Hanoi is the city for getting lost…
There isn’t a grid system to follow, the street names change randomly and without any reason or warning, the sidewalks are used as parking lots and the roads are jammed with scooters. So Eric and I find ourselves playing “Frogger” for the next two days while we visit the sites and explore the city.
But despite the madness, Hanoi is also an amazingly green city – serenity can be found throughout it.
Song Hong – the “Red River” – runs along the east side of the downtown area, numerous lakes are scattered throughout the city, there are multiple parks to stumble upon and giant trees line many of the streets. The second largest of the lakes, Hoan Kiem Lake, is located adjacent to the Old Quarter where we are staying, and we begin our first full day in Hanoi with a stroll around it.
After spending the last two days in a state of transition, trying to get from one city to the next, we finally have a day to enjoy Vietnam. We wander around, getting lost, getting found and doing both everything and nothing at the same time… it’s a great day.
The next morning we sleep until we wake up, which is at 10:00am… oh, what a rough life we live.
The only thing on our “to do” list for the day is breakfast, which we achieve by eating one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had.
“Banh Mi” sandwiches are a Vietnamese specialty and we love them. They’re pretty simple - a fresh baguette filled with a bit of mayo, pate, roasted pork, sprigs of fresh herbs like coriander, dill and basil, cucumber, maybe a bit of tofu and a touch of chili sauce… delicious!
After breakfast, we decide to go find Van Mieu, the Temple of Literature.
“Van Mieu” was Vietnam’s first national university and is noted as a “must see” because of its well-preserved 11th century architecture. And although the architecture is impressive, we find we enjoy it for a completely different reason – when you enter the gates, it feels like you’re leaving the city completely. The constant noise of traffic is replaced by peace and silence, so Eric and I have a nice walk around the courtyards and some quiet time sitting by the reflecting pool.
After a while, we make our way back to the Old Quarter to check out Memorial House.
“Memorial House” is a traditional Chinese-style dwelling, which has been preserved to give you an idea of how people used to live in Hanoi’s Old Quarter. It’s a simple tourist attraction, but we really enjoy it and make a few mental notes for our future home.
That evening Eric and I make an amazing discovery – a Vietnamese version of “chicken fingers and fries”.
However, instead of breaded strips of chicken, it’s ground pork mixed with herbs & spices and shaped into little “fingers”.
And instead of French-fried potatoes, it’s jicama cut into crinkle fries. That’s right – CRINKLE FRIES, the best cut of fries ever!
The meal is absolutely delicious, though we are disappointed to find it so late in the game. We swear we will now be on the lookout for more of this deep-fried goodness in our travels. Who knows… maybe another trip to Hanoi is in order?
As I mentioned before, the Vietnamese Lunar New Year is happening this coming weekend and since neither of us are big New Year’s people, we want to get out of the city. We’ve been land-locked for the last month or so and we desperately need some “beach time”, so we decide to leave Hanoi tomorrow and head to the coast.
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