5 October 2018
We started our second day with buffet breakfast that included beef noodle soup or pho bo at the Hanoi Imperial Hotel. Although I enjoyed the dish, it was not as good as the one we had on our first day at Pho 10, a pho speciality restaurant.
Our plan for the day was to explore the Old Quarter. An advantage of staying at a hotel in the Old Quarter is that almost all the attractions we wanted to visit are accessible on foot.
We walked to Hoan Kiem Lake. One of the prominent features at the lake was the Thap Rua Tower or Turtle Tower, located on a small inaccessible island in the middle.
Thap Rua Tower, also known as Turtle Tower, in the middle of Hoan Kiem Lake.
The tower commemorates local folk hero, Le Loi, who had freed the Vietnamese from Chinese forces back in 1425.
Legend describes how Le Loi was given a magical sword from the Golden Turtle God which helped him defeat the Chinese forces. Shortly after Le Loi’s victory, while Le Loi was on a boat in this lake, a giant golden turtle grabbed the sword and disappeared into the depths of the lake to restore the sword to its divine owner. Hence the lake is now named “Lake of the Returned Sword” or Hoan Kiem Lake.
There used to be rare turtles living in Hoan Kiem Lake but the last one died in 2016. We saw a preserved specimen at the Ngoc Son Temple, that is located on an island in the lake.
Pathway leading to Ngoc Son Temple.
Access to the island and Ngoc Son Temple is via a prominent red bridge.
We paid 30,000 VND/person to enter onto the island where the Ngoc Son Temple was located. Visitors had to be properly dressed but we were in shorts. Fortunately, we could borrow a skirt for my wife from the ticket booth at no additional charge.
The temple entrance, called Dac Nguyet Lau (Moon Viewing Tower).
Mural at the entrance to the Ngoc Son Temple depicting a turtle with the magical sword on its back.
Ngoc Son Temple on Hoan Kiem Lake.
Ngoc Son Temple, meaning “Temple of the Jade Mountain”, is mostly dedicated to General Tran Hung Dao, who defeated the Mongols in the 13th century.
Locals come to pray at this temple for good luck and students come pray for a good exam season.
It is Hanoi's most visited temple. From a visitor’s perspective, I was disappointed that some parts of the island were not accessible since it was undergoing renovations. However, we still managed to see the main temple, some nice specimens of bonsai plants by the lakeside pavilion and a preserved specimen of a giant soft-shell turtle that used to live in the lake.
A preserved specimen of a giant soft-shell turtle that used to live in the lake. It was supposed to weigh 250kg.
Besides a visit to the temple, a good way to enjoy Hoan Kiem Lake is to stroll on the shady path around the lake and watch the locals do their morning Tai Chi, yoga or dancing.
We chanced upon groups of local school kids on a school outing. It was fun watching these cute local kids and their teachers having group activities by the lake.
Vietnamese “School Bus”.
Mini tug-of-war at the park surrounding Hoan Kiem Lake.
From Hoan Kiem Lake, we made our way to the “coffee street” in Hanoi’s Old Quarter. Vietnam is the world’s second largest exporter of coffee, predominantly growing the Robusta coffee beans that produces a nutty taste and bitter delicious finish. Traditional coffee shops and modern trendy cafes are now a part of the local social culture.
Cafes along Nguyen Huu Huan (Coffee Street).
There are many cafes along Nguyen Huu Huan (Coffee Street) and one must try the Hanoi’s specialty egg coffee or “ca phe trung” while in Hanoi. Vietnamese coffee is usually sweeter than usual since it is served with condensed milk. The egg coffee is Vietnamese coffee with raw egg yolk stirred into it.
Cafe Giang is famous for creating the egg coffee and that was the cafe we were looking for. The entrance of Cafe Giang was not very prominent along the street and we actually walked past it before making a U-turn and found it tucked inside a narrow alley.
Entrance to Cafe Giang at 39, Nguyen Huu Huan Street.
The typical tables and seats in the traditional cafes are small and low.
We sat on the upper level, where most of the customers were seated. The menu was extensive and service was prompt. There are regular hot and cold drinks in addition to egg coffee. Cafe Giang has also offered other drinks mixed with egg, if you are adventurous.
I have never tried egg coffee before. So that was what I ordered.
Menu at Cafe Giang, posted on a wall.
The egg coffee was served in a cup, immersed in a saucer of hot water. The creamy egg coffee was actually quite delicious as a dessert, but my personal preference was for it to be less sweet. And egg coffee tasted better while it is hot.
Creamy, hot egg coffee and classic iced coffee.
Our next intended destination was Pho Gia Truyen, located at 49 Bat Dan Street. This is a highly rated place for pho in the Old Quarters.
On the way, we stopped to try the banh mi at Banh Mi Bread, located at 98, Hang Bac Street. We ordered one Hoi An Special Sandwich to share.
Menu at Banh Mi Bread.
Compared to the two best banh mi we had in Hoi An, this banh mi that we tried was disappointing. There are probably better banh mi in Hanoi.
We had more disappointment when we arrived at Pho Gia Truyen. It was closed!
Instead of pho, we decided to look for the Tranquil Books & Coffee, one of the many trendy cafes in Hanoi that was very close by. Located at 5 Nguyen Quang Bich, its entrance was not obvious from the main street, but there were signs pointing the way.
Entrance to the Tranquil Books and Coffee, at the end of a narrow alley.
Tranquil Books and Coffee certainly lives up to its name. A place for peace and tranquillity. A place to hide away. A place to sit back and read a book. For us, it was a place to cool down, use our phones to connect with friends back home and also plan our next few destinations for the day.
The setting is like a library with people studying or working on their laptops in a quiet environment with soft piped-in music.
A nice cup of coconut caramel coffee and a pot of honey cinnamon tea in a nice air-conditioned Tranquil Books and Coffee cafe.
Tranquil Books and Coffee is actually located very close to Hanoi’s “train street”, where you could see actual operating railway lines running through a narrow street in a busy city with people living next to it.
On our first day in Hanoi, we had visited a part of “train street” where we saw everything but the train.
This time, we planned to go to another part of “train street”, located south of the Hanoi Railway Station, between Le Duan and Kham Tien streets where a train is scheduled to run around 3 PM in the afternoon.
Using Google maps, we navigated through the crazy Hanoi traffic, dodging motorcycles and cars in the 33 degree C heat.
On hindsight, we should have taken a taxi. The main issue with walking was not the distance nor the heat. It was the crossing the roads of Hanoi which requires steely nerves and a leap of faith.
We walked past the Hanoi Railway Station and passed by several army surplus stores selling uniforms and outdoor gears along the street outside the railway station before arriving at Le Duan.
A good place to have lunch near the “train street” at Le Duan was at Vit 29, located at 29 Nguyen Thuong Hien Street. Vietnam should be a good place to have duck or vit since many were reared in this country.
The staff do not speak English but they have a menu with pictures of the items. We ordered 2 bowls of what looked like duck noodles soup. The pictures were quite tiny, so we did not exactly know what we ordered.
Fresh salad with round rice noodles (called bun), slices of roast duck, crushed peanuts and sweet tangy sauce.
It turned out that the 2 bowls of ”duck noodles” we ordered was salad made with fresh shredded vegetables, slices of roast duck, round rice noodle (bun) and served with crushed peanuts and a sweet tangy dressing. Washed down with cold beer on a hot day, our lunch was actually quite delicious.
After our leisurely lunch, we made our way to “train street” at Le Duan, about 5 minutes walk from the restaurant. A train is expected to roll by at about 3.30 PM. Our visit to “Train Street” turned out to be pretty good too.
We saw a train rolling past us, really close. What an experience!
The train at “train street” in Le Duan, arriving early at 2.30 PM instead of 3.30 PM.
Up close with a train.
More details on our visit to “train street” here.
From the “train street” at Le Duan, we headed back to our hotel and Hoa Lo Prison was located along the way. Hoa Lo Prison was a prison used by the French colonists in French Indochina for political prisoners, and later by North Vietnam for U.S. prisoners of war during the Vietnam War.
Historically, Hoa Lo Prison is one of the biggest and highest-security prisons in Indochina. Now, only the small southern section of the entire prison complex is left and made into a museum.
We paid 30,000 VND/person to tour the prison. There was a marked course that guided visitors through the museum. Multi-language information boards were available to describe the history and significance of what we were seeing at each location.
We saw the sufferings of Vietnamese revolutionaries who were confined (and sometimes executed) here when the French were the masters of Vietnam in the early part of the 20th century.
We also saw the patriotism and resilience of the prisoners, and their strong will to survive and escape. Some death-row prisoners actually succeeded in making an escape from this supposedly high-security prison.
Models of prisoners chained at the feet in one of the cell block.
We walked through a dark room, which used to be a cell block, with models of what it was like to be a prisoner in this cell. A pair of latrines, with night-soil buckets, stood at one end of the room. Imagine the stench and discomfort to be a prisoner here.
We could also see the cells for solitary confinement and those for death row inmates. Executions were carried out in Hoa Lo Prison by way of a guillotine, which still stands near the prison's death row.
On the night of December 24, 1951, 16 death-sentenced political prisoners attempted an escape through an underground sewer. Five of them succeeded. The sewer is now displayed in the courtyard.
A model showing one of the escapees cutting through the steel bars with a pair of pliers.
One of the modern day prisoners in a cell.
An instrument of death fit for a French King is fit for the prisoners at Hoa Lo Prison.
The section on U.S. Prisoner of War (POW) was less interesting, mostly old historic photos and information boards on the walls.
One of the more famous U.S. POW that was imprisoned at “Hanoi Hilton”, as it was nicknamed, was Senator John McCain. There was a photo of him being “rescued” at Truc Bach Lake after he was shot down in 1967. His flight suit and parachute were also displayed.
There was also a section to commemorate past prisoners.
Overall, we spent slightly over an hour touring the prison and it was all worth it. From there, we continued to brave the Hanoi traffic and walked back to our hotel. By now, I had almost learnt the basic art of crossing the roads with the seemingly never ending stream of motorcycles and cars.
On the way back, we had a chance to see the impressive St Joseph Cathedral, with its twin towers resembling the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
After a long day out exploring the Old Quarters, we found a perfect place to enjoy body massage. Just outside the Hanoi Imperial Hotel was the Sen Spa. Sen Spa has very friendly staff and provides very professional massages in a clean and relaxing environment.
After 90 minutes of body massage and relaxation, we had our dinner at Durty Bird, a chic restaurant located opposite our hotel and the Sen Spa. We sat on the terrace by the street to enjoy the cool evening weather. Manned by young Vietnamese staff, the service was friendly. The food and beer were not bad.
Durty Bird serves delicious grilled chicken, caeser salad and Korean-style fried chicken wings with crispy skin and a sweet sauce. However, the Reggae Chicken Wings was slightly disappointing.
To round up our second day at Hanoi, we went to see Hoan Kiem Lake at night and also visit the Hanoi’s Weekend Night Market which operates every Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Hoan Kiem Lake at night.
On these nights, sections of the streets in the Old Quarter starting from Hang Dao Street and running north to the edge of Dong Xuan Market are closed to vehicular traffic from 7 PM onwards. Stalls are set up on this street. On sale are the usual arrays of inexpensive (faked) branded sportswear, handicrafts, bags, accessories, shoes, etc.
Roadside stalls and local food vendors at Hanoi Weekend Night Market. On sale are the usual arrays of inexpensive (faked) branded sportswear, handicrafts, bags, accessories, shoes, etc.
Drinking beer and munching on sunflower seeds by the roadside and watching the world goes by. A favourite Hanoian pastime on weekend nights.
Street performance.
These are the nights the Hanoians and tourists throng the streets and let loose. There were groups of local people dancing on the street, accompanied by stereos blasting loud dance music.
It was a feeling of freedom. To be able to walk and cross the streets without feeling fearful of getting knocked down by a stray motorcycle.
