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Hanoi City Tours
I have heard a lot about Vietnam, especially Hanoi city from my friends
who have travelled to Vietnam. After cancelling my trip to Vietnam a few
times because of my jobs then finally I was on the plane to Hanoi.
I got to Noi Bai Airport (38 km from Hanoi) around 11.30 in the morning.
I got picked up and transfer to my hotel in the Hanoi Old Quarter. On
the way to Hanoi, I saw a lot of new high buildings and huge contraction
sites, Hanoi is going fast. It took me almost an hour to get to my hotel
in Hanoi. I chose to stay in Hanoi Old Quarter because it is more
interesting and easy to walk around even I know that the hotel is small
but I don’t care that much.
After checking in the hotel, I got ready to go out for a tour exploring
Hanoi City. I took a walk through Hang Be market. This is one of the
famous markets in Hanoi with fresh vegetables, food, fruits, flowers,
fresh seafood; the amazing thing is all the fishes are still swimming
inside big pales. Before coming to Hanoi, I thought that this kind of
markets do not exit in Hanoi any more as Hanoi is developing very fast
these few years and they would replace these local markets by super
markets.
I kept walking from this street to another one in Hanoi Old Quarter and
it surprised me by what I saw. It is colorful and busy. In Hang Giay
street, sweets, candy, wine are every. I walked to Hang Bac street in
Hanoi. Hang Bac means Silver Street. There are a lot of gold and silver
shops here. They all look good, some items are good at designs and
price. Hang Ma is the most colourful and interesting to me. This is the
place where they sell all types of accessories for decorations at
weddings with colourful lanterns, cards, flowers…
I kept walking till I did not know where I was then I decided to take a
cyclo ride to Hoan Kiem Lake of Hanoi. Cyclo is a bicycle with customer
seat is in front and the rider is behind. That guy charged me 2 usd per
hour, which is fine. It is perfect to sit on cyclo and enjoy looking at
Hanoi old quarter as I did not have to worry about the traffic any more.
I got to Hoan Kiem Lake and took a walk around. It is not large lake but
charming one. There are a lot of trees around Hoan Kiem Lake and it
makes it even better. I walked to Thuy Ta café, just beside Hoan Kiem
Lake. I walked in and treated myself a glass of beer. Sit back; enjoy my
beer and beautiful view of Hoan Kiem Lake with the Tortoise Temple in
the middle.
I had my water puppet show at 6 pm. My friends told me it is an
interesting show that I must see when I visit Hanoi. The surprise is I
did not see any local people in the show, all foreigner audiences. May
be local people have seen enough. The music came and the show started.
The stage is set on the surface of water. The water puppet show is about
daily life of farmers in Vietnam. I got amused by the “raising ducks”
and the “dragon dance” with firework. The Vietnamese traditional music
sounds very good. I love it.
The next day, I join Hanoi city tour with a guide. We set off for Ho Chi
Minh Complex first. It is huge area with green grass and trees. Ho Chi
Minh Complex is in Ba Dinh Square with all government buildings and
offices around. All these buildings are designed in French architecture
and all look very elegant.
We had to stand in the queue to go inside Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. It was
a long queer and there were so many people. It seems that most of
tourists visit Hanoi will come here to pay their respect to Ho Chi Minh
President. I saw a lot of local people as well as many Vietnamese
children with tidy school uniforms going inside Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. I
got to know that every year, best students are selected to visit Ho Chi
Minh mausoleum and Hanoi for one or two days and it is their biggest
dream and honor.
Our tour continued President Palace, just at the side of Ho Chi Minh
Mausoleum. What I saw first is the big, fabulous French building. I was
used to be the Indochina Governor building of the French. Vietnamese
turned it to be President Palace after the war. You can just take
picture from out side of this building. We got to the house where Ho Chi
Minh President lived before. It is a simple and small building. You
still can see furniture, bedroom, living rooms and reading room with
some books. It is totally simple way of living. Ho Chi Minh President
leaded a very simple life and that is why Vietnamese respect him more
than any their leaders. We walked up to the house on still. This is the
place where Ho Chi Minh President lived from 158 till he died. It is a
two-storey wooden house, very neat, clean, elegant and extremely simple
with just a bed, a table, a telephone, a radio and some books.
Our Hanoi city tour day continued with the visit to temple of
literature. It is a Confucius temple with 82 stone-stalls carved the
names of all people who studied here before. It is nice place to see.
Every year, in July and August, thousands of Vietnamese students come
for praying for their luck in exams to universities in Hanoi.
Our Hanoi city tour takes us to Ethnology museum. I must say I do not
like museum that much but this is nice one and it is worth to visit.
This is all about minority people in Vietnam and Ethnology museum has
really impressed open-air display area with traditional houses all some
big minority group in Vietnam.
Our Hanoi city tour day ended with visit of an ancient house in Hanoi.
This is the only one has been reserved as original.
Well, I had really beautiful day of city tour in Hanoi. I think I like
Hanoi better than I thought before. Hanoi is really an interesting city.
If you travel to Hanoi, make sure to spend at least one day to take the
tour around Hanoi to find out its charming characters.
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Luxury
Tours and Holidays 
