outside, and the grounds surrounding it are very pleasant to walk around.
After the mausoleum, we headed to the Botanic Gardens. On the way we came across a mobile hairdresser, who’d set up shop in the middle of Hanoi. This seems to be quite a common thing here, as we saw a few of them during our time in Hanoi.
We had to pay a small fee to get into the Botanic Gardens (can’t remember the exact amount, but it was literally a few pence). It was a very pleasant place to wander through, with a big lake in the middle and an area with a few sculptures off one of the paths. It felt like this is a popular spot for locals to come on the weekend, to exercise and socialise.
We exited at the opposite end of the Botanic Gardens, and it was then a short walk to the Ho Tay lake. The lake is vast, and I’m sure if it was less hazy than when we were there, the views across the water would be spectacular.
We walked around the lake to Tran Quoc Pagoda. It’s got a lovely location on the lakeside but was again smaller than I was as expecting (mainly because the icon on google maps makes it look huge!).
As we left the temple, we noticed the other side of the lake had lots of swan shaped pedalo boats.
We didn’t bother to have a go, but instead continued around the lake to Ma Xó cafe for a drink. This is the first cafe we’ve been in where you need to take your shoes off to enter. Upstairs is a cute little balcony, which we sat on and enjoyed a cocktail with lovely views over the lake. Pete pointed out some huge rats climbing the trees opposite us – I had no idea that rats could climb trees!
After our drink, we headed back into the centre. Our lunch was very big and filling, so we weren’t hugely hungry and shared a pork Bahn Mi from Bánh mì Long Hội. It was an excellent Bahn Mi, though not quite the best we’ve had in Vietnam (an unnamed street vendor in Saigon holds the top spot for us!)
Tomorrow will be an early start, so we picked up a couple of cold beers and headed back to our hotel for another episode of Manifest on Netflix
Emma and Pete’s Asian Adventure 