Making the most of your 3 days in Hanoi

Hanoi, Vietnam was the last stop for my Indochina backpacking trip after Vientiane, Laos & Bangkok, Thailand, and it was a good decision in retrospect since Ha Long Bay provided a good climax for the entire excursion, but more on that later.

I arrived in Vietnam via the Lao border in a 24 hour sleeper bus. Please note the misnomer as the entire trip lasts for 27 hours, more or less despite what travel agencies or bus operators will say. Included in the duration of the bus trip is the insane immigration on both countries, particularly the Laotian side (As a travelers advice, queues are nonexistent here, so do not bother falling in line, just chuck your passport in the immigration window & wait for your name to be called. Do not take offense when a local cuts in front of you to submit his passport, it’s just the way things are done around these parts). After getting past the Lao border, you will have to trek for 2 kilometers to get to the Vietnam immigration. Thankfully this side is not as chaotic as the other. Your bus will pick you up in the other side after a random police checkpoint. The entire process will take roughly 4 hours so be prepared for it mentally.

When you get to Hanoi, be weary of taxi scams as they are rampant and drivers of these can pinpoint naïve tourist a mile away (truth be told even a seasoned traveler such as myself fell victim to it). You can always tell these types of taxis apart from the legit kind by the speed of their meters. If you feel it’s too fast, it probably is. To be safe, do not take those taxis parked in terminals, just go down the street and flag down another cab. The first thing you will notice is the mass chaos of traffic. The roads are dominated by motorcycles so much that one does not need to look both ways before crossing the street, but also front and back as these cycles drive past everywhere!!! Even the sidewalks have been turned into parking for scooters that the average pedestrian has to walk on the road.

With a stroke of luck, I managed to get a discounted hotel price via a promo from Agoda.com. The ‘Golden Spring Hotel Hanoi’, is conveniently located in the heart of the Old Quarter, which is basically the center of everything. As the name suggests, the Old Quarter is the essence of old Hanoi, from the architecture to the layout of the streets. Shops aplenty extend all over the breadth of the streets where you can buy dry goods, souvenirs, North Face bags, street food, etc., if you can think of it, you can find it here somewhere.

Sightseeing for day 1 consisted first & foremost of the ‘Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum’. This is because this attraction has a limited time frame to enter (08:00AM – 11:00AM, closed on Mondays & Fridays). The line to enter this place can be long, but it moves fast enough since you are only allowed a few seconds to glimpse the body of the man whose name is used as the capital of the country. Entombed within, & preserved forever is the communist revolutionary leader of Vietnam. Be forewarned that the people and guards revere this man so much that no horsing around is allowed in his tomb. No inappropriate clothing, hands where they can be seen, no loud noises, & no photographs within the mausoleum itself, only at the Ba Dinh square. After that surreal experience, one can go to the ‘Ho Chi Minh Museum’. This is a good place to visit for those unfamiliar with the country’s tumultuous past. A mere walking distance away, the museum provides insight to the communist ideology, which for those raised in a capitalist democratic regions, lets us see how things are done on the other side of the fence. There are sections entirely devoted to Marx, Lenin, & Trotsky, the founding of the country’s past & their technological advances in the future.

My next stop was another museum, although a bit more somber in tone. ‘Hoa Lo Prison’ is a jail originally designed to house freedom fighters from the French colonial era, and then American prisoners of war during the Vietnam War. Now the building with a dark history has become a museum for tourist, curious to see the grisly past of the penitentiary. The most stomach turning displays are the life size dioramas depicting the torture of Vietnamese prisoners captured trying to gain independence from the French invaders. Inmates were locked to their beds with leg clamps, in windowless rooms, in solitary confinement for days. You can only imagine the psychological trauma the former residents endured here.

I didn’t want to end my day on a sad note, so afterwards I decided to see the much hyped water puppet show. I admit I was a bit hesitant as I assumed these types of plays catered more to children than adults, but I was surprised by how much I found it enjoyable. The puppet show depicted a dozen scenes ranging from the historical founding of Ha Long Bay today to day life in the farm, all in 30 minutes. The music accompanying the show was uniquely Vietnamese, soothing & exotic, & although I did not understand the lyrics, it was pleasant to the ears. The puppet show itself was well choreographed, & despite the language barrier, was vaguely understandable through its actions. A must see show whenever you are I Hanoi.

Evening was spent walking the Old Quarter’s night market, which starts at 7PM during Friday, Saturday & Sundays only. The market goes on & on, form blocks on end, a true paradise for shoppers with a craving for a bargain discount (be weary of foreigner pricing methods though, & it is expected that you haggle a bit J).

Day 2 was spent entirely in Ha Long Bay. A day trip tour costs roughly 900,000 dong, which is approximately 1,800 pesos. A bargain considering where you get to go. The trip takes about 3 hours to get to the bay, & another 3 hours to get back. It includes a boat ride to the various islands, a cave tour, a kayak/boat ride, & lunch served in one of the boats. According to our tour guide, Ha Long Bay (which literally means ‘Descending Dragon’) was named after a family of dragons sent by the gods to defend their country from invaders. The dragons regurgitated pearls which turned into islands to block the ships of invading outsiders. Despite the man-made structures in the otherwise natural cave formations & islands of the bay, this world heritage site is unspoiled, & clean, unlike other tourist attractions around the world. The Vietnamese people have impressed me by managing to protect this iconic symbol of their country. It is hard to describe such a breathtaking landscape, so the closest I can describe it is by comparing it to the Hundred Islands in Alaminos & Puerto Princesa’s Underground River if the two merged into one.

My last day in Hanoi was spent visiting the ‘Old Citadel’, the seat of power for the monarchs of the country in ancient times. Aside from the building structures depicting life in ancient Vietnam, there are museums within the area, displaying artifacts, pottery, tools, weaponry & even WWII relics unearthed in the location. In the afternoon I strolled around Hoan Kiem Lake, where a Buddhist temple is located within. Serenity can be achieved just by absorbing the view of the lake from within the temple.

To cap of my trip, I visited ‘54 Traditions’, an antique shop suggested by Trip Advisor. A little bit out of the path of other tourist attractions, it is still worth the visit. They have antique pieces dating back as far as the 16^th century, majority of which are for sale, legally, as they have certificates of authenticity issued by the government itself (a word of warning though, most objects here are a bit pricier than your average souvenir, so if you are not window shopping, bring your wallet J).

Vietnam is rich in its history, proud of its customs & traditions, and have people with a strong sense of national pride… and no city embodies is more than Hanoi.