Our holiday to Vietnam saw us making Hanoi our base for the week. The country is so big and there are so many possibilities when it comes to discovering different regions but, rather than trying to fit everything into our short half-term break, we figured we’d just have to find an excuse to go back on another occasion to experience the likes of Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh!
Hanoi with it’s crazy traffic, and colourful history gave us a fabulous insight into city life and gave us lot to explore in the couple of days that we spent there before choosing to discover some more remote areas on day trips.
We saw and did so much during our week’s holiday and for that reason I will split our travel into separate blog posts and give you a couple of installments over the coming weeks, but today the focus is on Hanoi itself!
The capital of Vietnam, the streets are full of charm and everywhere you look there is a story to be told. We had a couple of full days in Hanoi and I don’t think you would need much more time than this to explore the highlights of this buzzing city.
Our hotel was in easy walking distance from some of the most popular sights of the city, with most of our days including a little something around Lake Hoan Kiem. The area itself is also called Hoan Kiem and encompasses the old city and the French Quarter so we felt well situated for most tourist attractions on our itinerary.
We took in an awful lot of sights, but as I am writing this for those of you with children in tow for a family getaway, let me stick to a few favourites that we enjoyed together and will probably also work for your children!
One of the most popular things to do is to take in a traditional Water Puppet Show. Not just for the children, but for the whole family, these little theaters can be found in several places in the city, although we chose to visit the infamous ‘Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre” conveniently right on the Hoan Kiem lake. Water puppetry is over thousand years old and has become a popular art form today that is both known in Vietnam and worldwide thanks to these theatre companies going on tour to different countries.
Ticket prices are extremely reasonable – at Thang Long, all tickets are priced at 150,000 Don, (RM27 or about 6USD) and if you go in the morning you have your choice of seats and performances starting from about 3pm and showing hourly until the early evening. Other theatres that we happened upon had differing prices, with some having tiered prices so you could choose between tickets costing 100,000 Don, 150,000 Don or 200,000 Don.
Arrive 15 minutes before show time to get seated – at Thang long they were kind enough to give both children little booster seats so their view wasn’t at all impaired. Musicians sit on both sides of the main stage, with the water pool and main pppet show happening in and on the water. We sat about 5 or 6 rows back and felt that this gave us a really nice overall view of everything happening. The show itself lasts approximately 50 minutes and the artists will perform a number of different sketches to traditional music. With dragons shooting water, sound and lighting effects, and beautifully crafted puppets who swim, climb, row boats and add a certain amount of comedy to the routine, this has to be on the top of the list for a trip to Hanoi with children.
The Railway Street of Hanoi is absolutely fascinating and such a unique thing to see and walk along when in the city. Hidden in the narrow streets of Hanoi, the train tracks running through the most unlikely of routes is an amazing sight to see, and an even more interesting walk to take.
Make your way through the quaintest of little lost streets with washing lines hung between posts, chickens, dogs, roosters and local children happily spending their day beside the tracks and take some lovely photos of a sight rarely seen. While the track does still see some trains passing through, these are far and few between and, at the time of our visit, was limited to just one train at around 7-7.30pm every evening.
It’s safe (although a little uneven underfoot so you might want to switch your flip flops for sports shoes!) and can give you an amazing insight into a lost part of the city. There are some little cafes along the way which can give you a break from walking the tracks and as the railway passes through the city, you may end up discovering a cute little neighbourhood that you may have otherwise not visited. We bought our typical ‘Vietnamese Conical Hats’ to enhance our photos and the children didn’t part with them until we had to get on our flight back home! They loved them (and were being sold in a little shop on the tracks) so our holiday photos are full of my modern day children in their crocs and denim shorts wearing traditional hats – but I LOVE IT!
By day or by night, we found Lake Hoan Kiem to be the central hub of activity and, even better than that, on weekends, they close all the roads around it to traffic and make it “pedestrian only”.
This, in turn, makes it the most perfect place to hang out – the streets come alive with musicians and dance troops practicing routines, balloon and toys stands springing up along the curbs, group fitness classes, children in the road playing Jenga, jump rope, and badminton, and shops bringing out their large collection of motorized mini cars and scooters so that the kids can take to the streets and ‘drive’ around the lake.
The atmosphere is fantastic and with bars, cafes and eateries opening up their terraces, you don’t want to miss out on a weekend experience at the lake.
The lake is ordinarily famous for the Turtle Tower located in the centre, as well as the striking red Huc Bridge which leads over to the Ngoc Son Temple. Although it is popular with photographers (especially at sunrise and sunset) as a family, we enjoyed walking around the lake, exploring, occasionally spotting turtles, and loved the bridge (particularly after sundown), which was great for some family shots.
There are plenty of park benches to sit and relax on, cafes dotted all over the place, and it has to be the best place for people watching! We made a stop by the lake most days and we never got tired of the sights.
While a holiday consisting of temples and museums can be tough on some children (I have to say that our children know there will be a mix of culture and children’s activities on all our trips so we’ve gotten them used to this balance and don’t yet get too many complains about some educational visits!) if there is only one temple you visit while in the city, make sure it is the Hanoi Temple of Literature.
Far more than a temple, this was originally built as a university and, as such, has amazing grounds, courtyards, passages and, surprisingly enough, lots of fabulous features to keep the children interested and enjoying themselves. In the four corners of the inner courtyard they have 4 fun areas, great for photo opportunities, and great for the kids – suspended drums from the trees, hanging hats from branches that you can try to fit on your head, and even examples of water puppets. Add to this a room showing a video which little eyes always seem attracted to, and lots of little passageways and a few gift shops to explore, we all really enjoyed the splendor of this temple.
Tran Quoc Pagoda complex is the oldest Buddhist temple in Hanoi and offers a wonderfully colourful sight sat on the West Lake, maybe a 10-minute drive from the Old Quarter. The yellows and reds against a bright blue sky were lovely and the lake was home to some turtles that the children were kind of obsessed with!
In the gardens around the pagoda there were little ponds where we found some cool little lizards and it was interesting enough for the kids to enjoy – it’s not a long visit, but we did couple this with a quick trip to the Botanic Gardens nearby. Not to be compared with the wonderful gardens we have in Kuala Lumpur, but it makes for a great break in nature; free to enter, nicely shaded and very much away from the hustle and bustle of Hanoi streets.
It gave the littles a chance to run around, have a bit of a play in a small playground with slides and just take in the scene of people working out in the open, dog-walking and playing badminton and football.
While not a must-see place, one day we had a spare few hours and decided to go and visit the Phuc Silk Village which is a little bit further out of the city but probably only a 20-minute taxi ride from the central lake area.
As it’s name would suggest, this is a renowned area for traditional weaving and the production of premium silk. It’s a nice colourful place to wander around, and a great place to find some gorgeous silk scarves, pashminas, sarongs, and children’s clothes, all at a really great price. On top of this, you can see ladies working by hand or with the large weaving machines to see just how the production line works.
They have live silk worms (totally fascinating to see and so interesting for us all) and it was something a little bit different to do with a few hours of our day that got us away from the traffic and felt a little bit more traditional and off the beaten track.
For souvenirs, we found some lovely little shops around the lake, but nearer the end of our time in Hanoi, we headed over to the Dong Xuan Market (on Dong Xuan Street) in the old quarter. It’s Hanoi’s largest indoor market and, as such, is kinda crazy and packed and bustling with everything, but my goodness will you get some great buys there!
While the upper floors are dedicated to materials and clothes, the lower floor had lots of fun things for the kids and mu daughter in particular bought things for all her school friends, with these gorgeous little umbrellas and fans beign her top finds, and at about a third of the price than in the tourist shops! (think RM4/1USD for a beautiful fan or RM5/1.20USD for the mini umbrellas )
For a lot of our time we chose to do most things on foot although, if you have smaller children who may not cope with pounding the streets all day, there are a myriad of options! Local taxis can be a nail-biting ride, and drivers don’t necessarily speak English, but you can make yourself understood or just point out something on a map. Having said that, you will be inundated by requests on the street by the gentlemen who have their own ‘Cyclos’!
These are an inexpensive and quirky way to get around, although I would recommend them for shorter journeys rather than a long trip! The kids will love sitting up front while the man behind pedals along and it will save their tired little legs, but you’ll definitely need to hire two of these for a family of four as they are not intended to carry a whole family at once! They are a good way to get an overview of the city, especially if you fancy a bit of sightseeing in the small streets. There are an abundance of these cyclos who will offer you a set tour of the French Quarter or the Old Ciy and you can grab one for as little as 200,000 don (RM35 or about 8USD) for an hour tour. Another popular option which is a great way to travel some ground and enjoy the city are the Electric Car Tours that have two set routes for you to choose from. These little eco golf-buggy style of buses are lined up near the lake, and have a total of 10 stops around the city. Rates are ridiculously low (as little as 15,000 don per ticket for a 45 minute tour) with under 5s travelling for free. They are safe and drive at a slow rate so you still manage to get a good glimpse at the top sights in the area.
If you fancy a more touristy way to visit the top attractions of Hanoi, as with many other major cities, check out the Hop-on Hop-off Bus which will cover the obvious highlights and give you the chance to get off and enjoy your favourite stops, but I have to admit that it’s not something that we tried as we managed fairly well doing our own thing.
All these tours will take you around to see sights around the Old City such as Saint Joseph’s Cathedral, The Opera House, the back streets of the French Quarter and the markets, and of course Hoan Kiem Lake. Walking tours are also available (some of these being free!) but we didn’t look into this although there are some sites online to cover this should you be interested.
I don’t know what I expecting from downtown Hanoi, but I know that the first thing that struck us all was the insane traffic made up of about 80% motorcycles seemingly zipping around in any direction they fancied, whether the traffic lights were green or not! Once over this initial shock and realising that crossing a road is a bit like playing a game of ‘Risk’ we learnt to get on with it. A couple of days into our holiday we had it off to a tee and just realized that you need to decide when to cross, and then keep going! Don’t stop, don’t pause, just head forwards in a straight line and everything else coming towards you will just skillfully go around you! But I won’t lie, the constant hooting (normally for no apparent reason) and constant noise and flurry, was definitely daunting with two children, so it’s a case of holding on to little ones when crossing and not relying on ‘the little ‘green man’…. Cos no-one adheres to that rule!
We loved our time in Hanoi; the weather in October/November was perfect for warm days of around 27 degrees and slightly cooler evenings and early mornings. The food is exquisite and you will be able to pick up a number of local dishes from an array of places along the way – the choice really is just infinite so have a try and make the most of it. You won’t need to pay a fortune if you are happy to do like the locals and perch on little plastic stools and eat your bowl of Pho while the kids get ‘stuck’ into their sticky rice and spring rolls!
From Hanoi, we had a full day trip to Tam Coc/Ninh Binh (read my full blog post here for some travel tips and insights!) and then headed off to Halong Bay for 2 days and a night on board a cruise……all this and a little bit more coming in my next installment, but for now, I hope a few days in Hanoi will find it’s way on to your itinerary should Vietnam be on the horizon for you and your family. S x
kualalumpurkids 