Upon our arrival in Hanoi, we headed to this little Pho place in the old quarter that a friend of a friend who lived in Hanoi had recommended - Below Noah enjoying the Pho - This was, by the way, the best Pho I have ever had. The waitstaff could not believe Noah was eating it (it was a bit spicy) and kept taking pictures of him...
The next morning, we went to the Lake of the Restored Sword (Hoan Kiem Lake) and visited the temple where some sort of ceremony was taking place. Noah was very interested in the music and costumes.
According to the legend, emperor Le Loi was boating on the lake when his magic sword, Heaven's Will, was grabbed by a turtle who quickly disappeared into the depths. All attempts to find either the sword or the turtle failed. Lợi concluded that the Golden Turtle God had come to reclaim the sword that it had given Lợi some time earlier, during his revolt against the Chinese Ming Dynasty. Lợi renamed the lake to commemorate this event. Below Turtle Tower in the center of the lake. Around the lake there is a path you can walk on in relative peace and quiet...
A nice contrast from the bustling streetlightless streets of the city (especially the old quarter) - below a short video of the traffic one had to walk through to cross the street.
Noah and I walking in the old quarter.
A cute little street.
The main mode of transportation in Hanoi seems to be the motorcycle and cyclists wear these funky cap like helmets... here Noah choosing his favorite helmet from a window display.
After a fun morning walking in the old quarter, we stopped for lunch at a Bun hole in the wall - the food was AMAZING - Seth and Noah digging in.
Before going to Vietnam, I had googled "fun things to do with kids in Hanoi" and varioud people had recommended Lenin Park as a place where they had kid rides and boats. After a busy morning sightseeing, we thought it would be a nice break for Noah. The cab driver dropped us off and there was a tiny little park with a statue of Lenin - no lake, no rides. Turns out, there are two Lenin parks in Hanoi and we were at the wrong one! Luckily, nearby was the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum area. To our surprise, they had closed off the avenues around the area and people were strolling around. It was a bit surreal in the dusk - can you find Noah below?
Running towards us....
Almost there.
Noah in front of the mausoleum (which was closed to Noah's regret - he wanted to know all about this Mr Ho Chi Minh and was curious to see what he looked like - When we asked Noah what he thought Ho Chi Minh did - he answered "feed people" - and when I checked Ho Chi Minh's life on wikipedia - it seems like he actually was a cook in the US, England and France before becoming Ho Chi Minh the communist leader - funny coincidence).
In front of the mausoleum, the have planted tall grass around the paths.
Noah and I walking towards the grass.
Noah running on the paths
... towards me.
On our way back, we passed Lenin park again where a woman had some little electric cars you could rent so Noah finally did have a ride in Lenin park...
In Singapore you pay 5SGD for 5mn of car riding - here you paid less than 1SGD for 15mn of car riding.... Noah had a blast.
The next day, we met up with GG and Grandpa and toured the French quarter. Here Noah, GG and I playing "nice to meet you/nice to eat you" - a popular game during that trip.
Noah and GG waving at the world.
That evening, we went to the water puppet show (puppets dancing in the water) - Noah enjoyed the show - especially the dragons. The stories depicted, however, were straight from the communist propaganda era which was a bit strange.
After the show, we went to a Vietnamese restaurant where Noah found a little boy to play with....
The kids playing at our table.
Overall, we loved Hanoi - the culture, the food, the people - did I mention the food?
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