Gess Where Travels: Hanoi, a City of Chaos

Hanoi is certainly a bustling huge city with contrasting modern high rise buildings and small traditional shops. Walking, both day and night, is a challenge as the traffic is insane. Yes, there are sidewalks but generally they appear to be motor bike parking lots forcing you to walk on the road. And then there is the act of crossing a street - not for the faint of heart! Coming back to Hanoi after our peaceful Halong Bay experience really emphasized the chaos of the city!

Water puppetry show

Lanterns everywhere!

We escaped the hustle and bustle of the city with a couple of day trips to smaller villages outside of the city. Ninh Bing was a 2 hour drive. This was an old capital of Vietnam and we visited the massive site that has temples dedicated to two early kings before enjoying a meal at a family home and strolling through the Main Street of the village. Traditions and respect for ancestors is very important to the Vietnamese and this was made clear as our local leader explained more about the kingdoms and the “religion” in Vietnam.

Then we enjoyed the sampan ride down the river in the Trang An Ecological site. The scenery was beautiful provided our first experience going through caves, this time in a boat. It really was a lovely experience until the rain started to fall. Umbrellas and ponchos weren’t doing it so the ride ended early. The boats are rowed and most of the people doing the rowing were women.

The entrance and more beautiful lanterns.

There are some must see sights in Hanoi and the first of those is the Ho Chi Minh Complex. Uncle Ho, as he is known as, is very beloved and it is considered a great honor to see his body so there were. Any local people there. As you walk through the actual place with his body is in the mausoleum, you must keep walking and absolutely no talking allowed. The complex has much more to see - beautiful grounds, a visit to his very simple stilt house and a chance to see the one pillar pagoda.

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

Ho Chi Minh’s stilt house

One Pillar Pagoda

Another important site is the Temple of Literature. This was the first university in Vietnam. There was a wonderful display of art done by students throughout Vietnam. This is obviously a busy time as there were many students there including a group in grad gowns. But even more astonishing - the young women in photo shots. They were all over here and in other locations throughout the city. Apparently this is very popular especially close to lunar New Year’s.

And they start young with the photo shots

We finally ended up at the Museum of Ethnology. This was a fabulous experience. There are 10 ethnic homes around the grounds that you can visit. People from these ethnic groups still live in their villages in these homes. The inside display was well done and showed how people in these different areas have lived in the past and in many cases continue to live today. There are 54 ethnic cultures in the country!

The wide steps are for women, the narrow for men

Our second village was off the beaten track and definitely not on the typical itinerary. Tho Ha village is a small village outside Hanoi that is not typically visited by tourists. Going off the beaten track was a fun few hours. We rode the local ferry across the river and walked to Viet and Tuyet’s home. What a treat. First we saw how rice paper was made and tried a few ourselves - probably not going in the selling basket. A drink of rice wine and then the musical entertainment started with several different instruments played and accompanied by a couple of our group. We learned a lot about the family and that Viet had been in the army in the 70’s as a musician to keep the troops motivated. It was clear as we walked through the village that we were a strange sight to see and the kids were very excited. A great afternoon.

Making rice paper

Before leaving Hanoi, we had our chance to taste egg coffee. There were many skeptics headed into the coffee shop (which you would never have found on your own as you first went through a clothing shop!) and not sure what to expect - it was delicious. It was a tough choice which was better, the coconut coffee from the previous day or the egg coffee!