Hanoi - Vietnam's Capital

Where the Hanoi Hilton and Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleam Sit Side by Side.

May 9, 2007

The French influence is still apparent in Hanoi, Vietnam's capital, an elegant and once beautiful city of boulevards and lakes which has avoided the excesses of HCM City.

The 1000 year old capital of Vietnam, Hanoi, is a courteous, polite, and hassle free city. It is a city caught in a timewarp although moves are afoot to restore the ochre-coloured mansions that line the wide, elegant boulevards, once the homes of the administrators of the French colonial power.

Take a cyclo drive along the leafy avenues, past the Opera House – the pride of France's Indochine empire – through green parks where old men sit ruminating over chess moves. Beautiful young women with baskets yoked across their shoulders, glide elegantly along with tiny shuffling steps, their arms in long white gloves to protect their skin, coolie hats or the ubiquitous green pith helmets as worn by their parents on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, keeping the sun from their faces.

Drive along the Lake of the Restored Sword and dismount ar the Hanoi Old Quarter which is best seen on foot. In the thirty-six streets that make up this area, little has changed since the days of the great trading companies. The 15th century streets still carry the names and trades of the Guilds that lived and worked here, Bamboo, Silk, Lacquer, Rice Grinding, Coffin Street etc.

On the pavements, people live, eat and ply their trades. The barber hangs his mirror on a convenient tree, lays out his razor and brushes, unfolds his chair and he's in business. The soup maker brews up a vat of noodle soup, the cobbler stitches together a pair of shoes, punching out the soles from rubber tyres, and if there's a hole in the bucket, there are plenty of welders in Metal-Working Street to repair it.

In the centre of the city lies the beautiful lake where people come at dawn to practice T'ai Chi, and where they meet their friends in the evening to gossip. It's not Paris, but it has an unmistakable French air, not least in the smell of freshly baked baguettes. The best legacy left by the French was their cuisine, and Hanoi's bread, the croissants, the cheeses and the wines, are the best in Asia.

If you want to visit Ho Chi Minh's waxy, embalmed body in his Mausoleum, be prepared for a 30 minute wait in a queue. Vietnamese arrive here from all over the country to gaze on the face of the ex-President they still revere and call Uncle HoAnd if you see just one thing in Hanoi, make it the ex-prison known to the American POW's as the Hanoi Hilton, if only to see the guillotine that was last used in the 1950's.

No one leaves Hanoi without visiting nearby Ha Long Bay, where 1600 limestone islands rising 220 metres high snake across the Gulf of TomkinOn one of these limestone outcdrops a well-lit cave full of stalagmites and stalactites can be visited. Sampans and junks work the bay, fishing and taking tourists around: most provide lunch on board.

One day soon, Vietnam will be covered with McDonald's, Burger Kings, Holiday Inns and giant Coco-Cola signs. Hanoi is still holding its own in the fight to preserve the most rewarding aspects of its culture, but it is inevitable that it too, will one day succumb to the consumerism that has gripped Ho Chi Minh City. Hanoi is a unique and beauitiful place. Visit it now while it is still relatively unspoiled.

Postscript: Although Hanoi is a hassle free city there is a problem with the teenage postcard sellers who can seem aggressive. Just remember that since doi moi there is no social security system for the people, and selling a few postcards may be the only chance that rhese children will have to eat or find a bed for the evening. Buy from one only and arrange to buy another two the following day if she/he keeps the other sellers away from you.

The copyright of the article Hanoi - Vietnam's Capital in Vietnam Travel is owned by Mari Nicholson. Permission to republish Hanoi - Vietnam's Capital in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.