Many scenes in Hanoi‏

I started exploring Hanoi under the moonlight. I didn’t go to hotel when I arrived. I and Hy did not go to West Lake which was surrounded by many luxurious hotels. We didn’t start with a romantic scene but with a historic one. We went to discover the history at Truc Bach. This was a famous lake in history. North Vietnam shot American soldier airplane down and one of American soldiers made a parachute jump to this lake and survived. He’s John MacCain. He maybe wanted to forget this memory but this story was portrayed at How Low Prison Museum. This photo showed a picture of a group of Vietnamese men help John MacCain up to the bank of the lake. He was in jail for five years and a half. All of his clothes and parachute still was exhibited in the museum.

We continued to the next remain of the history at Huu Tiep Lake. Its nickname was B-52 Lake because there were some B-52 warplane components in this lake.

Hoan Kiem Lake - Vietnam

Not only about history of war, but Hanoi also had a lot of shopping places, especially the northern of Hoan Kiem Lake. It was an old area which was very chaos. This was 36 Hang street of Hanoi. The streets names in this area would have started with Hang and what it sold after. For example Han Bun was a street which sold mung bean noodle , Hang ma sold paper, Hang Bac sold accessories and jewelries, Hang Dau sold shoes, some of streets still sold stuffs liked the name of them, some didn’t. However the street would have sold the same thing along that street which was the uniqueness of them.

I lost and lost many times. The map that Hy gave me didn’t help that much. The weather was hot and humid. After I lost again and again, I started to understand the connection of those streets. Finally when I took a break by drinking orange juice at Tamarind Café,I found the old house which I intended to find across the street. That was what I learned from that day, what you intended to find, you wouldn’t. What you didn’t intend to find, you would.

There were tons of crafts in Hanoi. They were all from villages around. Hanoi women still loved to wear tailor-made clothes, that’s why there were a lot of talented tailors in Hanoi. I found my favorite at Tan My. This shop made only nightgowns for three generations. There were satin gown, silk gown, and cotton one. This was the must shop for everyone who came to Hanoi. This price was high, but the quality was so worth the price.

Not all Vietnamese food was European, but food in Hanoi was the most European in the country. I had the last dinner in Hanoi with a French meal. The taste and the atmosphere made me feel like I was in Paris, except for 90 degrees weather.