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Vietnam
Southeast Asia
Vietnamese Dong (VND)
Tropical and temperate
Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism
GMT +7
Vietnamese
Vietnam is a long thin country located in Southeast Asia and is becoming a popular destination especially between motorbikes lovers as
Vietnam is a nation that move on two wheels and famous is the route
that connect Ho Chi Mhin and the capital, Hanoi.
That's actually where i've been, Hanoi. Classify on the Top 10 destination.
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I haven't done this road trip as i didn't have much time to do it, but it seems it's really easy and cheap buy a motorbike in Vietnam.
Hanoi
Located in the north of the country, Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam. A charming, antique and dynamic city with a perfect mix between the old and the new Asia. The city is covered of green trees and flowers and the roads are hit by the smell of coffee. Hanoi is one of the most beautiful city i've visited in Asia.
How to move around
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From Noi Bai airport to the city is about 45 min ride.
Once you are in the city, expecially if you will stay in the Old Quarter, everything is near by with walking distance.
But yeah, even if is a concentrate area of old little roads, still, walk for 3 or 4 hours a day is tough and rent a scooter in not a good idea, i will explain on the next article why.
So here the solution. When you feel tired and you don't want to walk even to reach the nearest toilet : cheap, fast and funny is Grab which is like Uber. What's news? every body know at least Uber, nothing new right? yeah of course, but in Vietnam driver will come to pick you up by scooter! And that will make it easily go through the traffic and reach your destination faster.
How cool?! ​
Download the app and get your ride! :)
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Hanoi Old Quarter
Old Quarter is in the middle of the city and it is the main destination as most of the attraction and hostel are concentrate here. Firs thing you will notice is the huge quantity of scooter around the streets, as i mentioned before, Vietnam is a country that moving on two wheels and as the Old Quarter basically consist in a concentration of little streets there's tons of scooters sneaking in the area.
Scooter a part, Old Quarter is where most of the tourist like to get lost, between the old streets, packed by shops, bar, cafes.
The 36 streets that make up the Old Quarter are named with the type of good they used to sell there like Silver street, Bamboo street, Shoes street etc... Still today you can come across an entire block where there's just tailors.
Hanoi's coffee culture
In Asia the most popular hot drink is Tea but not in Vietnam. Vietnamese love they're coffe and is part of their culture.
As Italian, we do have the espresso culture but as the name itself means a fast, quick coffe standing at the bar. It was really nice to see how Vietnamese spend the coffee time to socialize and chill at the cafès.
You will find out different kind of coffee from a strong black hot coffee to a iced sweet coffee with coconut and milk.
The one i preferred and i went crazy for it, was the Eggs coffee. What a yumminess!
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It can sounds weird right? A black coffe with eggs inside.
Well when i was a kid, and still now sometimes, we used to drink the raw yolk from the fresh eggs mixed with a bit of sugar
and coffee, so i wasn't that surprised when i saw it as it similar, just look different. The taste is amazing as it mix with condensate milk and eggs yolk on a base of a long black Vietnamese coffee.
The one you see in the picture above was made it in a cafè near the Train Street, i will talk about that place later, but the best one i ever had i in Old Quarter and the name is Egg coffe Giang Lane and the Eggs coffee will look like that
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You will see the sign outside and to get there you have to walk trough a tiny corridor between two buildings. The cafè look like that:
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Train street
Open every day from 7.00 am to 10.00 pm
Train street is becoming a touristic attraction as there is a real railway where a train going along between homes and business. Literally the locals open their doors on the railway and cafès has tables and chairs in the middle of the rail, crazy right?!
Fun fact is, there's a nice cafè named Railway Cafè and if you would like a cup of coffee and all the seat are busy, the owner will gently invite you to seat on the rail.
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The train running through the railway twice a day, at 3.30 pm and 7.30 pm and twice a day the scenario is crazy.
Kids running back home, mums bring it back the laundry, cafes get tables and chairs back... every day, twice a day. Crazy!
The Train street is not a secret anymore, around the time when the train is coming you will start to see lot of tourist come along and reserve a little spot on the side of the rail to snap a picture of the train.
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St. Joseph Cathedral
It's really interesting to see a Roman Gothic style church in Asia.
As Hanoi has been conquered by the French in the past, the St Joseph Cathedral is the representative
evidence of the French colonial architecture, inspired form the Pairs' Notre Dame.
The church is still active, even if Vietnam is predominantly Buddhist, the city has a large
local Catholics community.
The Cathedral is located in Old Quarter.
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Opening hours: Mon - Sat 08:00 - 11:00, 14:00-17:00. Sun 07:00 - 11:30, 15:00 - 21:00.
Entry: Free
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Hoa Lo Prison Museum
Hoa Lo Prison Museum is a tough creepy place, yeah of course is just a museum but if you are a sensitive person, this site
may not be suitable for your emotions as the stories behind this prison are cruel. I left the museum nauseated.
The Hoa Lo prison represent the Vietnamese struggle for independence from France.
The prison has been built by the French after the occupation, with the "great idea" to build the prison in the middle of
the city to cool down the agitators for the independence.
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The prison it was demolished around the '90, so the area open to the public is just a little part of the originally prison.
Hoa Lo Prison was a real house of torture where the prisoners were living in cruel conditions. Prisoner's were lock'd up in big common rooms or isolated in small rooms , and all prisoners, women and men, were kept seat on a concrete benches with their feet lock'd to some sort of "handcuff" for feet.
Immagine to keep seat all day all night without moving without go to the toilet....horrible.
A real authentic guillotine, used to execute the rebels, is exposed in one of the rooms.
To don't let the prisoner escape, all the walls surrounding the prison were filled with pieces of broken glasses, i've seen this technique around Hanoi too in some residential area to protect house from thieves i guess, not sure if is a Vietnamise thing or, but is interesting in some way.
In the external area of the prison you will find out how Vietnamese did find a way to escape...by underground tunnels.
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Opening time: from 8 am to 5 pm
Entry fee: 30.000 VDN
Tran Quoc Pagoda
As i mentioned at the begin, Vietnam is mostly Buddhism orientated. There's a lot of temples around Hanoi, old and new.
Tran Quoc Pagoda is the oldest Buddhist temple in Hanoi and is located on the island in the West Lake, the largest lake in Hanoi. Tran Quoc Pagoda is not a really big site but worth it a visit. The Pagoda is well maintained and still has a nice orange/red intense color, considering has been built around 550 AD.
If you get the chance to visit the pagoda in the afternoon, wait for the sunset and move on the West Lake ...
you wont forget the breathless view.
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Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum
Opening hours: from 7.30 am to 11.30 am - from 1.30 pm to 6.30 pm
Entry fee: Donation
The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum is the final resting place of Ho Chi Minh, who was the revolutionary vietnamese leader.
Located at Ba Dinh Square where Ho Chi minh declared the independence of Vietnam, this massive granite structure is where his body is maintained embalmed.
No bags and camera allowed inside the mausoleum, and do maintain a attitude of respect or guards will ask you to leave.
As is one of the holiest place in Vietnam, no short pants are allowed, cover up your body.
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Long Bien Bridge
Opening hours: from 8.oo am to 12.oo am - from 2.oo pm to 4.30 pm
(close Monday and Friday)
Entry fee: 40.000 VND
You must not leave Hanoi without visiting the Long Bien Bridge, considered one of the most stunning bridge in the world.
The bridge has been built by the french, as i said Vietnam was under the french colonism, designed by Gustav Eiffel
best known for the Tower Eiffel.
Crossing the Red River, the iron made old bridge, start rusting giving that orange tone which is amazing at sunset to snap a picture. Trust me you wont regret, is one of the most fascinated thing to do in Hanoi.
Is prohibited cross the security bar and walk at the middle of the railway as there are gaps between the two side...
sorry but i did it.
Basically you have to jump from the side of the concrete bridge to the middle where the railway is. Is like walking on a suspended bridge pretty tall from the river... so not for sensitive people !