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Hanoi, Vietnam's capital, lies on the banks of the Red River. In 1010 Hanoi, at that time known by the name of Thang Long, became capital of the first Vietnamese dynasty independent from the Chinese. The city received its present name, Hanoi, only in 1831. However, at that time not Hanoi but Hué was the capital of the Vietnamese empire.
In 1882 Hanoi was conquered by a French expedition. In 1883 France forced the then uncolonialized North of the Vietnamese empire to accept the status of a French protectorate. The French administratively divided the country into the colony Cochin China (in the South) and the protectorates Annam (central Vietnam) and Tonkin (North Vietnam). Hanoi became the capital of the protectorate Tonkin.
Vast parts of present-day Hanoi were built during the French colonial occupation. With its broad boulevards and a French-inspired architecture the city has a noticeable structural charm.
The French abandoned Hanoi after their defeat at Dien Bien Phu and the division of Vietnam into two separate states according to the Geneva Treaty signed on July 20, 1954. Ho Chi Minh made Hanoi the capital of North Vietnam and initially concentrated on the expansion of the city's industry.
During the US bombardments of North Vietnam from March 1965 to October 1968 the authorities evacuated 75 % of Hanoi's population. After the end of the bombardments the city again grew rapidly. Today the population of Hanoi counts more than 3 million.
Monday 31st
We headed out to explore the city - We'd heard from people that you either love it or hate it. Our first impressions were that it was absolute chaos! We wandered around (I say wandered but it was a scary wander!) We found a KFC where we had some lunch, wandered a bit more until it all became too much and went back to the safety of our hotel. We chilled out for a bit forgetting the madness of outside until we ventured out for dinner. We found a little tapas bar where we had dinner and a few drinks before heading back for an early night.
Tuesday 1st November.
Today we had booked to do a city tour - We were picked up from our hotel at 7.30am. We had a small group (again) only me, Joe and a lady from Finland. So along with our guide and driver we jumped into our car for the day. First stop was Trấn Quốc Pagoda - We didn't get to see much of it because it was under construction!
Next stop was The Ho Chi Minh mausoleum, built from 1973 to 1975 in a style similar to that of the Lenin Mausoleum in Moscow, is located at Ba Dinh Square, where Ho Chi Minh publicly declared Vietnam's independence on September 2, 1945. Right after his death on September 3, 1969, Ho Chi Minh's body was embalmed by a team of Soviet experts. We didn't get to see Ho Chi Minh's body because it goes to Russia to be restored from September - December!
The exit from the mausoleum took us right into the grounds of the, vestige, where Ho Chi Minh lived and worked from 1954 until his death in 1969. The nicely landscaped complex included two of Ho Chi Minh's houses, kept shiny and "as he left them" by the authorities, as well as a garage with three of Ho's "used cars" and a carp-filled pond. The Presidential Palace is also nearby but wasn't open tovisitors. Ho Chi Minh refused to live in the presidential palace as he believed it was built by the French from money they stole from the poor people.
Next was the one pillar pagoda - one of the few monuments of Vietnam dating back to the time of the founding of the first Vietnamese empire independent from China in the 11th century. However, the present pagoda is not the original building. After it has repeatedly been damaged or destroyed in its almost 1,000 years of existence, it was renovated and rebuilt over and over again. The last reconstruction took place in 1955, after the French colonial forces had blown it up before their retreat in 1954. The original pagoda had been constructed in 1049 under Emperor Ly Thai Tong, after a goddess had appeared in his dreams and allegedly handed a son to him. Lots of people come here to pray that their first born will be a boy!
We then drove to the Museum of Ethnology which covers mainly the culture and ritual practices of the various ethnic groups in the whole of Vietnam - By this point we were starving (we skipped breakfast) and we found it pretty boring!
Then we stopped for lunch which was lovely! It was a set menu of lots of different Vietnamese dishes. Yummy!
After lunch we visited the temple of literature - Initially built as a Confucian temple, it became Vietnam's earliest university almost 950 year ago and still harbours the academic ambiance of years past. Initially only offered to noble or royal students, the university opened to all students some centuries later. Passing the imperial doctorate examination that gave privileged passage to life serving the royal court was murderously difficult. Elegantly carved stone steles celebrate each successful student, documenting their name and town. The steles are perched on turtles symbolising the patience to obtain the education and the longevity of the Vietnamese nation and border a peaceful lake (the Well of Heavenly Clarity). Only 1300 names are listed across the three hundred years of steles that remain though undoubtedly others have been lost over time.
Last stop was the Ngoc Son Temple - this small temple is dedicated to General Tran Hung Dao, who defeated the Mongols in the 13th century, La To, the patron saint of physicians, and the scholar Van Xuong. Inside we saw some fine ceramics, a gong or two, some ancient bells and a glass case containing a stuffed lake turtle, which is said to have weighed a hefty 250kg.
The Ngoc Temple is located in the Hoan Kiem Lake. According to this legend, in the fifteenth century a fisherman found a magical sword in his nets one day, and he presented it to Emperor Ky Thai To (also known as Le Loi). The Emperor used the sword to defeat the invading Mongols. One day after the battle, the Emperor was enjoying an afternoon boat ride on Hoan Kiem Lake when a giant golden tortoise appeared, took the sword and disappeared into the depths of the lake. Our guide told us that there are still turtles in the lake which we didn't believe until we met someone who had seen one!
That was the end of the tour! Thank god - it wasn't one of the most exciting tours we've been on! We were dropped back at our hotel where we booked our trip to Halong Bay for the next day.
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