We had already spent six days in Hanoi. By that time we had explored the streets of the Old quarter; got a feel of French colonial history at the Hoa Lo Prison and the Ho Chi Minh Museum. We spent our evenings around the Hoan Kleim lake and sampled the delights of Vietnamese cuisine from street vendors to posh restaurants. We discovered that even a Banh Minh could have delectable vegetarian version! Malati even learned the recipe of Pho (fuh not foe as we learnt!). We spent a lot of time at the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum grounds and appreciated the reverence the Vietnamese had for Uncle Ho. And we did a night tour of Hanoi and drove past some monuments which we missed during the day. There were still two museums on our list to go.

The first was the Vietnamese National Museum of History located in a old French colonial building alongside the Opera House. The museum is divided into logical chronological sections from ancient to modern times, Numerous dynasties ruled Vietnam till the deposed Bao Dai, the last emperor of the last of the dynasties – The Nguyen dynasty. I was unable to appreciate much of the museum due to my inadequate knowledge of the Vietnamese history. What got my attention was the Naval Battle of Bach Dang( AD 938) and the Hindu and Buddhist connect with Vietnam. Apart from this I admired some of the artefacts, listened to the audio guide and beat a hasty retreat to the Highland coffee shop within the complex.

Another aspect of Hanoi was the profusion of flowers in hotel lobbies, shops and even public places which gave Malati the idea of a visiting the flower market “Cho Hoa” at the Quang Ba Flower market. Such an abundance of beautiful flowers in the market was a feast for the eyes. The route to the market took us past the “ceramic road” a mural on the wall along the busy road for about a few kilometers .We passed this road earlier on the way from the airport but did not appreciate it till it was pointed out by the Grab Taxi driver. Don’t stop on the road as the traffic is very heavy, but admire the project created by a few hundreds of artists from across the world to mark the millenium year (2010) of founding of Hanoi by the ruler Ly Thai Tho. I also complement Hanoi citizens for keeping this work of art free from graffiti.

There still was one more museum on our list – The Vietnamese Women’s Museum .The museum is comparatively very recent and was set up to recognise the role of women in the history and culture of Vietnam. Divided into three major sections -Women and Family , Women in History and Women in Fashion – The section which highlights the role of women in the Vietnamese struggle was the most captivating of all – Brought out the pains of separation of the families of the underground revolutionaries as also the contribution of women revolutionaries. Right across the road was an authentic French bakery Madame Huong where we spent the rest of the evening .

Seven days was a good time to spend in Hanoi and we had covered quite a bit of the city, it’s tourist spots, culture, food and museums. A notable miss was the train market which my research showed was closed after COVID but I later learnt that was reopened – Should have checked with the locals. We skipped the Quan Tranh pagoda as it was one pagoda too many as also some of the museums. I would have loved to visit the military museum but was told it is pretty much like the War Remnants Museum in Saigon which we visited earlier. We had spent quite some time in the various spots around Ba Dinh Square and chose to miss the ruins of the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long which we saw from the bus on the night ride. We took day tours to Sa Pa and Halong Bay but opted out of a day trip to Ninh Binh and Hoa Lu, the ancient capital. Our journey in Vietnam continues – Do follow us along our travels !