Hanoi

Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam.

Motor bike, cars, bicycle on the road, honing as they are riding. Looking across the big plantation along the way towards the city, there's buffaloes lying on the fields, looking blankly in their big black eyes. People on the street are friendly and polite, you can't miss their smile when they greet you.

Hanoi city is developing rapidly, racing along the world foot step, transforming itself into a fast moving country. Many construction are going on in the city, new high rise office, apartment with the modern look and there's also refurnished building preserving their identity in this modern world. People are living in a mixture of the old and new culture.

The man behind Vietnam, who have spent his entire life fighting for the independence of Vietnam is a world known character to everyone. Ho Chi Minh. Under his leadership, he has brought new hope to the country. He is highly respect and Saigon was rename to Ho Chi Minh after the independence war. The embalmed body of Ho Chi Minh can be found in the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum which attracted thousands of visitor from worldwide to come and pay respect to this great leader.

Hanoi war museum displayed the military weapons that are used during the war time. Tanks, aircraft, big cannon. All these now lie here serving as part of the history that Vietnam had went through.



Hoan Kiem lake, the most visited place in Hanoi.
It is believed that Emperor Le Loi receive a magic sword from a turtle living in this lake and the sword helped to drive those Chinese away who are invading Vietnam that that moment of time. The magic sword was however grabbed back by the turtle when Emperor Le Loi went back to the lake was never be found. The turtle tower was build in the middle of the lake to pay respect to the turtle that have help to win the war.

Hoan Kiem lake is now the central location where people hang out and have fun. You would see night markets, food, and many activities going on at this area. In the morning, you will see people exercising around the lake too. This is also the place where couple come here for their romantic date.



Food is everywhere along the street, day and night, you won't go hungry in Hanoi. There's plenty of variety too, the local food, Western, Chinese and of course the french cuisine. Their famous local food that everyone love is their Pho, a silky white noodle. There's a couple variety of Pho, the soup beef and chicken are the most common.

Saw this beef noodle stall online while doing some food research and decide to take a try. This is really good, the beef is just cook, tender and the mix of the other ingredient, make this dish something that I would not forget. What different from the other's is that this is a dry Pho. The soft noodle make it able to blend in easily with those ingredient, you can add in chili if you like spicy food. If you are tired of those soup base beef noodle, you should come and try this. Definitely worth coming.

Came along this Pho stall along the street and saw many of the locals are eating from this stall. Decide to take a try and also sit together with the locals along the road side, blending into their culture.

This stall only sell chicken soup Pho  nd also chicken itself. We order a chicken pho, some chicken and chicken blood. Really good and tasty. The stall owner boil all the chicken in a big boiler, the chicken soup is then used to cook the Pho.

It's 5 am, while waiting for the hotel to be open for our check-in, we came across this stall selling french loaf and we headed in. The lady boss is already starting to prepare the ingredient for the french loaf at this hour. She's greet us with a smile and welcome us to take a sit while she prepare.

Something that I notice about this stall is that, the lady boss is really friendly, hardworking and fast. At 6 am, she is already done with the ingredients and people are starting to come in, or take away their breakfast. She always serve people with a smile and she seem popular at this neighborhood.

French loaf in Vietnam is serve with some other stuff in it.
It have vegetable, egg, tomato and some come with fish meat, sausage or pork. Every stall sell their own style and also depends what the customer want.



If you are looking for something daring, you might want to try this.
BLACK Chicken soup.
It's a tonic chicken soup that is boil with some herbs. The black chicken taste similar to the normal chicken but I feel the meat is more tender and fine.

This chicken is charcoal roasted with spices and dip into the refreshing sauce. Selling across the black chicken stall.

Some of the other common local food is their ice cold lime tea. It's pretty refreshing.
Sit down and enjoy the street view, there's a also bike valet parking services too. Just relax and enjoy the afternoon.

Glutinous rice ball with sweet brown sugar filling.

St. Joseph's Cathedral, the oldest church in Hanoi.
This church was one of the first structures built by the French colonial government in 1886, it's serve as the main church for the Catholics in the country. It's located at Nha Tho Street, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi