Here are some of our favorite photos from the trip (each photo is a thumbnail linked to a higher quality picture.):
1) Ho Thien Quang Lake, Hanoi, Vietnam, February 12, 2025 - A new adventure for Jonna and I! After 20 hours of travel we made it to Hanoi, Vietnam a little after midnight. We collapsed for a few hours but still ended up waking up before our phone alarms went off at 8am. We grabbed a quick breakfast at the hotel and then headed out to explore Hanoi. Directly across the road from out hotel was Thien Quang Lake so our first order of business was a walk around the lake. This introduced us to the neighborhood and helped wake us up. While we were out we stopped at a bank to withdraw some Vietnamese Dong. You feel rich when you queue up 1.5 million for withdrawal but less so when you do the math of 25,000 Dong to 1 dollar US – which comes out to only $60.
2) P. Quang Trung, Hanoi, Vietnam, February 12, 2025 - Next we cast our sight further afield with a 30 minute walk to Hoàn Kiém Lake – the center of Old Hanoi. Along the way we got a sense of Hanoi – sidewalks packed with parked scooters and pop-up food stalls. Every stop light was a drag race start for dozens of scooters, many loaded down with a family of four or stacked high with goods. Cars squeeze three wide on a road marked for two lanes. Old men in military uniforms patrol the streets and young people walk blindly through traffic with their eyes firmly fixed on their cell phones. Red and yellow flags fly in front of every building and murals of "Uncle Ho" look down every few blocks. The air pollution makes your eyes sting and, despite lots of shop owners sweeping in front of their stores, every walking surface is covered in things you’d rather not think about. Tet, aka New Year, just passed and there were flowers bursting out in all the parks – peach blossoms and roses and chrysanthemums were everywhere.
3) Tháp Rùa (Turtle Tower), Hoàn Kiếm Lake, Hanoi, Vietnam, February 12, 2025 - We walked all the way around Hoàn Kiém Lake with a stop to see the Den Ngoc Son temple.
4) Đền Ngọc Sơn (Ngoc Son Temple), Hoàn Kiếm Lake, Hanoi, Vietnam, February 12, 2025 - There were plenty of tourists but also loads of faithful Buddhists stopping in to offer blessings and offerings to the various shrines inside. The weather was surprisingly nice - overcast and mid-60s (F). A little misty at times and high humidity even when it wasn’t trying to rain.
5) People's Committee of Hà Nội City, Hanoi, Vietnam, February 12, 2025 - "Uncle Ho" is revereed in Vietnam and one of the most murals of him was on the front of the People's Committee building.
6) Bảo Tàng Phụ Nữ Việt Nam (Vietnamese Women's Museum), Hanoi, Vietnam, February 12, 2025 - After our circumnavigating of the lake we walked two blocks south to visit the Vietnamese Women’s Museum.
7) Bảo Tàng Phụ Nữ Việt Nam (Vietnamese Women's Museum), Hanoi, Vietnam, February 12, 2025 - All of the shrines have a wide variety of offerings on display. While fruit and incense are the most common there are also stacks of more mundane commercial foods like bottled water, fruit juice boxes and even soda.
8) Bảo Tàng Phụ Nữ Việt Nam (Vietnamese Women's Museum), Hanoi, Vietnam, February 12, 2025 - The museum was an interesting glimpse into this decidedly Communist culture. There was a pride in the role women play in this society. At times it fell back to well worn stereotypes of women as child-bearers and cooks. However other parts of the museum highlighted the hard work women do in agricultural fields and the fighting and transportation duties filled by women during the two back-to-back wars for Independence (aka the French and American Wars.) Then there was a room highlighting modern women who are leaders in Science, Officers in the Military, CEOs of Businesses and stars of Entertainment. Another thing that stood out was the focus in the museum on the ethnic diversity within Vietnam. While the ethnically dominant Viet people were well represented just about every display also talked about how the various minority ethnic groups dealt with the topic being presented whether it was marriage customs or child rearing or agricultural work or clothing or military service. Fascinating stuff and we were inside over an hour checking it all out.
9) P. Lý Thường Kiệt, Hanoi, Vietnam, February 12, 2025 - From there we headed back to the hotel to figure out lunch. Food is ever-present in Hanoi and shockingly inexpensive. Every street is covered with street vendors who set up carts on the sidewalk and spread out little stools and crates for tables and chairs. A typical meal might cost the equivalent of $1 or $2 and is cooked to order. Nearly all ice is made by one of two government run industries, left over from French breweries that were set up during the colonial era, and is safe for delicate western stomachs. This meant that Vietnamese Iced Coffee (dark roast coffee, sweetened condensed milk and ice) was on the menu to keep jet-lagged bodies functioning!
10) Tiệm Sốt Xê, Hanoi, Vietnam, February 12, 2025 - However, when we arrived back at our hotel we were hit with a big surprise – we are doing a small group tour starting on the 15th and had asked the tour company to book us four additional nights at the hotel. Unfortunately, they only booked us for one night so we suddenly found we didn’t have a room for the next three nights and we were an hour late checking out of the room. Yikes! Fortunately the hotel had availability for tonight so we handed them a credit card to book that room which bought us time to deal with the situation. Over the next few hours we got it resolved – we will be staying at the same hotel all three nights but will switch rooms a couple of times. That was an adrenaline rush which helped keep us awake after the short night’s sleep! While this was being figured out with the tour company we headed back out to the neighborhood just to the north of us to find lunch. We found a small sidewalk Phó shop that fit the bill. Two bowls of noodles, Jonna’s with beef and mine with tofu, came to $3 total. Wow, so good and so cheap it was amazing.
11) Di Tích Nhà Tù Hỏa Lò (Hoa Lo Prison), Hanoi, Vietnam, February 12, 2025 - From there we walked a few blocks towards the Old Quarter to our next stop – Hoa Lo Prison, also known as the Hanoi Hilton.
12) Di Tích Nhà Tù Hỏa Lò (Hoa Lo Prison), Hanoi, Vietnam, February 12, 2025 - As expected this is a major tourist attraction and thus a major propaganda site. The two main messages presented are that it was built by the French to torture independence fighters and then it was used to humanely house Imperialist American criminals during the glorious war for Freedom. The messaging was so strong it was actually enjoyable – like coating a cake with so much froo-froo frosting that it becomes a piece of unique art. Still, the physical place was chilling to visit even if the propaganda was laid on a bit thick.
13) Train Street, Hanoi, Vietnam, February 12, 2025 - After the prison we took a looping route back towards the hotel in order to see another unique Hanoi tourist site. Train Street is a narrow, block long alley with train tracks running down the middle of it. On either side of the tracks are rows of chairs or tiny two seat tables. Twice a day the passenger train from the north of the country rolls through literally brushing the knees of those seated along Train Street. We arrived 10 minutes before the scheduled arrival and got a table (for the price of two cold drinks – about $2.50) The Vietnamese train service is clearly not run by the Germans or the Japanese. Punctuality isn’t their strong point. About 30 minutes after the scheduled time a big old train thundered through at about 30 mph. How this happens twice a day without gore and mayhem is beyond me. It must be a train geek’s idea of heaven though because you literally can’t get closer to a train and not be squashed. After that memorable experience we finished our walk back to the hotel to rest for a bit.
14) Hanoi Street Food Tour, Hanoi, Vietnam, February 12, 2025 - Then at 6pm we headed out for our final experience of the day – a three hour guided food tour with a local guide we had booked online a month ago. Our guide was a delightful young man named "Tony" who lives in the countryside outside Hanoi and who had learned English by watching American TV shows and movies. He was very good – we went to half a dozen different places ranging from street carts to full restaurants. We took a ride-share (Grab is the local Uber clone) to the Old Quarter and then walked to different food vendors in that neighborhood. For each place he explained it ahead of time, made sure he understood all our food restrictions and then ordered whatever specialties made each place unique. In nearly every case we could watch the vendor cook the dish.
15) Hanoi Street Food Tour, Hanoi, Vietnam, February 12, 2025 - At our first stop we had steamed rice pancakes filled with pork or egg.
16) Hanoi Street Food Tour, Hanoi, Vietnam, February 12, 2025 - Then our next stop was green papaya salad accompanied by lemon tea and green tea for drinks. This was so delicious that we ended up coming back to this food cart two more times over the next week to get more!
17) Hanoi Street Food Tour, Hanoi, Vietnam, February 12, 2025 - The Papaya Salad cart only had a few options, the most expensive of which was $1.05 (30,000 Dong).
18) Hanoi Street Food Tour, Hanoi, Vietnam, February 12, 2025 - Then it was around the corner for fried food.
19) Hanoi Street Food Tour, Hanoi, Vietnam, February 12, 2025 - Pork stuffed pillows, pork spring rolls and shrimp cakes. I skipped the meat but did have a tasty kumquat tea.
20) Chùa Lý Triều Quốc Sư, Hanoi, Vietnam, February 12, 2025 - Next door to the fried food vendor was a small neighborhood temple and when we asked about it Tony brought us in to look around. It wasn't a touristy temple but a small shrine where the locals in this neighborhood made offerings and prayed. On the shrine I spotted a stack of Coca-Cola cans - Clearly the gods like their soda as much as I do!
21) Hanoi Street Food Tour, Hanoi, Vietnam, February 12, 2025 - Next was the classic banh mi sandwich made with egg omelet and pickled cucumber. The street vendor Tony really likes wasn't serving this evening so we found a store-front shop just down the street for the sandwhich. The French baguette used for the sandwhich was perfect! One any French Boulangeries would have been proud to serve. Then with the soft egg and vinegary condiment it was divine!
22) Hanoi Street Food Tour, Hanoi, Vietnam, February 12, 2025 - Despite us already being stuffed our next stop was a Phó shop tucked into a little alley for noodles with scrambled egg, onion and peanuts. A huge bowl was $1 and was so delicious I couldn't leave it unfinished!
23) Hanoi Street Food Tour, Hanoi, Vietnam, February 12, 2025 - When we left there we waved the white flag of culinary surrender but Tony tempted us with fresh fruit for a desert. We found a side alley with a shop specializing in fresh fruit in a sweetened condensed milk sauce. No wafer thin mint was offered but we were definitely doing our impression of the famous Monty Python gourmand at that point. We chose to walk back the 2 miles back to the hotel just to aid our digestion. We next day we had a day long walking tour scheduled with Tony. Thanksfully, we didn't explode during the night from overeating and even more thankful that we didn't get sick because we broke all our long held travel rules – never eat uncooked greens, never eat unpeeled fruits and veggies, never have ice, avoid street vendors serving seafood, don’t use utensils and serving dishes stacked at tables. We did all of that – At some point I thought I might as well lick the table cloth because I’d broken every other hygiene rule for safe travels! Still, it was a tasty tour and we dodged the bacteria bullet. With our hotel room safe for the night we settled in for a full night's sleep to get us ready for an early start in the morning. I think we had a terrific first day of our exploration of Vietnam.
24) Ao cá Bác Hồ (Uncle Hồ' Fish Pond), Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Complex, Hanoi, Vietnam, February 13, 2025 - For our second full day of exploring Hanoi we really hit the ground running… or at least walking. I am guessing we walked at least 8 miles over the course of the day. It all started with us waking up at 7am in order to grab a quick breakfast at the hotel and then going down to the lobby at 8am to meet up once again with Tony, our guide from last night’s food tour. He offered us taking a ride share north to the Ho Chi Minh Complex but we said we’d rather walk to see more of the city. As a result we made a snaking 2.5 mile stroll through a couple of different neighborhoods seeing various International Embassies, large commercial towers full of Vietnamese companies, fancy neighborhoods and blocky government buildings. Just before we got to the huge West Lake we hit the Ho Chi Minh Complex. This is a giant park centered on the mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh – a massive dark gray granite shrine to Ho Chi Minh with his embalmed body on display inside. Within Vietnam this site is treated with religious veneration with thousands of people streaming through daily to respectfully file past the glass cabinet that contains the corpse. Hundreds of soldiers in white (the color associated with death and mourning in Vietnamese culture) dress uniforms enforcing strict rules of respectful behavior – no hats, no sun glasses, no cameras, no talking, single file line, hands down at your side, etc. After we exited I had a lot of thoughts about the cult of personality that is so easily built around strong nationalistic leaders and the blinding power that comes with that near sacred veneration of political figures. But the mausoleum isn’t the only piece of Uncle Ho that is worshipped in this complex. This area was developed by the French at the end of the 1800s and into the early 20th Century as the center of their Colonial government. After the French were defeated in 1954 and the country was split into North and South the Communists took over the buildings as party headquarters. So Ho Chi Minh had an office in the buildings which is now preserved and available to see.
25) Nhà sàn Bác Hồ (Ho Chi Minh’s Stilt House), Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Complex, Hanoi, Vietnam, February 13, 2025 - Ho Chi Minh lived a pretty humble life and had a traditional two room Vietnamese stilt house built on the grounds for his home. That is also available to tour.
26) Ao cá Bác Hồ (Uncle Hồ' Fish Pond), Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Complex, Hanoi, Vietnam, February 13, 2025 - Jonna and our guide Tony pose next to the lake that is located in the middle of the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Complex.
27) Lăng Chủ Tịch Hồ Chí Minh (Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum), Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Complex, Hanoi, Vietnam, February 13, 2025 - No photos are allowed of the front or inside the actual Mausoleum that contains Hi Chi Minh's body. However, if you walk around to the back you can get a photo of building from there.
28) Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Complex, Hanoi, Vietnam, February 13, 2025 - As if seeing the preserved body of Hi Chi Minh wasn't strange enough and preserving both his home and office as memorials wasn't odd then surely the giant video billboards spread around the complex playing looping videos of people literally singing his praises will have you thinking about dangers of venerating political leaders...
29) Bảo Tàng Hồ Chí Minh (Ho Chi Minh Museum), Hanoi, Vietnam, February 13, 2025 - Then, to continue the Ho overload a huge museum was built in the 1990s which houses many of his personal artifacts but is also over-whelmingly a highly stylized propaganda theater. As with the presentation at Hoa Lo Prison that we saw yesterday it is propaganda raised to such a level that it is both artsy and kind of comical. It was made even more surreal because most of the museum was filled with hundreds of very young school children on field trips and hundreds of soldiers in full dress green uniforms being given very serious tours by very serious guides.
30) Bảo Tàng Hồ Chí Minh (Ho Chi Minh Museum), Hanoi, Vietnam, February 13, 2025 - Highly enjoyable just to be in the middle of it all and being self aware of the craziness it represented. The other fun part of being in the whole complex was seeing the reaction of some of the Vietnamese to us two white Americans being there. We had village women from rural parts of Vietnam that were dressed in their finest clothes in order to see "Uncle Ho" that asked us to take photographs with them. Fortunately Tony was there to interpret and explain to us what was going on. Then, when we were in the museum the kids were so excited to see us they swarmed around us 2 and 3 kids deep to get high fives and fist bumps. Even some of the teachers and, even more surprisingly the soldiers, got in on the parade past us for high fives. See, surreal!
31) Đền Núi Sưa, Hồ Tròn Bách Thảo (Hanoi Botanical Garden), Hanoi, Vietnam, February 13, 2025 - After spending about three hours in the complex we were ready to sit for a bit so we found the nearest coffee shop where we could sit, people watch and caffeine up. It turned out to be a lousy café but at least we got to rest our feet for a bit. It was also interesting to see one unique aspect of this part of Hanoi – the traffic. The roads are generally a pretty chaotic place in Hanoi with bicycles, pedicabs, scooters, cars, vans and buses all making their own way regardless of what lines are painted on the roads or what the traffic lights are doing. However, on the roads around the Complex where there are hundreds of military and police the roads suddenly become very orderly. Everyone stops when lights change, stay strictly in the lanes, only drive in the direction of the traffic around them and drastically reduce the use of their horns. I can only imagine what this would look like from above – like there is a magic force field around the mausoleum that causes an unpredictable cloud of movement to suddenly become orderly. After our coffee break, now buzzing from the high octane brew, we walked over to the Bách Tháo botanical garden. This rather rundown park was a sad version of an urban garden with some even sadder bird enclosures, some under-used workout equipment, a few varieties of trees and a messy pond inside. There was a small temple that was interesting and brightly decorated with fresh flowers.
32) Hồ Tròn Bách Thảo (Hanoi Botanical Garden), Hanoi, Vietnam, February 13, 2025 - However, the only real highlight of the Botanical Garden was a small orchid collection in the yard next to the public restroom. Still, it was quiet and mostly empty so a striking contrast with the Complex next door.
33) Hồ Tròn Bách Thảo (Hanoi Botanical Garden), Hanoi, Vietnam, February 13, 2025 - But visiting the garden meant we walked past a little restaurant that we decided to try for lunch and that turned out to be a good choice. A veggie banh mi sandwich for me and chicken phó for Jonna. The place also made fresh fruit smoothies, fresh squeezed sugarcane juice, hacked open coconuts and other interesting drink options but we were so thirsty from walking in this humid weather we opted to just drink bottled water. There was also a perfectly restored motorized bicycle parked in front of the cafe that I thought looked particularly interesting.
34) Hoàng Thành Thăng Long (Imperial Citadel of Thang Long), Hanoi, Vietnam, February 13, 2025 - Our next stop, after lunch, was the Hanoi Imperial Citadel. Vietnam was under Chinese rule for some 800 years and this citadel was the center of that control. The site is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is also still an active archeologic research site. Nearly all of the original citadel walls have been destroyed but the massive south gate still stands, as do many of the palace buildings from inside – many of which now house museums.
35) Thang Long Archeological Exhibition, Hoàng Thành Thăng Long (Imperial Citadel of Thang Long), Hanoi, Vietnam, February 13, 2025 - We visited a couple of the museum buildings where we got to see some of the artifacts that the archeologists have found which cover multiple dynastic periods that span the multiple hundreds of years during which the Citadel was the administrative center of Vietnam.
36) Hoàng Thành Thăng Long (Imperial Citadel of Thang Long), Hanoi, Vietnam, February 13, 2025 - The main boulevard running from the south gate through the middle of the Citadel complex was brightly decorated but also showed the distinctly Chinese aesthetic which is unusual in modern Vietnam which is now more closely aligned with Russia than China.
37) General Command Headquarters Bunker, Hoàng Thành Thăng Long (Imperial Citadel of Thang Long), Hanoi, Vietnam, February 13, 2025 - However, the most fascinating thing for me is a much more modern construction. During the "American" War the North Vietnamese built a set of bunkers underneath the Citadel. The American B-52s that rained bombs down on North Vietnam generally tried to avoid destroying sites of cultural importance so the Vietnamese army built command bunkers underneath the main buildings knowing it was unlikely they would be targeted. Now you can go down staircases and through the heavy steel doors to see the planning rooms, radio shacks, telephone switchboards and storage rooms used by the Generals during the war.
38) Hoàng Thành Thăng Long (Imperial Citadel of Thang Long), Hanoi, Vietnam, February 13, 2025 - After such a busy day our feet were hurting but we managed to stay standing long enough for Tony to get a photo of us inside the Citadel.
39) Hoàn Kiếm District, Hanoi, Vietnam, February 13, 2025 - Our energy was flagging so we relented to taking a ride share back to the Hoàn Kiém Lake area. Tony had offered to help us get International postcard stamps at the Post Office so we had the Grab ride share driver drop us off at the Central Post Office. Once we had our big stack of stamps we walked along the lake where we got to watch a group of middle school students who were on a work outing to pick up trash around the lake. Lots of giggling and laughing while running around with giant chopsticks picking up plastic water bottles, cigarette butts and scraps of paper. It was a somewhat fruitless task given the sheer amount of litter on the sidewalks but it was nonetheless cute to watch.
40) Cafe Dinh, Hanoi, Vietnam, February 13, 2025 - We ended our tour with Tony at a coffee shop overlooking the lake where I finally tried a Hanoi specialty – Egg coffee. Basically a meringue made from egg whites mixed with very strong coffee and sweetened condensed milk. It ends up tasting similar to a lukewarm coffee milkshake. Tasty and definitely gave me the fuel to walk the 2 miles back to the hotel. We had plenty of time in the evening to sightsee some more but we lacked the energy so instead we just relaxed in the room for the rest of the day. We even decided to skip dinner because we couldn’t overcome the inertia of laying on the bed. A really interesting day and one that I think highlights why we love to travel!
41) Huyen Street Bánh Mì vendor, Hanoi, Vietnam, February 14, 2025 - Our third day in Hanoi started with checking some errands off our "to do" list. We slept in a little later than the past two days getting up just before 8am. The first item of business was to exchange cards since today is Valentine’s Day! We again took advantage of the hotel’s free breakfast and then turned our focus to more of our tasks. Next was going down to the front desk to coordinate moving rooms. We were happy that our room reservation fiasco from day one got resolved so we could stay at the same place but it did mean that we had to change rooms twice to shuffle between the rooms that were available when we got rebooked. The first change was the day we were rebooked and today was the second. We all agreed we could move our bags at 11am so that gave us a couple of hours to deal with other tasks. Our third "to do" was to get a bunch of our clothes washed so we bagged those up and did some Internet searches to find a reputable laundry. However, the one we found was back by Hoa Lon prison so that meant we had some walking to do. We chose a street we haven’t walked down before so we got to see a new part of the neighborhood. We found the laundry and dropped off our dirty clothes. Pick up is supposed to be 5pm tomorrow so fingers crossed it all goes to plan. From there we mapped out a route to a post office that was even further from the hotel and took off in that direction. After crossing over some roads we’d walked over the past couple of days we found the post office so we could deposit some postcards in the mail box. By this time it was after 10am so we worked out another new route to get us back to the hotel. By the time we got back I was beginning to feel like I’ve walked every street in Hanoi! The room change went smoothly and we ended up back in the room we’d had the first night. We should be set now for the rest of our stay in Hanoi! With our luggage settled we were right back out the door but now we were on a mission to find lunch. When we did the food tour two evenings ago our guide Tony brought us to the spot his favor banh mi sandwich maker sets up her cart but she wasn’t there so we went somewhere else. We took finding her today as a challenge and managed to dredge out of our foggy memory banks the rough area we’d gone looking for her. After looking down some alleys in the Old Quarter we found the right one and there she was! We ordered two banh mi - Jonna’s with "paté and pork floss" and mine with "egg omelet and cucumber". They were served on fresh French-style baguettes and then pressed on a panini-like device. Very yummy and just shockingly inexpensive. Jonna’s was 25,000 dong ($1) while mine was 15,000 dong ($0.58). Throw in my soda at 20,000 dong ($0.78) and our entire order was under $2.50. The phó (soup with rice noodles) we ordered for lunch a couple of days ago and most of the dishes we had on the food tour have been about the same.
42) P. Lương Văn Can, Hanoi, Vietnam, February 14, 2025 - With our tasks (and hunger) dealt with it was time to decide what our sightseeing would be for the second half of the day. Back in 1889 the French built a massive building in which they tried to consolidate the traditional outdoor markets used by the Vietnamese in Hanoi. This old building, renovated and repaired over the past 136 years is now the Đồng Xuân Market. It was a decent walk to the north so we figured out a route on a new street (for us) and started walking. During the Lý Dynasty, around 1000 AD, while the Chinese ruled Hanoi as a puppet state the 36 streets of the city at that time were assigned to different craft guilds. So all the ceramics/potters were on one street and the paper makers on another, etc. To this day, over a thousand years later, there are still clusters of similar business along various streets in the Old Quarter. Well, our trek north put us on one such street and for about four blocks we were completely surrounded by metal working shops. Every thing metal you can think of was spilling out of tiny garage sized shops and the sidewalks were filled with shelving over-flowing with kitchen utensils and car parts and restaurant tools and construction components. It was amazing and now we hope to stumble on more streets like this over the next couple of days.
43) Đồng Xuân Market, Hanoi, Vietnam, February 14, 2025 - Anyway, we eventually reached Đồng Xuân Market and it really is staggeringly large. It fills a multi-block area, is three stories high and is jammed packed with everything you can imagine. Well, except umbrellas which is the one thing we needed. We wandered around inside, going up and down stairs, threading through 10” wide aisles and winding through impenetrable shelves and never found anyone selling umbrellas. I am sure there is some corner - we definitely didn’t try to make an exhaustive survey of such a gargantuan place - where there is a little old lady that sells nothing but umbrellas but we didn’t find her. Pretty overwhelmed by the whole experience and just happy to have found an exit we decided having rain protection wasn’t worth the risk of being lost forever among fake Gucci belts and imitation Pokemón dolls so we gave up on that task. With sore feet and dwindling energy we pointed our noses towards a coffee shop that was highly recommended in a guide book and plodded the eight or so blocks to get there. It turns out it was a coffee shop for the coffee connoisseur - fancy shelves filled with fancy containers with fancy sounding custom roasts. We just wanted a quick cup of tea and to sit down for a bit so not a good match. Nonetheless, we got our tea and paid more for it than the total of our lunch purchases for the past three days combined. At least they had wifi… the next thing that struck our curiosity was something on our map that said "Ceramic Mosaic Mural Road". It was on the east side of Hoàn Kiém Lake so a half dozen blocks away but we always enjoy art so off we went. It meant crossing through the heart of the busiest tourist area and that meant constantly being hailed by shop owners and pedi-cab pedalers and restaurant hawkers but we managed to run the gauntlet without being snagged (or pick-pocketed!) The good news is we found the murals - they are beautiful and run for many, many blocks. The bad news is that the road that runs in front of them is raised and doesn’t have a sidewalk so you can’t actually get close to them. We walked a couple of blocks trying to glimpse a good view but eventually gave it. We were sore and tired so time to head back to the hotel. Anticipating that we might collapse like last night we found one of the sidewalk cafes in the Old Quarter that we’d visited on the food tour and got two papaya salads to go. Then trudged the 2 miles back to the hotel down a street we have walked so many times our shoes could just walk it without us having to think. At the hotel I fell into bed but Jonna did some Internet sleuthing and found a nearby place that does foot massages. She got an hour long massage while I listened to podcasts and rested at the hotel.
44) P. Hồ Xuân Hương Street Flower Market, Vietnam, February 14, 2025 - Once she returned we ate our salads but then discovered we were running out of bottled water. Despite it being after dark now we rallied and went out to find a shop Jonna had spotted on her way to get the foot massage. The evening was the perfect temperature so we picked an indirect route back to the hotel. On the way we ran across an impromptu flower market selling roses and flower arrangements for Valentine’s Day. A small group of ladies with folding tables on the sidewalk with another woman ferrying in bundles of fresh flowers on a scooter to keep them supplied. Men were pushing in four deep to buy flowers for their Valentine and the street was mostly blocked by all then scooters and bicycles belonging to the desperate paramours. It was a fantastic thing to stumble upon and inspired us to walk around a little more. We dropped off the water in the room and headed right back out. We hadn’t spent much time exploring the neighborhood to the southwest of our hotel nor had we ventured into the big park directly west. These areas were perfect to explore - a section of Hanoi where the locals shop and eat - we didn’t see a single non-Asian the entire time. There were old men drinking beer in "fresh beer" bars - really just plastic tables on the sidewalk. Young people were going in and out of clothes shops. A friendly woman recommended her favorite popcorn snacks at a colorful store advertising "healthy American snack". However, the best was when we went into the park. Thumping dance music drew us to an area where about 40 women were doing a dance workout class - all wearing colorful leotards and loudly singing along to the music while a very energetic teacher called out the moves. We made a loop through maybe a quarter of the park and I felt completely safe. There were joggers and people out walking their dogs and a couple of LED light covered carousels giving kids rides in miniature race cars and a choo-choo train. A very fun, spontaneous stroll through the neighborhood and a fine way to end our day.
45) Bảo Tàng Dân Tộc Học Việt Nam (Vietnam Museum of Ethnology), Hanoi, Vietnam, February 15, 2025 - If there is such a thing as deep diving into a country’s culture then today Jonna and I took a deep breath and spent most of the day in one long free dive. We started, as usual, by getting up early and then fueling up with the hotel’s breakfast. After that we were straight out the front door. However, despite averaging about 9 miles of walking for the past three days our first stop today was just a bit too far to hoof it so we fired up the ride-share app Grab and got a ride. It was about a 30 minute drive and the weekend traffic was even crazier than what we’ve been seeing. There is a calmness to it - no one getting angry, no frequent accidents and no long blasts of the horn. But the traffic is completely unpredictable. Cars make U-turns from a parking spot on the right curb to go all the way over two "lanes" with seemingly no regard to the heavy traffic moving in both directions. Scooters thread through every tiny gap so there is a constant cloud of scooters like gnats also with little apparent pattern. Today we saw a dump truck make a right turn from the middle of the "lane" right across the front bumper of a car. But with all this chaos there is no apparent ego. No outrage. No reaction. Everyone just makes their way with maybe a quick toot of their horn when they want to make their presence known. It is really quite amazing. Anyway, we got to watch it all from just inches away out the windows of the car as we drive to the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology. This is a large museum outside the densely packed center of town where the Old Quarter and Ho Chi Minh Complex are located. This makes the museum an inconvenient place to visit for the tourist but if you go you quickly realize why it is located where it is - because it needs a lot of space.
46) Bảo Tàng Dân Tộc Học Việt Nam (Vietnam Museum of Ethnology), Hanoi, Vietnam, February 15, 2025 - This museum is dedicated to the 54 different ethnic groups that make up the people of Vietnam. From the numerous hill tribes to the coastal fishing communities to the floating river villages of the Mekong Delta and then the dominant Viet people who make up most of the big cities. In addition to a big, two-story building divided into 54 sections (one section dedicated to each unique ethnic group) there is also a large park that contains 20 different clusters of buildings showcasing the homes, communal buildings, farm buildings and religious structures for many of the different groups. Inside the museum the display area for a given ethnic group highlighted the unique language, clothing, spiritual beliefs, cultural items (like music, crafts, hunting/fishing/farming), social/political structures, food and family activities associated with each ethnicity. Additionally there were two areas for special exhibits - one that had a collection of woven textiles from one specific group and the second that had a display about the history of elephant domestication (before it was outlawed).
47) Bảo Tàng Dân Tộc Học Việt Nam (Vietnam Museum of Ethnology), Hanoi, Vietnam, February 15, 2025 - Despite the heat and humidity we went through the entire outdoor park including going inside all the various buildings. We spent almost two hours in the museum and park. It was fascinating and we highly recommend it to anyone who visits Hanoi. That museum alone would have been a terrific cultural education but we didn’t stop there!
48) Bảo Tàng Mỹ Thuật Việt Nam (Vietnam National Fine Arts Museum), Hanoi, Vietnam, February 15, 2025 - We called for another ride share and took another trip back towards the more touristy area where we got dropped off in front of the Vietnam National Museum of Fine Arts. This art museum is housed in a complex of buildings that was built by the French just before WWII as a Catholic Girls school. In the 1960s, in the midst of the American War, it was turned into a national art museum dedicated to Vietnamese artists which it continues to be to the present. It was a fascinating collection of art. From 1000 year old Buddhist statues to pre-colonial painting to European inspired styles (like Impressionism and Cubism) to war images and Propaganda posters.
49) Bảo Tàng Mỹ Thuật Việt Nam (Vietnam National Fine Arts Museum), Hanoi, Vietnam, February 15, 2025 - We have have seen one or two pieces of silk painting and lacquer painting at other museums but in this museum there were multiple rooms dedicated to each. I can’t say it is necessarily unique to Vietnam but it felt that way since we saw so many different styles of each. The themes of the art made it very clear just how much the wars of Independence against first the Chinese, then the Japanese, then the French and finally the Americans have forged the national identity if the Vietnamese people. Most of the contemporary art in the museum references those wars in some way. A picture of a NVA or Vietcong soldier is presented with the same mythic messaging that a painting or sculpture of David & Goliath would represent in Western culture. I joked with Jonna that we could play "Where’s Waldo" with the artwork trying to find the soldiers in each one. The lacquer paintings were also quite interesting. I am very familiar with lacquer art where art is painted on something and then covered with clear or tinted lacquer as a protective cover but this art was using lacquer like oil paint with different pigments blended into the lacquer and then applied like paint. Many other techniques could then be applied like scraping or etching or even adding actual paint on top of the lacquer. The end result was lots of unique looking art. The silk painting was also beautiful since the paint put onto silk cloth is absorbed resulting in a diffuse or fuzzy look, kind of like water color painting. My favorite though was a bigger than life-size Buddhist statue of the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara with carvings to represent the usual description of this Lord of Compassion having a thousand eyes to see all the pain in the world and a thousand hands to reach out to help. A beautiful representation of a much needed sentiment right now.
50) Manzi Art Space and Cafe, Hanoi, Vietnam, February 15, 2025 - Now that we were back on the edge of the old center of Hanoi we struck out on foot again once we were done at the art museum. It was time for lunch and Jonna found a place with both vegetarian and meat options though it was in the heart of tourist hell at Hoàn Kiém Lake. We had to walk for about 30 minutes to get there but we found another interesting street so it was a good walk. This area was filled shops selling children’s toys. I mean block after block with dozens of shops on either side of the street just packed floor to ceiling with toys. Dolls, trucks, Spiderman accessories, stuffies, plastic AK47s, etc. There were individual shops dedicated to just stuffed animals crammed so full looking in the door was like peering into a claustrophobic furry cave with walls that were pink and lime green and baby blue. I bet there are stuffed animals from 20 years ago buried in some of these shops that no one even remembers existed. Most of the toys are close-but-not-quite copies of name brand images - usually of Japanese anime or kid's shows. Still the sheer number of them was staggering. We think that weekends are when families, maybe even families from the rural areas, load up and come to this area to buy toys for their kids so for four or five blocks there are hundreds of vendors showing off their goods hoping to catch the eye of an insistent kid. After walking all the way to Hoàn Kiém Lake we found our restaurant. And it was an actual restaurant with actual tables and chairs. This was the first restaurant we’ve been in since arriving in Hanoi. And after highlighting the cheap street food over the past few days we were suddenly acting like ballers by paying the big bucks to eat at a real table and in the center of the tourist area as well. We ended paying an extravagant $6 for two meals and a soda, double what we’ve paid for any previous meal. With us throwing around this kind of money we might as well start buying those "totally authentic" Gucci, Adidas and The North Face clothes we keep seeing in all the shops. With lunch literally under our belts it was time for some more walking. We had read in a guide book about a cooperative art space up by Long Bien Market about 20 minutes walk north. We again picked a new route which put us walking through a very local neighborhood - no visible tourists and lots of families on the sidewalks. This brought us to the Manzi Art Space and Cafe which is a two-story coffee/tea place that is also a gallery space crammed with art that is for sale. Not only are the walls covered with art from floor to ceiling but every flat surface is stacked multiple layers deep in art and even sections of the floor are filled. It was fun to wind through just looking at the amazing variety. We didn’t buy anything but there were pieces that I think would hold up in any gallery in the US. Just a few blocks to the east of the art cafe was the famous Longmont Bien bridge so we made a quick side trip to see it. Today this is a rusty, boring iron suspension bridge. However, in the 1960s and 1970s it was a veritable symbol of Vietnamese resistance against the US. For two decades the US would send B-52s and F4 Phantoms and F-104s to bomb the bridge. Then, during the night an army of Vietnamese repair crews - many women - would frantically repair the bridge so it would again be operating the next day. It was a huge source of pride for the people of North Vietnam and a powerful propaganda message all throughout the war. It still functions today but it sure looks like it hasn’t had much repair work done on it the past 50 years. Once we had spotted the bridge we both declared we were done for today. The Dong Xuan market was just a block away and that was an easy spot to get a ride-share. We just didn’t have it in us to walk the 4 miles to get to back to the hotel when we’d already racked up nearly 7 miles today. Tired feet are a powerful motivator to pay for a ride. Then again, the total for all three of our ride shares today was $6 so we weren’t breaking the bank on Grab rides. Back at the hotel we rested for an hour but we still had two more things on our schedule. At 4:30pm we headed out for the first - picking up the laundry we dropped off yesterday. It was a quick and easy task but didn’t do much to ease our tired feet. We only lost one sock with laundry so not bad for getting clothes washed in a foreign country. Be the time we got back to the hotel we just had a few minutes to freshen up before the second and more important task - the welcome meeting for the tour we will be joining for the next 15 days to see more of Vietnam. We booked a small group tour with Intrepid Travel and tonight we met the 10 people joining us for the tour and the guide that will be leading us. We got all the paperwork and introductions out of the way, then went as a group to a fancy restaurant for the welcome dinner. After four days of street food this was a drastic change of venue. Fine linen table cloths, fancy china place settings, back lit marble walls and dishes that were a fusion of traditional Vietnamese and gourmet French. For two of us we paid an extravagant $15. We just aren’t fancy restaurant types so for us it was loud, slow, a bit pretentious and actually less tasty than the super cheap and super fast street vendors. Still, it did give us a chance to learn about the people we’ll be with for the next two weeks so it fulfilled the welcome part of the dinner which is what was intended. Now we switch over to following a preset itinerary so time to head to bed so we can be on-time tomorrow.
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