Question 1

Hanoi on Your Own

Accepted Answer

From Hạ Long Bay, Hanoi on your own means a road trip of about 170 km each way, so it makes sense to go with the ship's tour or a car booked in advance and keep the day simple. On a cruise-tour stay, the lake, the Old Quarter and the Temple of Literature are all within the old center. Around the lake: Walk around Hoàn Kiếm Lake and cross the red wooden Thê Húc bridge to Ngọc Sơn Temple, built in the 18th century on Jade Islet. The Old Quarter: North of the lake, the Old Quarter is known as the 36 streets, after the guilds that each once held a street of their own. Its official area covers about 100 hectares and 76 streets. The Temple of Literature: The temple on Quốc Tử Giám street was founded in 1070, and its third courtyard holds about 80 stone tablets, each on the back of a stone tortoise, listing the names of scholars who passed the royal exams. It opens daily, so check before you go. The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum: It opens in the mornings only, on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, and closes each year for maintenance. Entry is free, but visitors must dress modestly, keep silent and leave cameras behind. Getting back on time: All-aboard is usually about 30 minutes before sailing, and your ship posts the exact time. A ship will not wait for passengers touring on their own. From Hạ Long Bay, allow for heavy traffic on the drive back. Mind your bag: Thieves on motorbikes snatch bags in crowded and tourist areas. Carry your bag on the side away from the traffic, and hand it over rather than risk injury in a struggle.

Question 2

Getting Around

Accepted Answer

In Hanoi a ride-hailing app is the easiest way to get around, because fares are fixed in advance and can be paid by card. Street taxis and motorbike taxis work too, but need more care. The Grab app works in English and lets you pay by cash or card. With street taxis, watch for meters that run fast and roundabout routes, and carry small notes, since drivers often say they have no change. Motorbike taxis wait on almost every corner of the Old Quarter. Agree the fare firmly before you set off. Metro Line 2A runs from Cát Linh, west of the Old Quarter, to the southwestern suburbs.

Question 3

Food and Drink

Accepted Answer

Hanoi is a city for eating, from noodle soups at street stalls to coffee whipped with egg. Two of its signature dishes, bún chả and egg coffee, are thought to have begun here. Bún chả is grilled pork served with rice noodles, herbs and a dipping sauce. The food writer Vũ Bằng wrote in 1959 that Hanoi was a town transfixed by it. Egg coffee is made with egg yolk beaten with sugar and condensed milk over strong coffee. A Hanoi café owner is said to have created it in the late 1940s, when milk was scarce. Phở, the noodle soup of broth, rice noodles, herbs and usually beef, first appears in written records in northern Vietnam in the early 20th century. Hanoi's version differs from Saigon's in its noodles, broth and herbs.

Question 4

Tipping in Vietnam

Accepted Answer

Tipping is not a Vietnamese custom and is generally not expected, though a tip will not be refused. Pay in Vietnamese dong: prices are sometimes shown in dollars, but payment is almost always expected in dong. In restaurants that mostly serve Western visitors, a tip may be more expected than elsewhere.

Question 5

Culture and Local Life

Accepted Answer

Hanoi keeps traditions that go back to its royal past: water puppetry, Confucian scholarship and the calligraphy written for the lunar new year. The national museum of ethnology shows the lives of Vietnam's 54 recognized ethnic groups. At the Thăng Long Water Puppet Theatre, 57 Đinh Tiên Hoàng street, across from Hoàn Kiếm Lake, musicians accompany folk tales told by wooden puppets that dance on the surface of the water. The stories are sung in Vietnamese, with the words available in several other languages. Just before Tết, the lunar new year, calligraphers set up outside the Temple of Literature and write wishes in Chinese characters, to be given as gifts or hung at home. The Temple of Literature is pictured on the back of the 100,000-dong banknote. The Vietnam Museum of Ethnology, about 8 km from the center in Cầu Giấy, covers the country's 54 officially recognized ethnic groups. Its main building is shaped like a Đông Sơn bronze drum.

Question 6

History

Accepted Answer

Hanoi was founded as a royal capital in 1010, was renamed several times, lost its status to Huế in the 19th century, and regained it under the French and then the independent Vietnamese state. Many of its landmarks come from those layers, from an 11th-century temple to a French prison and bridge. Ascending dragon: In 1010 Emperor Lý Thái Tổ set up his capital here and named it Thăng Long, meaning ascending dragon. Scholars: The Temple of Literature was founded in 1070, and from 1076 it housed the Imperial Academy, Vietnam's first national university, until 1779. The returned sword: In 1428 King Lê Lợi renamed the city Đông Kinh, the eastern capital. Legend says that after his victory over Ming China, a golden turtle rose from the lake and took back his magic sword, which gave Hoàn Kiếm Lake its name. Huế and a new name: In 1802 the Nguyễn dynasty moved the national capital to Huế, and in 1831 the city was renamed Hà Nội. French rule: Hanoi was the capital of the French protectorate of Tonkin from 1883 and of all French Indochina from 1902 to 1945. The French built Hỏa Lò Prison between 1896 and 1901 and the Long Biên Bridge, 2.4 km long, which opened in 1903. Independence: On September 2, 1945, Ho Chi Minh read the Declaration of Independence in Ba Đình Square. His mausoleum was built on the square between 1973 and 1975. War: The Long Biên Bridge, then the only bridge across the Red River linking Hanoi with the port of Haiphong, was bombed in 1967 and again in 1972. American prisoners of war called Hỏa Lò the Hanoi Hilton. World Heritage: The central sector of the Imperial Citadel of Thăng Long was listed by UNESCO on July 31, 2010. To learn more ashore: The museum in the surviving gatehouse of Hỏa Lò Prison, at 1 Hỏa Lò street, tells the prison's story from French rule to the war.

Question 7

Hanoi with Children

Accepted Answer

Hanoi works best with children when you plan short outings with breaks, because the traffic and the heat are tiring. The lake, the puppet theater and the temple with its stone tortoises give each age group something to enjoy. Younger children: A water puppet show by Hoàn Kiếm Lake, with dragons and figures splashing across the water, needs no language. Afterward, tell the story of the turtle and the returned sword on a walk around the lake. School age: At the Temple of Literature, count the stone tortoises carrying the scholars' tablets in the third courtyard. At Ngọc Sơn Temple, displays tell the story of the lake's giant turtles. Teenagers: The Vietnam Museum of Ethnology, a taxi ride from the center, shows how Vietnam's many peoples live. Older teenagers studying history may find the Hỏa Lò Prison museum worth the visit. Street safety: Hold younger children's hands near the road, and keep bags away from the traffic side.

Question 8

Shopping

Accepted Answer

The Old Quarter is Hanoi's shopping district and has been for centuries: its streets were once each given over to a single trade. Đồng Xuân Market, in the Old Quarter, was built in the French period. The streets of the Old Quarter took their names from the crafts and trades once carried on in them. The French demolished two small markets to build Đồng Xuân Market. Shops in the Temple of Literature's courtyards sell stamps, coins and books. Ngọc Sơn Temple's two gift shops sell souvenirs, many of them shaped like turtles.

Hanoi

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Getting to Hanoi