Exploring the streets of Hanoi’s Old Quarter!

After a few hectic days in Ho Chi Minh City, we’ve arrived in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam.

We caught a 2 hour flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi without any issues. Xander loved sitting near a window so he could look out during takeoff and landing which kept him busy. He’s also very conscious of the seat belt sign on the airplane and is the first to put the belt on when the sign shows it… it was also quite entertaining trying to explain to a 3-year old what the “No Smoking” sign means 😉

After we all checked in and got settled into our hotel, Somerset Hanoi this time, We walked downstairs and into Hoa Lo Prison, also nicknamed “Hanoi Hilton”. This used to be an old prison originally built and used by the French and later by VietCong for prisoners of war during the Vietnam War. Nowadays, only the front and one side remains, the rest has given way for the modern tower, Hanoi Towers of which our hotel is part of.

That night we discussed whether or not to go into the Old Quarter for some dinner but we decided eventually that Suz and I would just grab something locally as both Xander and Eloise were very tired. My parents did catch a taxi in order to head towards the Old Quarter… and they were right to do so. While we were able to spot hundreds of great food places of a “hole-in-the-wall” type during the day, there were none open during the night.

So after walking around the area for what felt like forever, and with Xander already asleep in the pram, we headed back to the hotel and were able to just find some “Banh Mi” for dinner that night. My parents came back later and told us that they had enjoyed a great dinner and had a great time walking through Old Quarter…. typical 😉

Well, the next morning while my parents went to explore the French Quarter and the Vietnamese Women’s Museum, Suz, Xander, Eloise and I went for a walk around Hoan Kiem Lake. It’s a great walk and uninterrupted by motorcycles…. we were however interrupted on several occasions by groups of young Vietnamese people who just loved to get photos of Xander and Eloise.

We eventually managed to get away from all the photos and found a great cafe overlooking the lake, the square and part of the Old Quarter. We didn’t venture into the Old Quarter at this stage as we had a walking tour booked for the afternoon. Before we headed back to the hotel, we did find a small “hole-in-the-wall” restaurant that served some great Pho… if only we could have found something like this last night!

For the afternoon I had booked in a “Street Food Tour” of Hanoi’s Old Quarter. I booked this with an organisation called “Hanoi Free Walking Tours” which is a non-profit organisation run by a group of students who are keen on sharing their city and practise their English with others. We were happy to get a tour as I just found out about them the previous night and emailed them hoping they had an availability to take us along…. well, it turns out that all the guides were busy so the manager himself decided to take us out!

The tour started with us trying out some “Egg Milk Coffee” in a cafe overlooking Hoan Kiem Lake. The Egg Milk Coffee is a frothy, fluffy mixture of Egg, Condensed Milk and Coffee and tastes great! The cafe where we were sitting was great too… and hard to find. You had to walk through a silk shop, and up some very steep steps in order to get there.

Once we had finished the coffees we moved further into the Old Quarter, navigating past cars and motorcycles along small narrow streets… all while pushing a pram in front of us. Our next stop was for some “Bun Cha” which is a typical Hanoi dish of grilled pork & noodles. We also got to try some great BBQ pork and finish the tour off with some cold beer. We had to finish the tour a bit earlier than planned as we had tickets to see a show at The Water Puppet Theatre. Our tour guide assisted us in navigating our way out of the streets of the Old Quarter and took us to the Theatre.

Now, at this stage of the evening Xander was starting to get a bit restless and we were a bit worried about what would happen in the theatre… However, as the Puppet Theatre got underway he was quite interested in seeing what was happening and actually managed to sit still through most of the show.

The next morning we once again did a tour with the “Hanoi Free Walking Tour”, this time through the Ho Chi Minh Complex. Originally we were quite interested in seeing Ho Chi Minh himself as he is preserved for all to see, like Lenin. However, at this time of the year he “travels” to Russia for some restoration. Ah well, another time maybe… we did however see the Museum, the outside of the Mausoleum and the One Pillar Pagoda.

The rest of our time in Hanoi was spent walking through the Old Quarter and just enjoying the atmosphere. It’s a great area in where most streets seem to concentrate in selling one thing, you have a street filled with motorcycle parts, a baby clothes street, a coffee street and so on….

We really enjoyed our time in Hanoi and wished that we had spent more days here… However, this means that we have an excuse to come back at a later date, after all, Hanoi is the gateway for Sapa and Halong Bay which are two areas that we can’t wait to see later on!