Exploring the city between rivers

It was January 1st, and while it may seem like an ordinary Sunday, my husband and I have made it a tradition to embark on a small challenge on this day ever since we met. Our first challenge was climbing Taranaki, one of New Zealand's toughest mountains. The second was a bit easier, Mount Holdsworth in Masterton, New Zealand, and the third was Tongariro Crossing. However, since we were in Vietnam for the start of 2023, we opted for a tour of the city instead. Even though it sounds not like our tradition but I am glad that my husband had a chance to experience new things and learn more about my country.

There are numerous places worth visiting if you happen to be in the area. During our visit, I made sure to take my husband to see Chùa Một Cột or "the pagoda on a pillar", the Quốc Tử Giám, also known as "the Temple of Literature", and Hoàng Thành Thăng Long, the Imperial Citadel.

We first went to visit the Chùa Một Cột or “pagoda on a pillar”, within the complex of the Hồ Chí Minh museum, which we did not visit as it was too crowded and it would take too long to wait.

Although I don't recall much of the history behind Chùa Một Cột, I wanted to show it to my husband because of its unique architecture. The pagoda stands on a single pillar, situated on a pond, symbolizing a lotus flower - Vietnam's national flower. The lotus flower is also a Buddhist representation of purity, as it blooms beautifully despite growing in muddy waters.(Source here).

As you can see there were some people praying in the pagoda from my photos above so I took my husband to go up there as well. At first, it was a bit awkward for both of us as we didn't know what to pray for but then I suddenly realised that it doesn't have to be that way. I forgot that I can just say anything so I sent my grateful thought of being there at that very moment and enjoy time with my husband and friends.

Next, we took a short lunch break. Although it was still early in the day, Hanoi is known for its abundance of food options and my husband has quite an appetite, so we decided to refuel before he got too hungry. After our meal, we headed to Văn Miếu Quốc Tử Giám, also known as "the Temple of Literature". This over thousand-year-old university has now become a historical and cultural landmark.

One of the things I love about Hanoi now is they supply tourists with an option to get a self-guided tour with headphone so you can learn about history and the places in your own pace. So for my husband, it was the best as he loves history and learning about Vietnamese while I can be with my dear friends.

Alongside the ancient buildings, right after the entrace, you can see many monoliths mounted on turtle sculptures, featuring dissertations written by scholars and graduates in the old Vietnamese ideograms.

Because of the temple's history as the first university in Vietnam, there is a myth that many parents believe and used to do for their children. It is that if a student, who are about to take their entrance exam to the university, touches the head of the turtles in this temple, they will get blessings and luck for their test. So in the past, many parents brought their children over this temple to just touch the head of the turtles.

When I was there last time, it was still okay to go around and touch the turtle. However, this time it is all protected with a fence meaning it is no longer allowed to get close by.

Our next stop was the Hoàng Thành Thăng Long, also known as the Imperial Citadel - a historical complex in an old military fortress. Adjacent to the fortress, where ongoing archaeological excavations could still be observed. I hadn't been to that place before so it was interesting even for me to see it. Recently I love to see the documentaries on Netfix about finding traces from our ancestors so it was kind of nice to be in one.

There were numerous historical exhibits on display, but due to time constraints and our energy levels, we couldn't explore them all. Nevertheless, we did manage to visit an underground bunker that recounted the story of anti-aircraft commandos who fought against US bombing.

^{too bad my husband doesn't want to be an actor, his acting skills are so good}

In this type of places (including the Temple of Literature above), high school or university graduates take photos with traditional áo dài dresses. My husband told me he loves it very much and he wishes that I could wear something similar. Unfortunately, I was not easy to move around on the motorbike with that kind of dress so I have to give it a pass. But I include a photo of our class's photoshot 10 years ago for you to see below.

Finally, we went to dinner in the tourist part of Hanoi old quarter. The place we chose to eat was at the bottom of an alley and certainly not a place a tourist will visit. My husband was so glad to have experiences that although he didn't like the special shrimp-fermented sauce that we ate. I told him if you want to be a real Vietnamese, you need to eat that sauce. At the end, I still asked for a normal sauce for him to eat with.

We said goodbye to our friends and to return to the hotel, we took a rickshaw, or cart pushed by a cyclist. We call it "Xich Lo". We were both too excited and enjoyed that moment so we forgot to take a photo to show you.

Overall, it was too short for my husband and even until now he still complaining that he hadn't had enough time to explore Hanoi. Oh well, he might have to pay another visit to this city again then.

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