Hanoi, a peaceful-ancient-bazaar city.

Taking two days discovering the cuisine, culture, and people in Hanoi was the excellent travel experience. Hanoi is not as busy as Saigon, but if you like to explore the cultural city with impressive history and lots of delicious, this is the city you should not miss.

This was the second time I came back to Vietnam, after the trip to Ho Chi Minh city (a.k.a Sai Gon) last summer. As knowing a bit about Vietnamese culture before, I was very curious to know more about this country in “S” shape culture; thus, I chose Hanoi for my second visit, and the trip was really worth my choice. 

Not taking any tour, I wandering around Hanoi by walking for the first day and rented a bike for the second day as most of the tourist sightseeing and attractions were not very far from each other. 

Wandering around the Old Quarter on foot

When you love the very Asian culture, you will definitely not taking the tour because most of the time they are very rushing and what you only see is some information and the appearance of where they take you to. As my plan, I took a day wandering around the Old Quarter, which for me is a biggest retail market in old French architecture in Vietnam. It was my luck to be able to rent a room hotel inside the Old Quarter on the street next to the St Joseph’s Church; it is called Au Trieu St. The price for a superior double room is around 15 – 30USD / night, and of course it is 2 – 3 stars hotel only, and depend on which seasons you come here. Staying here help me have the best view of the people’s daily lives in the Old Quarter. 

A corner of the Old Quarter

As I may know, this area was built by the French and under Tran dynasty. People often known as the “36 streets”, and after that, when lots of tourists began to choose Hanoi, Vietnam as their vacation destination, they called this area the Old Quarter. The interesting thing is that this really a big retail and wholesale market, and each street sells different products but specific; and in the past, the street was named by what the major products were sold. For instance, Silver Street (Hang Bac) sold silver, Hang Mam (Fish Sauce Street) sold fish sauce, etc. However, nowadays, retailers and wholesalers sell variety of products that are not mentioned in the street name (i.e. Hang Vai – Fabric Street – has lots of sugarcane juice vendors, or Hang Hom – Casket Street – is the street of souvenir daily and “Pho” (beef / chicken rice noodle) paradise at night. Walking around the Old Quarter, you do not have to shop here (but you might be interested in shopping because the price is very cheap if you know the art of bargain), but you will have opportunity to know more about the culture and life of local people

Having a day discover the Old Quarter, I decided to visit Hoan Kiem Lake (Sword Lake) at night. I had a quick glance of Hoan Kiem Lake in the morning before I walked deep inside the old streets. Nevertheless, Hoan Kiem Lake in the evening is way more beautiful in my mind. Locating at the center of Hanoi, and being considered as capital symbol, Hoan Kiem Lake is the favorite place of Hanoians and tourists. Sitting on a bench at the lake shore, I was amazed by the sparkling and mysterious scenes of Hoan Kiem Lake. 

Hoan Kiem Lake at night

Ngoc Son Temple is located on a gibbou inside the lake; and it’s worth a visit here. To go inside the temple, visitors have to go on a red bridge which is called The Huc (means “catching the early sunshine”). As I went here at the full moon day of the month (or the 15th in lunar calendar), there were hundreds of people coming here praying for their family’s health, wealth, and luck; and the temple is full of incense smell. However, it brought me a real Asian culture feeling, and I felt absolutely relax after a day walking around the Old Quarter.

Taste a hot bowl of “Pho” (Beef/chicken rice noodle)

Have been traveling to many countries so far, Hanoi, in my eyes, is the biggest city of cuisines in the world, especially various delicious street foods. The most famous food in Hanoi is “Pho” – Rice noodle, which is rated as one of the best street food in the world that people should taste once in their life. I do agree with this point of view. There are many kind of “pho”: beef or chicken served with soup, rolled “pho” with stir-fried beef, fried “pho”, pho mixed with meet and eat with tamarind juice, etc. However, the most well-known type is “pho” eat with beef or chicken and served in a soup bowl. 

Beef / Chicken rice noodle eat with fried bread-sticks

There are some popular “pho” restaurant like Pho Thin, Pho 24; but if you have time, you can go inside some lanes or alley and you will find many small delicious “pho” restaurant but very cheap. For example, there are many “pho” stalls on Hang Hom street (from Hoan Kiem Lake, take Hang Gai street, and you will see Hang Hom on the right hand side); I ordered a big bowl of chicken drumstick “pho”, a plate of 4 fried bread-sticks, and a cup of ice green tea; the total price is 40.000 VND (USD 2) and I am happy with the full stomach.

Experience Hanoi by bike

On the second day, I decided to rent a bike as I want to travel to some other place a bit far from the Old Quarter. If you are the one who like to discover the city by your own like me, better ride a bike. The price for renting a bike is 80.000 – 100.000 VND per day (USD 4 – 5), or electric bike is 15.000 VND per hour (USD 0.7).

Phan Dinh Phung street

Riding under the shadows of old-year trees in both sides on Phan Dinh Phung, Tran Phu, Hoang Dieu, Thanh Nien streets – the most beautiful streets in Hanoi, I could feel the romance and peace of Hanoi in fall. In addition, I also had chance to admire lots of villa built under the French domination times, and many famous attractions such as North Gate church (Cua Bac church), Thang Long Imperial Citadel, Tran Quoc Pagoda, etc, on the way exploring Hanoi.

Fishing at West Lake

Another memorable experience is riding around West Lake and feeling a peaceful corner of Hanoi. West Lake have an around shore of total 17km, and it is really a good dating place for couples (as I saw lots of couples here). I do admit that the scenes are absolutely romance, especially at the sunrise or sunset – when you can admire the red round sun coming up or down. If you want to stay here longer, you can stop at some vendors or café shop; drink coffee, fresh coconut, green tea; or eat boiled snail (if you dare), shrimp pancake, and feel the cool wind coming from the lake.

Life under Long Bien bridge

Same as West Lake, Long Bien Bridge is another magnificent destination at sunrise and sunset. Riding bike on this hundred-year bridge, I was sometimes surprised and little scared when a train runs at the middle of the bridge, but it was really an exciting to experience. Do not forget to bring a camera, because as a tourist, you will definitely need it to capture amazing photos of the bridge architecture, or life of Hanoians under the bridge, or the corn and vegetable fields, or the scenes of students in traditional long dress (the Ao dai) walking on the bridge.

Drinking beer 

Like many other city in the world, they sell different types of beer in Hanoi. However, I was impressed by the fresh beer (or local people call “bia hoi”, “bia co”), a speciality of the North Vietnam, and the cheapest beer in the world. “Bia hoi” is sold in almost everywhere in Hanoi, and you can easily drink fresh beer at a street vendors. Just sit down on a small plastic chair and the servers will bring you cups of fresh beer and a plate of peanut. The best place to drink “bia hoi” in Hanoi is at the corner of Ta Hien street inside the Old Quarter, where you can enjoy drinking beer on the pavement, watching the Hanoi busy traffic, and sometimes bringing your beer and chair running away from the police. 

Drinking beer on Ta Hien street

Traveling Hanoi tips

- From Noi Bai airport to city center, you can take taxi (400.000 – 500.000 VNĐ / USD 20 – 25), or by Vietjet air or Vietnam airline shuttle bus (ticket: 40.000 VNĐ – 70.000 VNĐ / USD 2 – 4. Last station: Quang Trung st)

- Price: renting bike: 80.000 – 100.000 VNĐ /day (USD 4-5); electric bike: 15.000 VNĐ /hour (USD 0.5-1); motorbike: 100.000 – 200.000 VND/ day without gas (USD 5 – 10 depend on type of motor); cyclo: 40.000 – 60.000 VND / hour (USD 2-3) plus tips (depend on you) 

- When you visit Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and other temples and pagodas, you should wear politely, you should not wear skirts and shorts. Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum only open in the morning, and close on Monday and Friday.

- The roads in the Old Quarter are quite small and narrow, you should prepare a map.

- When going shopping in the market, you should bargain. The sellers in Hanoi are sometimes impolite; therefore, if you intend to see not to buy, you should go in the afternoon. When bargaining, do not bargain too hard, you should bargain once; even if you do not buy those things, you should go with a smile and say thank you to the sellers.

- After 11 PM, you should not walk around alone.

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Long Bien Bridge – Vietnam history witness

Formely known as the Paul Doumer Bridge, the Long Bien Bridge – one of Hanoi icon – is a historical witness for 12 decades and has become a symbol of courageous capital in wars. Visiting Hanoi, tourists will have chance to contemplate the beauty of this bridge.

History

Over a hundred years ago, in 1899, Long Bien Bridge was completed and became one of the longest bridges in Asia. Designed by Gustave Eiffel of Eiffel Tower fame, the bridge sustained significant damage during the Vietnam war. It was named Paul Doumer, but the Hanoians still call it as Long Bien Bridge or Cai River Bridge.

Designed by Gustave Eiffel of Eiffel Tower fame, 

the bridge sustained significant damage during the Vietnam war.

With the 3000 finest and skillful Vietnamese workers, under the guidance of French engineers, Long Bien Bridge was built certainly with 20 spans, 30m depth, and 13.5m height from the lowest water level. The detail made the unique of this bridge was the railway at the middle. 

More than 100 years with decades of war, Long Bien Bridge was bombed many times by air attacks by American army in 1967, 1972 due to its strategic placement in connecting Hanoi to the port city of Hai Phong; and many spans of the bridge were destroyed. The left spans still remaining today remind us of an unforgettable past. Nowadays, only half of the bridge retains its original shape, but a rebuilding project supported by the French government is currently in progress to restore the bridge to its original appearance. The bridge, hence, is not only a traffic construction, a nice architecture, but also a living historical relic.

Location

The location chosen to build Long Bien bridge was right at the place that French battleship opened fire to North Gate and Quan Chuong Gate. Long Bien Bridge is now located at Dong Xuan ward, and easily found on Yen Phu street (along with Tran Nhat Duat street). 

Starting from a busy local market of Hanoi Old Quarter, Long Bien Bridge is the way to get out the hustle city to explore serene villages on the other side of Song Hong. You can combine your visit to Long Bien Bridge with half day or full day tour to Bat Trang and Kieu Ki villages, two famous handicraft villages in Hanoi suburb. Here you explore another face of Hanoi when study the secret of handicrafts and even can try your hand with some items.

Long Bien Market

Travelers can also visit Long Bien market – a wholesale market famous for fruit, vegetable, and fresh food – which is located under the bridge and on Yen Phu street. This is the second-biggest wholesale market in Hanoi after Dong Xuan market. However, visitors who are not wholesalers can also buy fresh food, fruit, or veggie.

About nearly 2km along Yen Phu street is Thanh Nien street, where travelers can admire both West Lake and Truc Bach Lake. West Lake is the biggest lake in Hanoi with a peace and tranquility of the lakeside walk of 17km (about 10.6 miles), and numerous café, pagoda, and shopping areas nearby. 

What to do

Long Bien is one of the five bridges crossing the Red River, connecting the centre of Hanoi with some provinces. It is a unique bridge with the history of over 100 years, witnessing Vietnam historical times. Long Bien is also the only bridge in Hanoi where all the riders have to go on the left hand side, where tourist can take a walk and taste mouthwatering desserts offered by vendors, where Hanoians can buy fresh vegetable or fish for the dinner from the small afternoon market on the bridge opened by vendors and housewives living under the bridges.

A beautiful and ancient background for bride and groom wedding album

Due to many travelers, the best time to admire this majestic bridge is at the sunrise or sunset, when you can take lots of nice photos of alluvial patch. Therefore, it is a favorite place of youngsters and teenagers who want keep their memories of youth by photos. Long Bien Bridge is often chosen as a nice background for wedding albums, so if you visit this place, you can see many beautiful couples, brides and grooms in traditional costumes or glamorous wedding dresses. Travelers can also ride a bike or take a walk on the bridge, enjoying the scenes of daily life of Hanoians, and the peaceful moments at the present but not forgetting memorable past.

The best time to admire this majestic bridge is at the sunrise or sunset

How to get there

Long Bien Bridge is about 1km far from the Old Quarter of Hanoi, and over 2km from HoanKiem Lake. If you are at Hoan Kiem Lake, you can go straight Hang Ngang, Hang Dao, and Dong Xuan street.

You can rent a motorbike (5-10USD/day) and remember go on the left hand side of the bridge. If you want to discover both Old Quarter and Long Bien Bridge, you had better take a walk.

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Dong Xuan Market, a busy trade center in Hanoi, Vietnam

Known as a big and crowded trade center in Hanoi, Viet nam, Dong Xuan Market is an attractive attractions for many travelers all over the world. The market has lots of diversified goods with cheap price for each item: from foods like candy, wine, fresh or dried seafood to clothes, shoes, handbags, hats, etc.

General information
Name: Dong Xuan market (ĐồngXuân market)
Address: Dong Xuanstreet, HoanKiem, Hanoi.
Opening time: 8:00 A.M to 6:00 P.M
Most traded items: Clothing, househoud goods.

Location

About 1km far from HoanKiem Lake, Dong Xuan Market is located inside the Old Quarter, on the right side of Dong Xuan Street. In the West of the market is Dong Xuan St, Hang Khoai St is in the North, Cau Dong St is in the South, and Dong Xuan Alley is in the East.

As located inside the Old Quarter, visitors can also discover places and sightseeing near Dong Xuan market. When Dong Xuan is the biggest wholesale market in Hanoi, the Old Quarter can be considered as the biggest retail market in Vietnam. If you love shopping clothes, come to Hang Dao street, in the South of Dong Xuan market, and about 500m far from the market; or you can go to Hang Ma and Luong Van Can street to buy toys for your children.

Hang Dao St

In the North of Dong Xuan market is Long Bien Bridge – a historical bridge in Hanoi, where you can take lots of photos about Hanoians’ life on Red River coast at the sunrise or sunset. In the South of the market, travelers can discover history of Hanoi and Vietnam during walking along HoanKiem Lake, visiting Ngoc Son Pagoda, and Ly Thai To statue. About nearly 2 km far from Dong Xuan market, in the South-West, you can visit St Joseph’s Cathedral – known as little Notre Dame, which is located on NhaThostreet next toNha Chung and Au Trieu street.

Long Bien Bridge

History

Among lots of market at the capital (from Mo market, Hom market, to South Gate market, Ngoc Ha market), Dong Xuan market is the biggest. Dong Xuan.market was built in 1889, when the last vestiges of the To Lich river and Taichi Lake (Thai Cuc Lake)weredisappeared completely; the French re-constructed the city and moved all the vendors and shops to a vacant land of Dong Xuan ward, forming Dong Xuan Market. In the very first year of opening, the market was operated outdoor or behind the covering roofs.

The French re-constructed the city and moved all the vendors and shops to a vacant land of

Dong Xuan ward, forming Dong Xuan Market (Photo: Panoramio)

In 1980, new French government re-constructed Dong Xuan Market with five arch doors, and five rooms of 54m length and 19m height. The front door was French design with metal roof and five triangle parts sculpted like a honeycomb.

Around the 90s, Dong Xuan Market was again re-built; the two blocks aside were demolished, and the other three rows left were built up to 3 floors. The two side doors were also taken away, but they still kept the outer columns. Later, in 1994, the market was destroyed in a fire that resulted in the death of five people and the loss of an estimated USD4.5 million in stock.

Nowadays, Dong Xuan Market has been rebuilt with larger scale consists of 3 spacious floors, but still keep some of the architecture of the old market façade.

Dong Xuan night market

Shopping

Located near Long Bien station and the Red River, Dong Xuan Market is a convenient location for trading products from different places. Commodities sold from Dong Xuan market are abundant and belonging to different styles of models. Hundreds of stalls, with thousands of workers, trade extremely fresh produce, dried foods, household goods, appliances and more.That's why it is suitable to every taste and customer. There are even some items in Dong xuan which is so hard for customers to find at other markets.

Hundreds of stalls trade extremely fresh produce, dried foods,

household goods, appliances and more

Low-price commodity is a strong point of Dong Xuan market. As a wholesale market, it provides products for retail shops in Hanoi and nearby provinces. Therefore the price of products at Dong Xuan market is the original cost which is lower than other markets and local shops. With large space, it's not difficult for customer to go sightseeing and shopping at Dong Xuan market because the market is sectioned. Each section has its own item. For example, shoes and sandal are sold at first floor; clothing is sold at second floor.However, customers can hardly buy anything from this market because just wholesale buyers are able to buy products. Although there is some retail shops on the second floor, you must know the art of "bargain" and you had better avoid buying retail goods in the morning because the shop keeper may feel uneasy with a retail buyer. Anyway, if you have chance to come there, you may want to enjoy just going sight-seeing.

Dong Xuan market – Hanoi cuisine paradise.

You might have your curiosity and appetite titillated as you try to choose from a wide selection of exotic Hanoi dishes: fried frog or fish meat pastes, rice and duck meat soup, fried rice, tietcanh (duck blood uncooked, only if you have a brave heart and strong stomach), snail noodle, rice vermicelli and beef cooked in the south Vietnamese style and even just beefsteak and bread. Here you can find real Hanoi food, as favored by true-blue Hanoians. The dishes might cost a little more than elsewhere, but you have to taste it to believe it, they are truly delicious, such as a steamy hot dish of pho cuon (beef wrapped in long wispy strips of rice vermicelli, served with aromatic herbs and spicy sweet-sour fish sauce).

Visiting Dong Xuan Market, travelers should not miss Dong Xuan Alley – a food paradise. Some delicious cuisines reviewed by travelers are:

	Roasted pork rice noodle (Bún chả): Sophisticated from fresh material to process techniques of roasted pork meatballs rolled with blumea leaves, eating with sweet and sour fish sauce made with homemade dracontomelum. Price: 25.000 VND – 35.000 VND (1 – 2 USD).
	Shizuka sweet porridge (chè xuka): To taste this special-name sweet porridge, you have to go deep inside Dong Xuan Alley (if you drive car or motorbike, park before going inside). This soup is the combination of coconut milk, dried coconut, dried banana, and jellies with sweet and fresh tastes. This porridge is called Shizuka because the owner loves Shizuka in the famous Doraemon manga. Besides Shizuka sweet soup, Dong Xuan Market Alley is also famous for other delicious sweet soup such as sweet green bean soup, grapefruit soup, and jellies. Price: around 1USD.
	Meatballs rice noodle with bamboo shoot: This stall has 20-year experience of making this cuisine. The quality of 1 big bowl is so so, but its location and price have attracted lots of visitors. You can also order for fried bread-sticks and extremely spicy chili sauce to eat with noodle. Price for 1 delicious bowl is 15.000 – 20.000VND (0.7 – 1 USD)
	Snail-crab rice noodle: The stall selling this cuisine which is right at the beginning of Dong Xuan Alley is a longtime and stand-out stall in this “food paradise” lane. The stall use big snail instead of small snail in other stalls. The snails are clean carefully so visitors do not have to worry about its cleanness. This shop does not use vinegar but tamarind juice as one of the ingredients. The opening time is in from morning until early afternoon.
	Night market rib porridge: Rib porridge at Dong Xuan market is only sold from late afternoon at around 5:00 – 6:00 PM until mid night, and it is more and more crowded at night. This porridge is made from bone juice and eaten with crunchy rib cartilages. You can also order fried bread-sticks and salted shredded pork to eat with porridge. This stall is located on Dong Xuan pavement, opposite Dong Xuan market.

How to get there

From HoanKiem Lake, take Hang Dao Street. Along the way, it changes name to Hang NgangSteet and then Hang Duong Street. Eventually it becomes Dong Xuan Street. You will see Dong Xuan Market on the right side of the road. The distance is about over 1 kilometer.

If you come here at the weekend (Fri, Sat, Sun), you can enjoy walking along the night market from Hang Dao to Dong Xuanstreet and buying stuffs. Night market starts from 7:00 PM until late night.

In the morning or afternoon, you can catch the electric bus from HoanKiemlake to Dong Xuan market.

Electric bus in Hanoi

Shopping tips

- If you want to buy items at wholesale price, you’d better gather all the orders from your friends, family members, or travel-mates to be able to buy and have a better price.

- If the items you want to buy are not for retail sale, you can find them in other stalls nearby with wholesale prices. There are some retail stores at the second floor, but you have to bargain and avoid buying in the morning.

- Visitor should go around the market to learn the price before purchase, and avoid bargaining many times.

- At the weekends or in the holidays, you should use public transports.

- Be careful with your properties. 

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Hanoi, Vietnam - Brief Traveling Guideline

Hanoi - the capital city of Vietnam - is a very important political, cultural, and tourism center of Vietnam. Hanoi is a long-lasting capital, which has just celebrated its 1000 years old last 2010.  

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