Photo Tour: Hanoi (Vietnam)

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!

Pho in Hanoi

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!

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