VIETNAM – HANOI – An Old Lady with a Backpack

MARCH 10 – 19, 2026

One of the first things we noticed in Hanoi was how modern it is.

There are blocks and blocks of skyscraper condominiums. Modern developments with shopping centres, schools and recreation facilities all within the development. The housing units are not cider-block ugly, they are modern and look amazing.

The Old Quarter is the popular hangout, but we chose to stay a bit further north, along the east side of TAY HO LAKE. WESTLAKE PEARL APARTMENT HOTEL was a little more high end than our usual budget accommodations, but this was the last week of our 6 month journey so we thought we would treat ourselves. At $45 CDN, with breakfast, it was still well within our tight budget.

There were gas masks in the bedroom to help escape the building in case of fire.

It was a mere $2 GRAB ride into the Old Quarter. We also walked the 5 km, as it was a pretty walk along the lake.

Another route was along the 6.5 km (4 mi) long HANOI CERAMIC MOSIC MURAL covering the Hanoi dike system. It won the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s largest ceramic mosaic.

The Hanoi OLD QUARTER is a bustling, historic area known for its “36 streets” that originally represented specific guilds such as silver, silk, herbal medicine and dresses. Today it is the tourist hub of Hanoi with shops pouring out onto the sidewalks, street food, and a vibrant nightlife. The architecture is a mixture of the French colonial and traditional tube houses, that are tall and skinny, barely wide enough to fit a door. We didn’t spend much time there, as it was mostly shopping. That said, if you plan a trip to Hanoi, go with an empty suitcase because knock-off brand name clothing is super cheap! There is a lot of handmade crafts as well.

The first place we went was to the HOA LO PRISON RELIC, commonly known as the HANOI HILTON. Hoa Lo translates into “fiery furnace / hell hole / stove”, not for the prison conditions, but because in pre-colonial times the street sold wood and coal stoves. But the name was somewhat fitting for the hellish conditions of the 18th century prison. Even with the 1913 expansion that brought the prisoner capacity up from 460 to 600 prisoners, by 1954 it held 2000 political prisoners. It was built by the French, and became a symbol of hatred by the Vietnamese toward their colonialist exploiters for the subhuman conditions.

The guillotine was still set up and ready to go.

After the French were defeated, the prison was used as an education centre. During the Vietnam war it was used by the North Vietnamese to hold US prisoners of war. Although the museum showed lovely conditions for the POWs, the men claim they were tortured and starved. These must be new guys, because they don’t look malnourished to me….

Our entire time in Vietnam was a tale of contradictions. I grew up with the idea that the North Vietnamese were terrible people. I came here and saw their side of the story. I suspect the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

The TEMPLE of LITERATURE was built in 1070 and is Vietnam’s first national university, serving from 1076 to 1779. It was a Temple to educate Vietnam’s nobles, royalty, and other members of the elite. This was no pretty boy’s country club. Students lived at the university for 3 to 7 years. They studied intensely and were given monthly, quarterly and yearly tests in Confucian principles, ethics, governance, classical literature, philosophy, and history. The final exam was posed by the monarch himself. He alone ranked them, allowing them careers in government.

A key feature of this temple are the remaining 82 of the original 116 stone stele with the names of the 1307 highest honors graduates engraved on them. The stele rest on the backs of turtles, which is a symbol of longevity.

The VIETNAMESE WOMEN’S MUSEUM is four stories high, with each floor covering a different aspect of women’s history and role within Vietnamese culture. One floor was dedicated to WOMEN IN FAMILY. The exhibition featured their role in the family, from birth, to youth, to marriage and motherhood, and including business, farming, crafts and tailoring. It showed some rituals that seem primitive today, such as hanging certain fruits and herbs in rooms and doorways to ward off evil spirits. They may seem primitive, but I bet science can prove that certain items did ward off disease carrying insects. One fascinating item was a bamboo tube that contained the umbilical cords of generations of babies.

WOMEN in HISTORY covered the roles and participation of women during wartime resistance. Stories of their struggles, sacrifices, bravery and ingenuity were featured. One woman made brooms, but she purposely made bad brooms that no one would buy. She would meander through the town trying to sell her bad brooms. In reality it gave her the excuse to go from one part of town to the other to smuggle messages hidden within the straws of the broom.

This woman is visibly overcome to see her son, who was in prison for 7 years after being condemned to death.

This hood was worn by a woman who needed to hide her face at resistance gatherings so she would not be recognized on the street.

No women’s exhibit would be complete without WOMEN’S FASHION and BEAUTY. There are 54 ethnic communities in Vietnam. The display showed many of the styles from the various places.

There is a community that considers blackened teeth attractive.

TRAN QUOC PAGODA is the oldest pagoda in the city, originally constructed from 544 – 548. That’s 1500 years! And it still stands as straight as ever. It is located on a small island within the lake. A small causeway leads up to it, where women were selling tiny fish out of large pop bottles. Supposedly it is good luck to return the fish to the lake. I imagine they catch the fishes every morning. Talk about a renewable income. LOL

Monks have lived and taught here for centuries.

QUAN THANH is a Taoist temple that dates back to the 11th century and is one of the four sacred temples in Hanoi. The four temples face the four directions to protect the city.

This one faces north and is dedicated to the deity TRAN VU. Inside, there is a 9-tonne black bronze statue of the deity. It stands 3.96 metres (13.0 ft) high.

All temples leave offerings to their deity, like water, fruit, flowers and incense. This one had bottles of Scotch.

Tran Vu’s symbols of power are the turtle and the serpent. I found this huge wall sculpture especially nice.

Fruits are often left as offerings in temples and it was at this temple that we saw BUDDHA’S HAND FRUIT. It was a weird, multi-fingered fruit that looked like a large yellow pepper. The fingers had “claws” on the tips. Apparently it a type of sweet tasting citron but has the consistency of a pepper, but with no seeds, just a solid mass. I would have liked to taste it, but taking a temple offering would be in bad taste, I never saw one at any of the markets, either.

We took a bicycle tuktuk, thinking it would be romantic. It was, however, when we got to our destination 10 minutes later, he wanted the equivalent of $20! Even an hour long GRAB ride to the airport cost less. Pierre threw the equivalent of $10 at him. Tuktuk drivers are basically just another form of taxi – and they are all crooks.

We could not come to Hanoi without visiting HO CHI MINH’S MAUSOLEUM. It is a large building located in the center of BA DINH SQUARE, a huge parade ground. No one is allowed inside. It was guarded by soldiers dressed in crisp white uniforms.

The HO CHI MINH MUSEUM gave us the history of the man from his childhood, to his 30 travelling years in search of a utopian system, to how he merged Marxism and Leninism into the founding principles of the Vietnamese Communist Party and finally his continued pursuit of achieving independence for Vietnam. It was a rather confusing museum and in hindsight we should have taken a guide.

The PRESIDENTIAL PALACE was built between 1900 and 1906 to house the French governor-general of Indochina. When the French got booted out of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh moved into the palace, as a thumbing of the nose gesture.

He used it to greet state visitors, but built a more humble house for himself with a carp pond behind the palace.

No visitors are allowed in the bright yellow palace, but we did take a leisurely walk through the gardens.

The ONE PILLAR PAGODA is exactly what it says: it sits on one pillar. It was was built in 1049, and is considered one of Vietnam’s two most iconic temples.

IMPERIAL CITADEL of THANG LONG has a FLAG TOWER that was built between 1805-1812. It is one of the few structures that survived French colonial destruction because it was used as a military post. It reaches a height of 33.4 meters (109 ft). It consists of three tiers and an octagonal tower. The tower has 36 flower-shaped and 6 fan-shaped windows that give it a very distinct appearance.

We could only walk around the first and second tier.

The MAIN GATE to the CITADEL sits across a grand courtyard.

We climbed to the top of the gate and were able to look down into an archeological site that showed some very fancy brickwork of an ancient street.

We were fortunate to meet a Vietnamese tour guide. He was being a tourist himself, but gave us a wonderful history lesson on Vietnam in general.

Leaving the tower, we walked through several buildings housing historical stories and relics from ages past. Some of the craftsmanship left us speechless, like this 15th century tile box for a roof. Can you imagine how many the craftsmen were needed to create an entire roof?

Further along was what looked like a house, or meeting room. In reality it was a facade to hide the military bunkers beneath it. Built in 1967, it featured 60 cm (2 ft) soundproofing walls, reinforced entrances and a connecting tunnel for emergency evacuation. It is currently a museum that exhibits communications cubicles and other clandestine equipment. The rooms were super tiny, almost doll house size.

The site had other historical features like a stone well, a huge brass bell, a giant drum, ornate incense burners and the DRAGON STAIRS OF KINH THIEN PALACE which date to the 15th century

There was a courtyard with big placards telling the history as well as pictures showing what everyday life was like in Vietnam. I found this one of little boys lighting firecrackers especially comical.

The last building was the PRINCESS PAVILLION. It had very steep steps to the top floor, where the view was worth the climb.

On the way back to our hotel we passed the MEMORIAL to the REVOLUTIONARY MARTYRS. It is located across the way from Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum.

We took a trip to the MILITARY HISTORY MUSEUM. While we were in Ho Chi Minh City we were told that we MUST see this museum.

It covered the history of Vietnam / Indochina from 217 BC to modern times. There was SO much to see and read, it was impossible to do in one visit.

I had tears in my eyes reading some the accounts of the French occupation and the Vietnam / American war.

I met a lady in the museum who told me the Vietnamese people are very proud and grateful to their ancestors for the sacrifices they made so that their children and grandchildren will have a better life.

Outside there were military vehicles and aircraft on display. The most striking was a sculpture made out of the wreckage of various U.S. military aircraft and vehicles, symbolizing their victory over the Americans.

We took a tour to the iconic HA LONG BAY. On the way, we stopped at a PEARL FARM, where they showed us how they seed the oysters and then how they retrieve the pearl, 18 months later. Only about half of the seeded oysters produce a pearl, with only 5% of those suitable for quality high quality jewelry. We were shown a 16″ necklace worth $7000 CDN. They showed us the grading system for pearls, too. I did not buy anything.

Even mis-shaped pearls can be made into something beautiful.

The HA LONG BAY CRUISE included a meal with a stop at three of the nearly 2000 islets, where we could climb to the top of the limestone karsts for a fantastic view. The core of the bay has a high density of 775 islets that have been formed over 500 million years.

One islet stop had us go through a huge cave with stalactites hanging precariously overhead.

While walking on a not-so-thick pathway above an abysmal cavern.

Another stop had us boarding a paddle boat which took us through a small cave and into a small secluded bay, surrounded by huge cliffs. People were singing in unison and the sound reverberated all around us. It was great fun!

This stop had dozens of cruise boats lined up. There was no queue to get a lifejacket or boat. It seemed like mayhem, but our guide managed to group us on three boats.

There were lots of cruise boats all over the bay. These two rocks look like two chickens kissing. LOL

Retuning to shore had us going into the sunset. To say it was magical would be an understatement.

Back in Hanoi, we went to the TRAIN STREET. It is similar to the train markets in Thailand, but this one had more restaurants than markets. Just before the train came through, all the TV tray-type tables were folded up and we were told to move our chairs as close to the wall as possible. Pierre actually stuck his arm out and could touch the train as it passed.