12 Oct 2019 - Hanoi Day 1: Exploring all around Hoan Kiem Lake

Hoan Kiem District (aka the Old Quarter) is considered the city’s business hub and main tourist destination.

Below few photos show Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc Square, a busy and popular public square where festivities often take place. The square, which is known as the Tonkin Free School Movement Square, is named for a movement that helped ignite Communism in Vietnam. From here, we stepped into Hanoi’s historic Old Quarter where there are lots of shops, charming alleys and delectable eats.

During weekend, the roads all around Hoan Kiem Lake (還劍湖) are closed to vehicles so that people can roam freely without having to worry about the usual terrible traffic.  In the evening, this place will be crowded with people.

We walked by the lake side and noticed a structure in the middle of the lake.  It is called Thap Rua Tower Hanoi, also known as Turtle Tower, which is to commemorate local folk hero, Le Loi, who had freed the Vietnamese from Chinese forces back in 1425.  As one of Hanoi’s most iconic attractions, it was constructed on a small island in the middle of Hoan Kiem Lake in 1886, symbolising the patriotic pride of the local population.

Further down the road, we came upon a Statue of Lý Thái Tổ (李太祖), the founder of the Later Lý Dynasty in Vietnam when he reigned from 1009 to 1028.

When evening was approaching, many people started setting up stalls and gave away freebies.  We first got a can of cold Coca Cola each, which came at the right time because the weather was really hot.

Then we queued up for free Wall's Cornetto ice-cream.  Javier also bought a Paddle Pop ice-cream for VND10,000, which is about 60 cents.

Next, we queued up for a small cup of ice Lipton tea.

At the other end of the lake, we arrived at Trang Tien Plaza, the first and only luxury shopping center in Vietnam.

All the branded products can be found in this mall.  Our main purpose of entering this mall was to escape from the outdoor heat.  :-)

After having a short rest in Trang Tien Plaza, we started walking back to Hoan Kiem district via the other side of the lake.

Here we saw the Turtle Tower from another angle.

There were many activities happening along the lake side.  First we saw a group of women lining up in a single file and started massaging the person in front.

Next we saw two caucasian performers, playing ukulele and violin, and at the same time singing a Mandarin song "月亮代表我的心".

As we approached Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc Square, we saw another group of performers playing Chinese musical instrument, mainly 二胡 and 笛子.  There were a lot more street performers as we walked down the road.

By this time, many people began flocking into the square and the entire place started to light up.

The Huc Bridge was nicely lighted up as the sky turned dark.  It looks so much more beautiful at night than during day time.

This place really liven up after night fall.  We had our dinner at Lotteria fast food restaurant before going for our next activity, the Thang Long Water Puppet Show.

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