After a fantastic lunch at President Obama's favorite Hanoi restaurant and a morning exploring the world's oldest university and a secret Communist base built beneath an ancient fortress, Mom and I retired to our hotel room to cool down and relax for an hour before our next adventure was to begin. Promptly at 2pm, a duo of local college students showed up at the front door of our hotel and walked with us along the busy streets of Hanoi to Hoan Kiem Lake.
A few years ago, I learned about a fantastic program called Hanoi Kids, which offers free tours of Hanoi City by local students. >> Hanoikids Voluntary English Tour Guiding Club. These students volunteer their time and efforts to lead free English-language tours of Hanoi in exchange for practicing their English-speaking skills.
I had contacted Hanoikids very last minute, but they really came through! Our two local student guides showed up right on time at the doorstep of our hotel, ready to take us on our chosen tour of Hanoi's "Old Quarter and French Quarter".
First, they led us to Ngoc Son Temple, the Temple of the Jade Mountain. The temple is built on an island in Hoan Kiem Lake and is accessed by crossing an elegant vermillion bridge.
At each site, they not only taught us about the history of the place, but also about the culture and significance behind it.
For example, they described the meaning of the two paintings which flank the gate to the temple. The one on the left shows a tiger coming down from a mountain. It symbolizes the importance of a successful person remembering where they come from and returning home to their home village.
The painting on the right depicts a carp and a dragon. This common motif shows that even the simple carp (a student) can become a mighty dragon (a scholar) with enough diligence and hard work.
Out on the island, our two guides explained how the twin-roofed pagoda, with its eight pointing eaves, was meant to protect Hanoi and hold back encroaching Western power and influence.
There are three progressively more holy sanctums within the ancient Vietnamese temple.
The temple, which is sanctified both to Confucianism and Taoism, was built in honor of Hanoi's founding legend.
Long ago the Vietnamese emperor was fighting a war against invading Chinese forces. He was given a magical sword by the gods to fight off the Chinese. After successfully driving the invaders out of Vietnam, he rowed out to Hoan Kiem Lake and returned the sword to the "Golden Turtle God", who took it under the water for safekeeping. "Hoan Kiem" means "Lake of the "Returned Sword".
The magical turtles are said to still live deep below the surface of the holy lake. In fact, two of said turtles have been preserved and are on display inside the temple itself.
As Hanoi was growing, one wise emperor instituted a tax upon the width of the facade and the footprint of a building. Thus, local residents were encouraged to build up rather than out to save on space. Nowadays, nearly every building in Hanoi is a tube house.
*Pinky and I lived on the second floor of a tube house which had been converted into a guesthouse for a month in 2018!
Mom and I stayed on the 9th floor of a very narrow tube house hotel during our time in Hanoi. Our room took up the entire floor!
*(Anyone who ever claimed that Communism was anti-religion has clearly never been to Asia. Both Vietnam and Laos are deeply religious countries.)
I know them by their Thai-Chinese name: Hoek, Lok, and Sieu, but here in Vietnam, they are known by their Chinese names, Fu Lu Shou.
The three gods represent longevity (Shou), prosperity (Fu), and family (Lu).
... at least, I think I've got that right.
The three deities are always seen together.
We left the historic home and walked onwards through the busy and bustling streets of Hanoi's chaotic but limitlessly charming Old Quarter, dodging motorbikes, pedicabs, and hoking taxis along the way.
Hanoi is a fantastic city, but it takes some time to get used to.
The traffic is the very definition of chaos, and nobody seems to follow any rules.
However, if you place your trust and faith in the hands of the drivers, I've found that - more often than not - one comes out relatively unscathed when crossing one of this hectic city's crazy ancient streets.
"I work there part-time", she told us.
I asked her if the coffee was good, but with a smile she told me that she mostly just drinks tea...
Mom and I stepped inside. With the recommendation of our guide, we thought it was the perfect place to buy some souvenirs for our family in the States.
After buying our gifts, we came to Cathedral Square. There, amidst French cafes and roasteries, the grand Cathedral of St. Joseph soared into the sky looking for all the world like a miniature version of Notre Dame.
I love visiting churches around the world. In fact, I have a second blog that is entirely dedicated to churches, chapels, and cathedrals. It's called Stained Glass Travel, and you can find it at stainedglasstravel.com.
I wrote a post about St. Joseph's a few years back: The Cathedral of St. Joseph, Hanoi, Vietnam (stainedglasstravel.com)
Vietnam, officially a Communist country, has a sizable population of some 4 million practicing Catholics. This is due, in no small part, to Vietnam's long history as a part of Indochina, a colonial territory of France.
The beautiful Neo-Gothic cathedral was constructed in 1886, one of the first buildings constructed by the French colonial government. The cathedral, the center of Catholic influence in all of Vietnam, is appropriately impressive, and its iconic facade was designed in the style of Notre Dame in Paris and dedicated to Joseph, the patron saint of Vietnam.
Read about more of Vietnam's beautiful churches and cathedrals on my Stained Glass Travel blog here:
Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
The cathedral was closed for ongoing refurbishment and renovation, but we were allowed to walk around the outside.
The mall was setting up for Christmas, and its trees and lights were on full display.
I think Hanoi would be a really amazing place to celebrate Christmas. I wonder if they decorate as much as they do in Bangkok...
Our guides took a moment to confer amongst themselves, then led us to a very famous old ice cream parlor which has been a Hanoi institution since the 1950s.
The parlor was a sort of covered courtyard with several different counters where patrons could order ice cream scoops, bars, or softserve respectively.
Feeling traditional, we went to the ice cream bar counter.
Mom and I both had a green rice flavored ice cream bar - apparently a very traditional flavor of ice cream in Hanoi. We sat for a while with our guides, hanging out and chatting. It was a really fun afternoon.
Our last spot to see was the Hanoi Opera House, a bright yellow building built during the colonial era.
Our guides explained to us how yellow was prescribed color of the Imperial Court, and only the buildings of the emperor were allowed to be painted in yellow. When the French invaded Vietnam, they made a point of painting every civil or government building yellow as a sort of insult to the Vietnamese puppet government while at the same time cementing themselves as the genuine and legitimate rulers of the country.
Many Vietnamese beers are named after locations in Vietnam. There's Hanoi Beer, of course. There's also Bia Saigon, Ha Long Beer, and Truc Bach Bier.
Trúc Bạch Lake is one of several lakes in of Hanoi. It is best known outside Vietnam as the site where future United States politician John McCain crash-landed during the Vietnam War after being shot down.
Today, there's a monument to John McCain at the shores of the lake - a testament to the nearly miraculously repaired relations between the US and Vietnam in the decades since the war.
As traffic zoomed around our tube house hotel, we toasted to another successful day of adventure in the beautiful and hectic capital of Vietnam.
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