Hanoi Hangout (Part 2): Connecting With Ho Chi Minh and Reconnecting with Vietnamese Friends

- Oct. 28, 2017, Saturday.

- Hanoi has already given us a good first impression after our first day in this charming and to some extent "chaotic" city (i.e. too many motorbikes and the nightmare of crossing streets in Vietnam) (see events in Part 1 here.) One second day, my friend Genevieve and I mostly visited places that had something to do with one of Vietnam's most revered leader: Ho Chi Minh. Ho Chi Minh was a revolutionary leader who became the president of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the prime minister, and eventually, the president of Vietnam. He was best known for liberating Vietnam from the French.

- The best place to learn about Ho Chi Minh in Hanoi is the heart of Ba Dinh District, the district beside Hoan Kiem District. Going to the political center of Ba Dinh District takes around 20-30 minutes by walking average, but because we were in a hurry and we were still recovering from our long death from to Long Bien Bridge the day before, we decided to take a cab. The trip was cut short to around 10 minutes with average traffic.

- The political center of Ba Dinh district is enclosed to make it a pedestrian area. This "plaza" is known as "Ba Dinh Square," where Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's independence from the French. Today's the most iconic landmark in this area is Ho Chi Minh's museum, which, unfortunately, was being renovated when we got there. Normally, people may also line up early at the back part of the mausoleum to see the embalmed body of Ho Chi Minh. However, during the autumn-winter seasons, the body is sent to Russia for embalming maintenance (and since it is autumn as I am writing this, we weren't able to see the body.)

View from the mausoleum's side, since the front and back were being renovated.

- Behind the mausoleum is the One Pillar Pagoda. Though it is quite small, this is one of the most iconic temples/pagodas of Vietnam mainly because the pagoda from 1049AD is built on only one pillar in the middle of a pond. It is supposed to make the pagoda look like a lotus blossom. Around the pagoda are some prayer halls where people chant and give offerings.

See the pagoda's one-pillar base?

A stone carving of a lotus, and the pagoda that's supposed to look like a lotus.

One of the tourist who used me as a mascot. Yay (not yay.)

Photoshooootttt.

Guardian.

The small door to the stairs to the pagoda.

At the pagoda.

- Beside the One Pillar Pagoda is Ho Chi Minh Museum, dedicated of course to Ho Chi Minh himself. This museum was opened in the 90s, and has exhibits on all things related to the great leader himself, and other things related to the revolution and the Vietnam War in the context of Ho Chi Minh's life.

Ho Chi Minh Museum.

Who else but Ho Chi Minh himself.

Look at those spears!!

The Vietnamese are really fond of small chairs.

In his office.

There was a stall selling sandals made from car tires outside the museum. There was a giant pair too.

- Walking along the northern part of Ba Dinh Square is the Presidential Palace. The palace, built in the early 1900s, used to be the residence of the French Governor-General of Indochina. After the independence from the French, Ho Chi Minh was supposed to live there. However, he refused due to personal/symbolic reasons. This is why the stilt house behind/beside the presidential palace was converted to become Ho Chi Minh's bedroom and office. Still, the main palace was used to welcome official/state guests (and it still is being used as a kind of function hall for these special visitors.) One IMPORTANT REMINDER: the palace follows a ONE WAY system, though it was not really indicated in the flyers or reminders. Start from the yellow houses, then the mango lane, the stilt house, then all the way to the exit. We did not know this beforehand so much so that I suggested that we start with the stilt house since it's the most important landmark inside the palace grounds. Fortunately, when we found out about the one-way thing, we asked the palace guard if we could still go back to the yellow houses, and the guard allowed us. Also, one thing I found weird was that there were some places in the palace guide that wanted its visitors to see, but in reality they were just indicated but were actually off limits. Well, anyway, despite those concerns, we were able to see the important landmarks.

Presidential Palace.

Ho Chi Minh's Stilt House.

The Stilt House's Office.

Bedroom.

At the mango walkway, Ho Chi Minh's favorite place to relax.

At the back of the palace.

Meeting place.

Ho Chi Minh's cars.

Start your tour from these yellow houses.

Stilt house from across the small lake.

Had to take a photo of this from outside the gate.

- We left Ba Dinh Square afterwards and went straight up Hung Vuong Road (the pedestrian street along Ba Dinh Square,) and went to see the old Quan Thanh Temple; it is located at the corner of Hung Vuong and Quan Thanh Street. This 10th century temple was built by King Ly Thai To for the Taoist god of the north. Apart from being a functional temple, the Quan Thanh Temple is also a treasure chest of ancient (Chinese) texts. Sadly, only a few people can read these texts as the French influenced the Vietnamese to write the language in a modified Latin script.

Quan Thanh Temple.

Elephannnntttt.

The main prayer hall.

The turtle and serpent - a symbol of power of the northern god.

Main hall.

- Before going to our final stop for the day, Genevieve and I accidentally found a buffet restaurant and so we ate our hearts out before continuing our journey to the West Lake (which is just right above Quan Thanh Temple.) Walking along Than Nien street, the only street separating the southern tip of the West Lake, one can find Hanoi's oldest Buddhist temple - Tran Quoc Pagoda. This temple from the 6th century was originally constructed along the Red River. However, due to the river's flow causing a threat to the pagoda, the Vietnamese moved the temple to its current location in the 1600s.

Looks like paradise island.

Closer view of the pagoda.

The pagoda is really tall!!

I like the pagoda's color.

It was quite difficult to have this photo.

At the main prayer hall.

The Vietnamese like having bonsai trees with props (like small houses, small people, etc.)

With my Vietnamese fan.

- After our visit to Tran Quoc Pagoda, we rode a cab back to Hoan Kiem Lake, to hopefully catch a water puppet show (a traditional performing art in Vietnam.) Unfortunately the taxi we caught had a meter that moved faster than a horse (at the very least he didn't bring us to any obscure place,) and we weren't able to catch the show (and we weren't able to catch any show during our stay in Hanoi because tickets kept getting sold out.) From the lake we just walked leisurely while looking for more souvenirs on the way back to our hostel. We also had our first pho in Pho 10 in Ly Quoc Su near out hostel. It's one of the top-rated pho restaurants I've seen online. After having pho, we had some rest at the hostel before heading out for the night.

Ladies in elegant aodais around Hoan Kiem Lake. 

Beef pho at Pho 10.

Cheap and delicious pho!! 

- At night, we met some of my Vietnamese friends at a banh canh ghe (ocean crab soup) restaurant along Quang Trung Street. It was just a few minutes south of St. Joseph's Cathedral. I first met my friends Minh, Minh Huong, and Tommy in the ASEAN-India Student Exchange way back in 2012 (see here). This is the first time I'm meeting them in 5 years. After dinner we headed to the church to have some after-dinner drinks (no, not the alcoholic kind,) and it was also where I experienced a part of Vietnamese culure/society. There are some stalls with small chairs and tables that are really just for people to sit down, have a drink or a small snack, and just chat. Genevieve and I tried the "sau da," which at first I thought was just the Vietnamese way of saying/spelling "soda." Apparently, "sau da" is a a drink made from a fruit called "qua sau." In English the fruit is called "dracontomelon," and is native in Cambodia, Vietnam, and China. I think I have tasted a candied version of this from Chinese groceries here in the Philippines, but I've never tried the juice version. The juice was sweet, but the fruit was a bit sour. This reminded me of Portugal's sour cherry (but alcoholic) drink called "ginjinha" (click here to see my ginjinha experience in Lisbon).

There was a special procession that night.

Look at all the ladies in their aodais!!

Carrying a Mother Mary statue.

Banh canh ghe with Minh and Minh Huong. The soup tasted like a soup version of the Philippines' palabok dish.

Having sau da. Also, Tommy made it!!

With the church at night.

See the small crescent moon at the side?

Religious paraphernalia on display near the church.

- After we said our goodbyes, Genevieve and I went back to our hostel to fix our things and prepare for our day trip out of Hanoi the next day - to the "Bay of Descending Dragon," Halong Bay!! (Don't forget to read Part 1 here, Part 3 here, Part 4 here, and Part 5 here!!)