Date: Saturday, June 16th,2012
Despite the fact that I was born and brought up here, I feel like I do not know my city at all. Therefore on a beautiful Saturday 2 weeks ago, I decided to take a walk around Hanoi. Actually, I am a museum lover and the previous week, I planned to visit all of Hanoi’s museums on that day. However, due to some minor incidents, the trip turned into a wander tour of Hanoi (although I did get to visit some museums of Hanoi!yay!)
I woke up quite early, around 6 am since I had to return my cousin’s motorcycle before 7.30 a.m and borrowed him an SD card for my camera since my card was already full and I hadn’t synced the photos to my computer yet. How ironic that when I arrived at his flat at exactly 7.25 a.m, he still laid lazily on his bed although he had to go to work at 7.30…
From his place on Lieu Giai street, I started my trip by walking to Uncle Ho’s mausoleum which is around 2 kilometers away. I was so reckless to wear and consequently was refused to get admission to the Mausoleum. Therefore, I just hanged around and took some photos of Ba Dinh Hall and the mausoleum. I also discovered some streets that I had never heard of before like Bà Huyện Thanh Quan street(which is between the mausoleum and Le Hong Phong street) or Chùa Một Cột st(Although One-Pillar Pagoda is one of Hanoi’s symbol, I have never been awared that it would be a name of a street).
Uncle Ho’s Mausoleum. I promise to dress more neatly next time!!
My next destination is Imperial Citadel of Thang Long (Hoàng Thành Thăng Long). I had to wandered along Hoang Dieu street for 5 minutes before I realized that I had already passed the gate. The truth is they do not have any official sign, just a small direction for parking area. On the whole, the Citadel is smaller than I had expected. The first thing you saw when you entered the citadel was Đoan Môn. It is the official gate to enter the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long. It was destroyed in 19th century under Nguyen Dynasty to build the Flag Tower of Hanoi but was then rebuilt The best thing about Đoan Môn is that from there, visitors can have a great view to The Flag Tower of Hanoi (Cột Cờ Hà Nội) and the workers put some kinds of flowers there(im not sure what they really are) to make customers have the feeling of entering a Royal and peaceful place. Đoan Môn led me to the Dragon Ground(Sân rồng or Sân Long Trì) and Kinh Thien Palace Relic, which played a very important role in politics,culture, religious,etc. It was Dragon Ground where King Ly Thai To read “Chiếu Dời Đô” to move the capital from Hoa Lu(Ninh Binh) to Thang Long(Ha Noi). Around the Dragon Ground are some exhibition rooms which exhibits Hanoi’s History and some antiques that archeologists discovered. After that was D67 – a Ministry of Politics’ meeting room in the Vietnam War period 1960s-1970s. Recently(6 days ago actually), it was published that a secret tunnel was found under D67. Too bad they will not open it until December ,2012 so I will have to wait a very long time to visit it. The last relic at Imperial Citadel of Thang Long is Hâu Lâu Palace Relic.The most interesting thing of my visit to Thang Long Imperial Citadel was that I came across historian Le Van Lan – one of the most famous Vietnamese historian. Silly me didnt have enough courage to greet him formally and ask something about Thang Long Imperial Citadel. I swear I will not miss such a golden chance next time. Another thing is it has already been announced that Thang Long Imperial Citadel will be made into a park. I wonder how It will change. More trees? Let’s wait and see
Đoan Môn Gate
It was scary to climb up and down these stairs
Ministry of Politics’ meeting room
How I love this antique telephone!! <3
I spent nearly 2 hours wandering around Thang Long Imperial Citadel and when I get out, the clock struck 10.43 A.M. I want to visit Vietnam Art History but it will be quite rush so I decided to walk past Hanoi Flag Tower and Vietnam Military Museum. I didnt get to visit Vietnam Military Museum since the ticket is quite expensive(20.000 vnd plus 15.000 for camera) and the most important thing, I am not really interested in Military and Weapons stuffs. Therefore, I just stopped by to take some photos and went on with my trip.
Hanoi Flag Tower (view from Đoan Môn Relic)
I walked along Dien Bien Phu Street and turned left at Hang Bong to head to Hoan Kiem Lake. From Hang Bong, I turned left again to To Tich street to have a serving of mixed fruit to fulfill my thirstiness. To Tich is very famous for mixed fruit and almost every house on the street sells the product. However, since I didnt do any research and didnt know what’s the best shop there, I just picked randomly. The fruit turned out to be quite nice and cheap, only 12.000 VND. After that, I continued walking to Dong Xuan Market. I intened to eat something at Ngo Cho Dong Xuan but the weather didnt allow me too since it would be committing suicide to sit under the heat of 40 degrees C. However, I ended up eating Bun Dau Mam Tom at Dong Thai Lane. Dong Thai is a small street near Ma May st. I was convinced to eat there for the shop’s crowdedness. It only cost 25.000 VND for a serving of Bun Dau + a glass of iced tea. I finished eating around 12.30 p.m and rested at Hoan Kiem Lake’s bench to wait for Vietnam National Museum of History at 25 Tong Dan street to open.
A serving of mixed fruit. Yummy!
The croweded Bún Đậu restaurant that caught my attention
I will just stick to this dish forever!!
Around Hoan Kiem Lake (a souvenir shop, Pen Tower, Ngoc Son Temple)
I arrived at Vietnam National Museum of History at 1.45 p.m. My first impression of the museum was that all of the staffs here were so nice and friendly. They greeted visitors politely with warm smile and useful guide. I bought the admission ticket for students at 10.000 VND (for adults: 20.000 VND). The museum exhibits things from French War to current period. What amazed me was a slashing machine used in Maison Centrale or Hỏa Lò prison in Vietnamese or Hanoi Hilton in American. (Wow im thinking about Hilton Hotel). Anyway, I was lucky to catch an on-going special exhibition called Vietnam’s Maritime Cultural Heritage. I think the exhibition was held mostly to promote Hoàng Sa and Trường Sa Island of Vietnam(am I right?) although they put on a lot of beautiful things found under the sea but somehow Hoang Sa and Truong Sa were their implied message, right? As a Vietnamese, I announced once again: Hoang Sa and Truong Sa islands belong to Vietnam and China, please refrain from the thought of taking them away from us!!!! Back to the topic, I highly recommend this museum if you want to visit Hanoi’s museums: good sources of information, nice photos and good service.
Hanoi Hilton Hotel
Hanoi’s Stock Exchange Centre( but it was closed down in 2009 I think :-??)
My dream is to attend a concert here before I leave
Several minutes after getting out of the museum, I passed by the real Hanoi Hilton Hotel which is right next to Hanoi Opera House. This place is just so magnificent and too beautiful to be true. The only time I visited Hanoi Opera House was for a drawing contest in the summer before I entered grade 2. Wow! Not for a concert but a drawing contest. I hope that I could attend at least 1 concert at Opera House before I leave for Norway. Dream, please come true! After that, I grabbed my favorite flavor – Royal Green Tea at Paris Gateaux before taking bus no.45 to Bookworm bookstore at 44 Chau Long street to buy some English books. I ended up spent quite a lot on the books but they all seemed interesting enough to worth the money.
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