A Day in Hanoi

After staying a few days in Sapa, Katie, Dave, and I took a train to Hanoi. We arrived in Hanoi at 5:30 a.m. and after getting cleaned up at the hotel, we had one of the best travel days I've ever had in a new city. We got to see all of the main things we wanted to do, we had good food, didn't get lost, and didn't get stressed out about where to go.

Motorcycles everywhere! Darting and swerving and honking their way through the narrow streets in the Old Quarter.

St. Joseph's Cathedral

A walk around the lake that separates the Old Quarter and the French Quarter. I thought this little girl was just too cute with her pointed Vietnamese hat and her missing front teeth.

Lunch at a bustling, crowded restaurant which seemed to be a favorite of the locals. Street food for the middle class is how Lonely Planet described this place. It was really delicious!

Visit to the Vietnamese Military History Museum. It was a little unsettling to see the wreckage of American planes, tanks, and helicopters that had been captured or shot down during the Vietnamese War. The museum definitely portrayed history from a Vietnamese perspective, but it was still interesting.

The Citadel, part of the Military Museum Site. That's me and Katie in the windows of the tower in the second picture.

Temple of Literature

Trying a local specialty for supper. On Fish Street, the restaurants all have very simple menus, "Only one dish in our restaurant: Grilled Fish. Price 90,000 VND/person. Drinks not included."

We thought the grilled fish tasted delicious, but the portions were tiny! Katie, Dave, and I all left hungry.

We ended the day by going to a water puppet show. Never having heard of water puppets before, we didn't know what to expect, but it was a very fun show. Musicians sing and play traditional Vietnamese instruments, while the puppets (people, dragons, boats, fish, etc.) pop in and out and seem to swim and dance on the water. The puppets are manipulated by people standing in the waist-deep pool behind a bamboo curtain. I guess water puppets are uniquely Vietnamese and highly valued folk art in Vietnam.

And still watch out for the motorcyles at the end of the day on your way back to the hotel!