Hanoi
Forty years ago if you had told me that one day I would be living in Hanoi and teaching English at the University of Hanoi, I would have said you were “nuts”. But here I am about to do just that!
I visited Hanoi twice in 2005 both trips quite short but very enjoyable so I have pleasant memories of the sights and sounds of that very bustling, dynamic city. The political and educational capital of Vietnam, Hanoi is a city of about 4 million people built on the banks of the Red River and around four picturesque lakes. It is about 1,000 miles north of Saigon so the weather is a bit cooler in the winter months but just as hot and humid in the summer.
In October 2010, Hanoi will officially celebrate 1,000 years of History. There are over 600 Confucius shrines and Buddhist temples there, most of them dating back 100’s of years. There are also many stately old building built by the French and then modern steel and glass buildings of the past 20 years.
Imagine a city where the exotic chic of old Asia blends with the dynamic face of new Asia. Where the medieval and modern co-exist. A city with a blend of Parisian grace and Asian pace, an architectural museum piece evolving in harmony with its history, rather than bulldozing through like many of the region’s capitals. Hanoi is where imagination becomes reality.
A mass of motorbikes swarms through the tangled web of streets that is the Old Quarter, a cauldron of commerce for almost 1000 years and still the best place to check the pulse of this resurgent city. Hawkers in conical hats ply their wares, locals sip coffee and bia hoi (beer) watching life (and plenty of tourists) pass them by. The Vietnamese food is famous as both delicious and cheap. Witness synchronized t’ai chi at dawn on the shores of Hoan Kiem Lake while goateed grandfathers tug at their wisps over the next chess move. See the bold and beautiful dine at designer restaurants and cut the latest moves on the dance floor. Hanoi has it all: the ancient history, a colonial legacy and a modern outlook. There is no better place to untangle the paradox that is modern Vietnam.
For more information about Hanoi please see:
http://en.wikipedia org/wiki/Hanoi
Next section: Religions of Vietnam
