Thanh Long (City of the Soaring Dragon), as Vietnam’s capital was formerly called, is the country’s major city for history, culture, politics as well as education and no tour guide or bus operator fails to mention it. The most crowed and busiest city I have seen on this trip is a bustling germ full of motor bikes and hawker stalls but without all the tourists you have in other capitals like Kuala Lumpur. In the Old Quarter (backpacker ghetto) you see rarely any English signs and it becomes clear that Hanoi does not need the tourists as badly as Vientiane for example. The traffic might not be as bad as Saigon but it is a close call. At the beginning of the dry season I felt cold for the first time in Asia, what a nice and almost unfamiliar feeling ;-) and you don’t have to pay extra for a/c.
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| Wedding in Hanoi |
Within the city limits there is a large lake called Ho Hoan Kiem (Lake of the Restored Sword) where in the 15th century Ly Thai To saw a turtle grab his divine sword and return it to the gods. The emperor was given the sword to drive the Chinese out of Vietnam and after the creature took the weapon he decided to build a temple on the lake. Some years ago there were supposedly three turtles left in the lake. One vanished, one died and is now on display in the temple and the remaining one still lives in the water. The temple is a relaxing and calm place away from all the hectic of the city.
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| Turtle from the Ho Huan Kiem Lake |
Ho Chi Minh, president of Vietnam from 1955 to 1969 is the national hero and the socialist government makes sure you get that message. Saigon was renamed to Ho Chi Minh City, he is on every note you spend and there are huge posters of him all over the country. Against his dying wish to be cremated he is on display in the HCM Mausoleum probably to “lead the way” for further generations.
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| Statue of Ho Chi Minh |
In order to be given access to the edifice you need to register, hand over your camera, turn of your cell phone and take of your hat. Guards in white uniforms are stationed every ten meters throughout the monumental building ensuring you maintain a respectful demeanour at all times. HCM lies in a dimly lit glass coffin in a room that is air-conditioned down to about 15 degrees. As you walk around the sarcophagus you are not allowed to stop to take a closer look but you must keep moving until you cleared the building. All in all you line up for 30 minutes to see the national hero for two minutes. I was fortunate to get to see HCM as he just returned from “maintenance” in Russia.
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| Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum |
Next to the Mausoleum is the equally busy HCM-Museum where you can see how he lived if you are not too distracted by the many school classes visiting Uncle Ho’s official residence.
On site is also the One Pillar Pagoda built in the 11th century, representing a lotus blossom, a symbol of purity.
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| One Pillar Pagoda |
The Temple of Literature is both a spiritual place as well as Vietnam’s first national university. The compound consists of five courtyards next to each other with the temple at its far end.
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| Courtyard in the Temple of Literature |
When I visited, students just finished their studies and so the “campus” was busy with graduates in traditional Vietnamese outfits taking pictures.
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| Graduates from the university |
Art and everyday objects are depicted in the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology. It provides an insight into the country’s ethnic diversity and displays how the different mountain tribes used to live or still live respectively. You can see how to make the famous bamboo hat, what weapons they used for hunting and what instruments they used to make music for the ritual dances. Also some architecture is shown and the museum hosts a water puppet stage.
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| Water Puppet Stage |
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