Hanoi - Part 1

July 8, 2016
We arrived in Hanoi just after 5am. Traveling the night train from Loa Cai, we had a good but short sleep. Hanoi was still very quiet at this time. We walked to our hotel, smart and experienced enough to avoid the taxis right in front of the trains wanting to take us to our hotel that was 400m away (they were going to charge us 100 000 vnd and most likely take us for a bit of a ride around the city...lol. Anyone travelling in Vietnam should know that there are a lot of taxi scammers. They are usually the ones at the front of the line and most eager for your business. ALWAYS opt for reliable and fair metered taxis like Vinasun, Mailin (green taxi), and a few other companies that are also reputable (I can't remember the yellow taxis right now).

We dropped or bags at the hotel and decided to start our day in Hanoi, but with most of the city still asleep it was not an easy task to find breakfast. We walked towards our first stop off the day - The Mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh. We passed a park with a large statue of Vladimir Lenin. People were exercising and very active in large groups. Badminton , running, group exercises, tai chi, walking, cycling. It was really great to see. Most coffee shops were just opening up, and we didn't even find anything until we reached the Mausoleum. We sat down at a roadside stand with typical small plastic chairs and tables, had some super strong Vietnamese coffee, and watched the women exercising on the sideroad just in front of us.

First stop of the day was the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum.  Unfortunately it was closed.  The place was eerily deserted.  Maybe because it was so early in the morning, and because it was a day when it was not open to the public.  It felt like we were almost the only ones there.

We visited the Presidential Palace which is situated on the grounds right beside the mausoleum.

The gardens are beautiful and we saw the stilt house in which Ho Chi Minh lived.

"For most of his tenure as President of North Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh lived in a modest stilt house behind the grandiose Presidential Palace in Hanoi. Painful memories of French rule were too fresh in the Vietnamese people's minds; the French Governors General who lived in the Palace were among some of the most hated people in Vietnam, and one might imagine that Uncle Ho was not eager to follow in their footsteps." (http://goseasia.about.com/od/hanoi/a/Ho-Chi-Minh-Stilt-House-Hanoi.htm)

After our brief tour we headed to the Old Quarter of Hanoi to continue wandering and taking in the city.

Walking through the old quarter, we stopped for some famous Egg Coffee, and the kids had some Egg Chocolate.  We couldn't find the infamous Giang Coffee, but we would continue to search for next time.

Iced Egg Coffee

We checked into our hotel in the afternoon, took a bit of a rest and in the late afternoon headed out to continue exploring. 

Trang Tien ice cream is famous for the wide variety of flavors including bean, chocolate, young glutinous rice, and milk, which are sweet and delicious. People can feel the ice cream melting in their mouth. Since its first appearance in 1958, Trang Tien ice cream has maintained its reputation thanks to the particular quality and flavors. Despite its fame, the price is very reasonable —everyone can enjoy it.

We tried every flavour...we had to! So delicious.

Authentic Vietnamese dinner...not our favorite, but an interesting experience. 

After dinner we made our way to Hoan Kiem Lake (Vietnamese: Hồ Hoàn Kiếm, meaning "Lake of the Returned Sword" or "Lake of the Restored Sword"), also known as Hồ Gươm (Sword Lake), is a lake in the historical center of Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam. The lake is one of the major scenic spots in the city and serves as a focal point for its public life.

Walking around Hoan Kiem Lake.  It is very pretty at night when everything is lit up.

 

David and Stepan going to the Japanese Spa in the hotel.  It was a "men only" experience.

This was just the first of our visits to Hanoi, we were travelling to Ninh Binh the next day, and knew we would be back to do more, see more and eat more!