Travel Blog: Hanoi Trip 2014 Day 2 Part 1, 河内之旅第二天第一章, 12 Sep 14

Hanoi Trip Day 2 Part 1: 12th Sep 2014, Friday
河内之旅第二天第一章：9月12日2014年, 星期五

Attractions for the day:
Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum 胡志明纪念堂 [Google Maps Link]
Presidential Palace 河内主席府 [Google Maps Link]
One Pillar Pagoda 一柱寺 [Google Maps Link]
Temple of Literature 河内文庙 [Google Maps Link]

Accommodation for the trip:
Church Boutique Hotel Hang Gai 杭盖H＆K教堂精品酒店 [Google Maps Link]

The hotel we were in looked kinda small, but the buffet breakfast was quite a spread. And there was even a chef who could cook you an omelette of your choice. On the menu were some local delicacies too. What a great start to the day.

Time to tuck into some unhealthy but delicious food.

いただきます！Itadakimasu!

And there was quite a variety of bread and pastries too.

"How would you like your egg to be done, sir?"

Looks appetizing, doesn't it?

The familiar Vietnamese pho.

Our omelette is done!

And finally some pastries to complete our breakfast.

Next we boarded our coach which brought us around. Along the way, we witnessed some sights of the locals going about their daily business. Quite an interesting ride as we got to see very different things compared to what we have in Singapore. They had many shops selling nothing but the same things along the whole stretch of road. One street could all be selling wedding related stuff. Another could be selling nothing but items made of straws. And of course we saw the locals all sitting down on little stools at some makeshift food stalls, enjoying their simple meals.

A shop selling all kinds of items for weddings.

And another selling items made of straw.

The culture of sitting on little stools can be seen throughout Vietnam.

A grocer selling her veggies and fruits right outside a building.

We reached the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, where in it lies the body of the late Ho Chi Minh. It just happened to be the wrong time for us to visit, otherwise we would be able to enter the mausoleum and witness the embalmed body of the late Ho Chi Minh. Right beside it was the Ba Dinh Square, where president Ho Chi Minh read the Proclamation of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam on 2nd September 1945.

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum.

Some wordings at Ba Dinh Square.
It means "State of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam forever".

Huge fields right outside the mausoleum.

The National Assembly Building.

Nice emblem of the National Assembly Building.

A different view of the mausoleum and Ba Dinh Square.

Ba Dinh Square.

Can someone translate this?

Workers working on maintaining the greenery.

As we walked along the area with our guide, we reached the Presidential Palace, and an area where we could wander around at our own pace containing the Ho Chi Minh's residence, a building where he entertained guests, another of his residence called the 'House-on-Stilts', a lake, a One-Pillar Pagoda and much more. We spent about an hour touring theses places on our own.

Presidential Palace.

Some vintage cars that Ho Chi Minh used to ride.

This must be worth a fortune now.

Meeting room where he entertained guests.

Looks like a dining room.

His study.

There's a lake right next to his building too.

And a pet peacock?!

Some interesting looks roots of a tree I believe.

The House-on-stilts.

A study here too.

Found more of these roots around the lake.

Saw a dragonfly performing some interesting 'dance'.

This is truly 蜻蜓点水.

Found some plants bearing some kind of fruit.

Seems to be pomelo.

A nice place to relax.

There was a huge garden in the area too.

At the back of the mausoleum.

The One-Pillar Pagoda.

At the end of the tour, we walked past the Ho Chi Minh Museum but did not have the chance to enter. We were then brought to a tourist shop where there were lots of handicraft and workers working on them.

Ho Chi Minh Museum.

A cool-looking fountain outside the museum.

Some shop selling handicrafts.

Next, we visited Vietnam's Văn Miếu - Quốc Tử Giám, which was actually a Temple of Confucius. It was the home of Vietnam's first university. From the outside, we could see interesting topiary within the temple grounds.

Looks like some giant birds came to visit the temple.

Chinese wordings on the pillars outside the temple.

One could tell Hanoi was deeply influenced by Chinese cultures just by looking at the various temples we had visited. We could see many Chinese characters on the pillars right outside the temple grounds. And within the temple, there were tons of stone sculptures of turtles carrying tablets on top of their shells. On the tablets carved the Chinese names of those who were successful at the royal exams.

Entrance to the temple.

Is this supposed to be a dragon?

Many of these found inside the temple grounds.

A stone sculpture of a tablet on a turtle .

At a particular spot, our guide took out a 100,000 VND note for a direct comparison with the actual place as shown on the note. That's pretty cool.

The exact image as seen on the 100,000 VND note.

The 100,000 VND note scenery.

A whole row of stone sculptures.

Within the temple grounds.

A pair of Gods on the altars.

Wonder how much this golden turtle is worth.

And there's a golden American dollar note.

An elaborately designed incense urn.

Look what we found? Bambi!

After the tour around the temple, it's off to lunch! On our journey to lunch, we saw some local wedding lunch taking place.

Looks like a wedding reception is taking place.

The beautiful bride taking pictures.

And since there was so much to see and pictures taken during Day 2 of our trip, please proceed on to Part 2 of Day 2.

For a list of the hotels/resorts available for booking in Hanoi via Agoda.com, click here.
To make a hotel booking at Church Boutique Hotel Hang Gai, click here.

Links to our Hanoi Trip 2014

Day 2 Part 1
Day 2 Part 2
Day 3 - Ha Long Bay
Day 4
Souvenirs