
Hanoi Hoan Kiem Lake
In my egocentric world, I once thought New York City was the capital of the Unites States (at least I did until I was 6 or 7) and up until last month, I thought that my birthplace, Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City), was the capital of Vietnam.
Hanoi?
Really? Really?
Capital of Vietnam?
Huh.
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Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum
After going through a couple thousand travel photos of Vietnam, I got a little bored and fed-up so changed things up a little by converting some of the pics to black & white for the blog.
In Hanoi, we hired a private guide and an air-conditioned car to take us around the must-see touristy places. We started with the Ho Chi Minh Masoleum but unfortunatly it was closed so I only have some exterior shots.
We skipped the Ho Chi Minh Museum but did visit the One-Pillar Pagoda.

One Pillar Pagoda
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There are 54 ethnic groups in Vietnam including the Tay, Muong, Khmer Krom, and Hmong. The Viet (aka Kinh) people make up 86% and the Chinese (aka Hoa), like my family, make up only 1.1% of the total population.
The Vietnam Museum of Ethnology is a worthwhile visit to learn more about the different ethnic groups.

Vietnam Museum of Ethnology
On display are artifacts, photographs, costumes, hunting gear, etc etc. My favorite part was the exterior bit that had life-sized replicas of the ethnic dwellings:

Vietnam Museum of Ethnology
Wee Scotch’s love of puppetry began in Hanoi when he saw his first water puppet show at the Ethnology Museum.
From that point on (and still to this day), he constantly asks me to take him to see more “puppet soup,” as he calls it, and I’m glad that I can finally put to use all those animal puppets we get from the Emirates Airline flights.

Vietnamese Puppet Show at Museum of Ethnology
A traditional live band performs all the music (including the singing) for the water puppetry:

Dancing to the Puppet “Soup”
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We later went to the Hanoi Municipal Theater to see more of their famous water puppetry:

Vietnam Water Puppetry Theater in Hanoi
At the Municipal Theater, we ended up seeing two shows back-to-back because Wee Scotch loved it so much.

Water Puppetry by Daylight
We saw one show just before the sunset. The next show was more dramatic as it incorporated theatrical lighting.

Water Puppetry by Night
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A relaxing one-hour cyclo ride through the Old Quarter:

Cyclo Tour around Old Quarter

Hanoi Street Scene

Hanoi Street Scene

BBQ Kebab Banh Mi
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Dinner at Pho 10 on Ly Quoc Su street:

Pho in Hanoi 2
Check out the HUGE vats of stock behind the server!

Pho in Hanoi 1
By the time we arrived at the restaurant, it was late by their standards so many of the menu items had run out already since they probably buy everything fresh from the market each morning.
I had a basic bowl of Pho and it was slurpingly good!
I didn’t go out much in the evening in downtown Saigon so I don’t know if this scene happens only in Hanoi but all around the area where we stayed (Old Quarter), the streets were packed (overfilling!) with young people sitting on short stools and chatting away, shelling and eating peanuts, and enjoying icy drinks:

Hanoi Street Scene
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With all the walking and sightseeing and stroller inaccessibility (due to sidewalks being used for parking motorbikes), one of the best items I packed was an Ergo baby carrier for Wee Scotch:

Sightseeing Vietnam
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Up Next? Halong Bay!
it looks like a very fun experience!
Just a few days after you, another Dubai family’s experience of Hanoi
our experience of Hanoi !
http://doindubai.com/2012/07/16/happening-hanoi/
Great photos! I wanna visit Vietnam someday! The best pic of all is the last one! Wee Scotch is getting so big — I bet he is responsible for your staying so slim even with all that food! 😉
thanks! I hope you get to visit VN one day. I’d love to visit Japan as well.
Reading for the second time – starting with Halong Bay! It’s fantastic to be able to share your travel like this… transported and yearning for more:)
more coming!
Fantastic pics – love the spot colour in black and white.
It was fun experimenting!
Great pics!
thanks 🙂 and salivating over your Bacon Chipotle Potato Salad as well – I love a good mayo potato salad!