Hanoi Hangout (Part 5): Remnants of Hanoi's Imperial and Military Past

- October 31, 2017, Tuesday.

- When people talk about Vietnam, the topic that comes up is usually the Vietnam War, the French colonial era, and of course Ho Chi Minh. However, the past few days that my friend Genevieve and I had been in Vietnam's capital city of Hanoi proved that apart fro the things mentioned above, the history and civilization of Vietnam is much more than these contemporary things. Since we wanted to end our Hanoi trip with a bang, we decided to visit places that are related to the royal and imperial history of Vietnam.

- Our first agenda for the early morning was a trip to Vietnam's first national university - Van Mieu, also known as the "Temple of Literature." We took an Uber from our hostel because we headed off a bit late; Uber in Vietnam is incredible cheap!! (It seemed cheaper than Uber here in Manila!!) However, the Temple of Literature is quite walkable, still, from the downtown area. Built in 1070AD, this temple of courtyards (as it had a lot!!) was there the country's early leaders and scholars were educated. The layout and the educational system were, undoubtedly, influenced by the Chinese. The school was named "Temple of Literature," as most of its students discussed things related to literature, as well as other topics like philosophy or history.

The sun and wind were cooperating!!

Jump shot on our last day!!

"I am tired of celebrity life." HAHA.

I love the subtle details of this door!!

One of the many many many many courtyards.

"List" of students who passed/graduated.

Center of the world.

I still am fond of these little pagodas and props to decorate bonsai trees.

Ritual drum.

Inside the memorial hall/museum; he was the rector of the imperial academy.

Scholarly garb.

King Ly Nhan Tong.

- Just outside the Temple of Literature is a well-known and well-honored restaurant called KOTO. KOTO is an abbreviation that stands for "Know One Teach One." This foundation was founded in the late 1990s by Australian-Vietnamese Jimmy Pham, who wanted to help Vietnam with its poverty situation. Pham, through KOTO, does this by teaching street children things related to the hospitality industry in training centers. Today, there are two branches, in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon,) and those running the restaurants are the kids that KOTO's training centers trained. The price of the food in KOTO seem a bit upscale compared to the street-side restaurants and stalls, but the quality of the food and presentation, as well as the ambiance, are better as well. Also, part of the profits will be given to the foundation, so they can train more kids and provide these trainees with the necessary training supplies like an apron or a chef's cap.

The logo looks really nice!!

OUR FOOOODDDDD. BUN CHA FOR LIFEEEE.

- From Van Mieu, we walked up north to visit the Vietnam National Museum of Fine Arts, in Nguyen Thai Hoc Street. This museum is made up of two buildings: a former Catholic girl's boarding house, and an artists' colony. The museum was inaugurated in the 60s, but the buildings existed since the 1930s. Today, various forms of art, from ancient to contemporary.

The museum.

A wooden Amitabha statue.

I like the lion's head.

Avaolikiteshvara/Guan Yin statue.

Prayer.

King and Queen.

Me and my girls.

The grass is greener....outside.

Sleeping sisters.

Ethnic wear.

The Trung Sisters who rebelled and defeated the Chinese Han-Dynasty overlords.

- At around past noon, Genevieve and I were on our way to the old flag tower and citadel when we stumbled on the embassy of North Korea to Vietnam. As Vietnam is a socialist/communist country, they do have some connections to North Korea. Since going to North Korea (while interesting and intriguing) is still a risky gamble, seeing the NoKor Embassy was one of the closest encounters of "North Korea" that I had apart from my visit to the DMZ from Seoul (click here) or the mysterious North-Korea-China-friendship-restaurant place that we were brought to in Beijing (click here).

Genevieve noticed the bulletin board with Kim Jong Un's photos.

Extreme zoom.

Embassy of North Korea. No, did not go in.

There's the flag.

Oh, and there's a Lenin Square nearby. How appropriate.

- Going a few steps north, along Hoang Dieu Road and Dien Bien Phu Street lies the Hanoi Military History Museum and the Hanoi Flag Tower. Since we arrived during lunch break (and museums/tourist spots usually close during lunch break in Hanoi,) we had to wait for around 15 minutes before the museum would open again for the afternoon. In the meantime, we visited the Hanoi Flag Tower, which was accessible through the museum premises, and went around the old tanks, airplanes, and bombs on display at the yard. The Hanoi Flag Tower, or "Cot Co,"was built in the 1800s as the citadel's observation post. The Hanoi Citadel, or Thang Long Citadel, is just north of the flag tower (more on this later.)

Cot Co. 

Symbol of Hanoi.

Look at....that....view.

Giant war airplanes. (See the Cyrillic letters??)

Memorial.

Big tank!! 

Tank and the flag tower at the back.

- When the museum opened later on, we went inside and saw weapons and military paraphernalia from early Vietnam up until the Vietnam War. It as an interesting museum, but still, the big stuff exhibited at the yard was still my favorite part of the museum.

Military Museum.

Ho Chi Minh's Legacy.

Old crossbow!!

Flag tower from the museum.

Another large tank inside the museum.

Uniforms during the Vietnam War.

Fat cat and mythical Bulbasaur/Ivysaur/Venausaur.

- From the museum I had to go around the corner and walk north along Hoang Dieu for what I think is the grandest of all places that we visited: the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long, or  Hanoi Citadel. The citadel was first built in 1010 during the Ly Dynasty of Dai Viet, and was expanded through the next dynasties. The palace was destroyed in varying degrees during the French colonial era, until it was renovated and eventually used even in the 20th century.

Map of the main palace + the archaeological site across the street.

The Imperial Citadel of Thang Long.

I had to do this....a few times.

Serpent steps to the palace hall.

RAWRRRRRRRR.

Princess Palace at the back/north side.

- In the 20th Century, an underground bunker/meeting place was built inside the palace, called D67 Tunnel and House. It served as the headquarters of the Vietnam People's Army during the Vietnam War (after World War II until the mid-1970s.) The underground headquarters reminded me of Singapore's Battle Box in Fort Canning, where the British surrendered to the Japanese during World War II (click here).

D67.

The above-ground headquarters.

Plans.

Military gift.

To the hidden headquarters.

- After going through the main citadel, it is a must to visit the archaeological site ACROSS the street. Now apparently we needed tickets, but the card-like tickets to the citadel purchased at the main ticket counter were already eaten up by the machine at the citadel's entrance. So we had to walk back to the main entrance of the citadel to "buy tickets," only to find out that the ticket receipt will serve as the "ticket" for the archaeological site. Now while the receipt does state this (i.e. to not throw away the ticket receipt,) and fortunately we did keep our receipt, I felt that there should be some kind of overt reminder for this, since some people throw their receipts away. So again, DO NOT THROW AWAY THE RECEIPT THE COMES WITH THE CARD-LIKE TICKET.

Tiles tiles tiles!!

Would love to have these on display in my room.

Lion guardian's trying to scare you.

Ancient canal.

Geometric base.

Archaeological staff with conical hats.

Ancient well. I love the tile work.

- From Hoang Dieu Road, we could see the parallel Hung Vuong Road, which we visited in Day 2 (see Part 2 here). Hung Vuong is the street where the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum is. In Day 2, the facade of the mausoleum was being renovated, to our dismay. But fastforward to Day 5, the facade was already free from any scaffolding!! Needless to say, we went around the big big block to take more proper photos of the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. What a good way to end our visit to Hanoi!!

FINALLY!!!!

Thankfully I saw this mausoleum from across the street. One of the times that my eyesight hasn't failed me.

See the guards in white??

- After our celebratory photos of the scaffolding-less mausoleum, Genevieve and I went back to Hang Gai and the Lake area to hopefully look for more things to shop and take home before our late night flight. We had our last bowl of pho and stir-fried noodles before finally leaving our awesome hostel - Luxury Backpackers - for Noi Bai International Airport. Another place has been ticked off from my endless travel bucket list, and truly, my the quaint city of Hanoi (with day trips to Halong Bay and the Perfume Pagoda) did not fail my instincts and my urge to visit this wonderful place. As for the trip itself, rarely do I travel with friends, and while Hanoi itself was excellent enough for me, the trip was even better because I had a good friend with whom to share the experience. (Please don't forget to read Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here and Part 4 here!!)