10.01.2018 Hanoi

We returned to Hanoi from our awesome tour of the Halong Bay and Ninh Binh with Ethnic Travels and were welcomed in one of the friendliest hotels ever: the Hanoi Buddy Inn & Travel is a great place to stay!

We had one more day to see some parts of Hanoi that we hadn’t seen so far, mainly in the western part of the city. First we wanted to see the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum from the outside, but the square in front of it was closed off by police for some reason. So we walked around and into the park behind it first. We were not interested in the HCM Museum but did visit the One Column Pagoda which was quite nice and caught a glimpse of the HCM Mausoleum from the back side somehow.

One Column Pagoda

One Column Pagoda

HCM Mausoleum from the back side

We then walked all the way around the park since everything seemed to be closed off and no connections between sights. It was a bit odd, still not sure if this is the normal situation! Since we came past the botanical gardens anyways, we had a bit of a walk in there. Actually quite pretty if you need a bit of a green break! Next we continued to the Quan Thanh Pagoda but no-one felt in the mood to pay the entry fee and go inside. We did want to visit the Tran Quoc Pagoda, but were unlucky since it had just closed for lunch. So instead we went for a coffee at one of the coffee chain places (Highlands Coffee) at the Truc Bach Lake.

Botanical Gardens

Tran Quoc Pagoda

Truc Bach Lake

And after our slowest taxi ride ever, we were now in to experience the slowest coffee service ever! Even though it was a Starbucks-like setup and there were barely any other customers, it took them forever. So we had to rush back to the old quarter on a (this time normally driving) taxi where we quickly checked out an old house which was listed in mum’s guide book. It wasn’t massively interesting but at least she and my sister found some pretty postcards in the museum shop. This was the end to our common time in northern Vietnam – from Hanoi we boarded a flight to HCMC, excited to see some sun again!

Old house

Old house

Hanoi Old Quarter