Hanoi

HOME (English) / Vietnam / Vietnam sights

Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam, as well as the second largest city in the country. The name Hanoi was given by Emperor Minh Mạng in 1831 and literally means inside-more. The city is located on the right bank of the Red River (Sông Hồng), about 60 kilometers from the mouth of the river in the Gulf of Tonkin.

Hanoi, also often called, the beautifully old lady of the Orient, is one of the most exotic and classic Asian city in South-East Asia. A very compact center that they call the old "quarter of an hour" with narrow streets full of dilapidated colonial buildings, pagodas, shops and gates. A very energetic city where everyone lives on the street, where it is teeming with terraces, scooters, cyclists and women who drag their goods on a wooden stick through the streets. Sellers, touts, tourists, yuppies but also parks where you can see people dancing or shadow boxing in the morning,  

You can have an afternoon of people watching with a cold Bia hoi (beer) in your hands, enjoying an iced coffee or a North Vietnamese pipe. The symbol of Hanoi stands in the middle of an island in the city lake Hoan Kiem and the park around it is filled with many couples, veterans and families with children. Hanoi a city of extremes; traditional and conservative but also modern and progressive.

But Hanoi has more to offer; many museums, including the Ho Chi Minh museum and the army museum but also the Hua Lo prison museum, temples (including the temple of literature), pagodas and of course the mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh itself. Tours can be booked here to the Perfume river, Halong Bay but also to Mai Chau, Sapa and Tam Coc.

According to many sources, the area where Hanoi is located has been inhabited since around 3000 BC. One of the first settlements was the Co Loa Citadel that was founded around 200 BC. Hanoi became the capital of Vietnam in the 7th century. The ancient Chinese name Đông Kinh became Tonkin and was later used by the Europeans for the entire region. In the 11th century the city was called Thang Long.

In 1637 the VOC established a trading mill in Tonkin, with Carel Harsinck as head. This location was important for exports from silk to Japan. For a moment Hue took over the baton, but in 1831 the capital was moved back to the north and in 1831 emporer Tu Duc named his "new" capital Hanoi, the city in the bend of the river.

Hanoi was occupied by the French in 1873 and became the capital of the Union of Indochina after 1887 (thus together with Cambodia and Laos). This would remain until 1953. Hanoi was occupied by the Japanese in 1940 after the capitulation of France. The city was liberated in 1945 after which it became the seat of the government formed by the Vietminh under Hồ Chí Minh after the August Revolution. Between 1946 and 1954 heavy fighting was delivered in the area between the Vietminh and the French army. On July 21, 1954, with the drawing of the Geneva Accords, Hanoi became the capital of independent North Vietnam. 

During the Vietnam War, Hanoi was heavily bombed and especially the infrastructure, such as bridges and railways, suffered greatly. The Long Bien bridge was one of the most attacked targets of the Americans; after the attack the Vietnamese quickly improvised and in no time the bridge functioned again. It is claimed that the Americans stopped bombarding the bridge when it became clear that US military prisoners were being used for their repair. Thousands of civilians would also be killed.

After the end of the Vietnam War, Hanoi became the official capital of the socialist republic of Vietnam on 2 July 1976. Since then, a lot has changed in the streets of Hanoi; until 1990, seeing motorized traffic in the narrow streets was an oddity; now it is teeming with scooters, cars, buses and taxis even though you can also see the necessary "cyclo's" and people with carts.

In addition to the old dilapidated colonial buildings, there are now large apartment blocks, hotels and expensive restaurants. Due to the large growth in people, the stench, the pollution and the exhaust fumes have become a big problem. One would have started on a metro line but even in the year 2014 it is still (long) not ready.

Noi Bai is the International airport of Hanoi and is located about 37 km north of the city in the Soc Son District. It is the only international airport for the northern regions of Vietnam. In about 45 minutes you can be here via a motorway.Hanoi has its own train station on the Railway Hanoi - Ho Chi Minh City and Ga Hang Co is the central station which is located about 1.5 kilometers from the old city. There is also a line to the Chinese border that lies close to the northern city of Sapa (it arrived at station Tran Quy Cap in 2002).

The city also has a number of important bus stations. Perhaps the most important is Giap Bat bus station that takes care of almost all major destinations to the south of the capital, located about 7 kilometers to the south of the city center.My Dinh is another about 12 kilometers to the west of the city center You can reach this by taking bus 34 from the center (DBP street) - costs 7,000 VND, from which you can travel to Halong City and direction Dien Bien Phu

Some buses leave from Kim Ma bus station, which is located about 2 km east of the center. There are quite a few city buses driving through the city; You can buy a bus folder at kiosks with all the lines on it. The Hanoi metro is under construction but is not ready yet (source: 2014). Of course there are taxis, moto-taxis and cyclists present.

Hanoi - Mai Chau (2014): first you have to go to bus station My Dinh in Hanoi which is about 10 km outside the center. In Dien Bien Phu street, local bus 34 will take you to the station for 7,000 VND in 45 minutes (last stop). Ask where the bus goes to Son La and do not buy a ticket at the counter (which costs 20,000 VND more).

Take a seat in the bus (they go frequently but you often have to get off at Ton Dau junction (junction) which is located 5 km from Mai Chau, I had the bus from 9:30 am and paid 100,000 VND, it is a AC bus and roads are pretty good, the bus takes a bit more than 3 hours (135 km), from where you can take a motor taxi for 25,000 VND to Mai Chau city or to one of the villages Pom Coong or Lai.

• Name: HCM house on poles and the palace of the president

Address: Within the mausoleum complex of Ho Chi Minh, you can also take other entrance

Price: 25,000 VND

Time: 08:00 - 11:00 and from 14:00 to 16:00

Content:

The Ho Chi Minh house on stilts as well as the palace of the president lie on the grounds of the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum complex. There are two entrances to this part of the complex where you end up at a guardhouse where you buy a seperate entrance ticket and your bag is taken through a scanner. When you enter here there is an oasis of peace, quiet and green. High (palm) trees, a beautiful lake and a complex of yellow colonial buildings with green shutters formed by large black condense spots and peeling paint.

First you walk past (you can not come close, let alone visit) the beautiful ocher-yellow presidential palace which is really a gem - large fountains blow water in the air and it reminds you of a mediëval castle. Through an asphalt-forest-path you come to a round lake with yellow stone fence around it filled with orange carp. You can first look at the small wooden "Ho Chi Minh" house on poles. Under the house is a workplace outside with a large table, the three telephones and some personal items.

Built by an iron staircase next to the actual house you can see the sleeping and workplace of Ho himself. On the other side of the lake you can still see a complex of beautiful yellow-green colonial buildings - a place where "Ho" as president would have worked between 1954 and 1958. There are several rooms that you can admire through the glass and you can also see three classic cars that he received as a "gift" from other countries.

TIP: come early so that the tour groups have not arrived yet; thus you can quietly view Ho’s cottage and just enjoy the peace and quiet here.

• Name: Hoa Lo prison museum

Address: 1 P Hoa Lo (corner with P Hai Ba Trung) - Maison Centrale entrance

Price: 25,000 VND

Time: 08:00 - 11:30 and from 13:30 to 16:30 (closed on Mondays)

Content:

The prison complex was built by the French in 1896 and would act as one of the most notorious prisons first used by the French and later by the North Vietnamese who put American prisoners of war in it. It would be known as the "Hanoi Hilton". Well-known prisoners are: "Pete Peterson" who later became the first American of a united Vietnam in 1995 and presidential candidate John McCaine.

The French built the site for 450 people but in 1930 there were no fewer than 2000 prisoners. Despite his status, there have been many flight attempts, many of which have been successful. The sewer doors through which many have fled are on display. Unfortunately, only a small part of the old prison has been preserved (now museum) - the rest has been knocked down for building large apartment blocks. The largest part of the museum is dedicated to the Vietnamese struggle for independence against the French.

Dark prison blocks where women are chained to their feet in wooden blocks, a guillotine, torture tools and many photographs and stuff from old prisoners. You can take a look in the bathroom, the solitary confinement cells and the death cells. There is also a garden of remembrance below and pictures of American prisoners. Above many commemorative monuments. There is a souvenir shop and you can take an (English) guide.

In many places in the old town you can be pampered - everything you want is available from expensive restaurant, to snack chain and from very simple noodle soup place to an Irish pub. There is no point in mentioning individual places - shuffle through the city and crash down somewhere between the local schoolboys and -girls and see life pass you by.

One of the most "notorious" places to drink a beer on the street (on natural one of the super small plastic chairs) is Bia Hoi junction or the beer cross - this is on the corner of P May Ma and P Hang Bac. Beer is super cheap here.

• Name: Green Hanoi Backpackers hostel (2014)

Address: 13-15 Ngo Huyen

Price: 85,000 VND (dormitory)

Phone nr. : (84-4) 3938201

Website: www.greenhanoibackpackers.com

Content:

This hostel is tucked away in a small alley in the backpackers part of the old city in Hanoi. It has never been clear how exactly the hostel is called since they also have tickets from the "Especen" hostel that has three or four other locations within a very short walking distance. Two young boys run everything here and it has a small lobby where the small but complimentary breakfast is served.

There is a tiny kitchenette, a reception desk and two PCs. There are several rooms (also doubles and singles) that I have not seen. The first is a 10-bed dormitory. There are two windows but a lot of light does not come through because of the alley next to it (cars can not come here which is a plus). There is a private shower / toilet which is spacious and gives hot water.

The beds are reasonably firm but are somewhat too close together for privacy. You get a towel, there is a fan, there is AC and there is WIFI. There are also small lockers. You have to be lucky with your co-sleepers for a pleasant stay but you always have to - otherwise it is a great place (without real fun) where you can stay very cheap for a few nights.