It's a peaceful city with many beautiful sceneries
Disadvantages:
there are not so many places for entertaining
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam (in the Southest Asia). It is located in the north of the country and has the population of more than 3 million people. Hanoi is almost 1000 years old (995 years old actually). The city is beautiful and people here are very friendly.
+++ THE WEATHER +++
- Hanoi has 4 different seasons: autumn, spring, summer and winter (unlike Ho Chi Minh city: only dry and rainy season). However, I think the most beautiful time of the year is in the autumn. Everything is so nice: streets are filled with leaves; the smell of milk flowers follows as you walk down some streets, the weather is cool - with gently sunshine ... It's just the best time of the year.
- Because the Vietnamese celebrate the Lunar New Year (same as China, Korea and Japan) - they call it "Tet" - so it'd be great if you come to Vietnam in January or February - as you can see peach blossom, mandarin orange-tree everywhere - and eat some traditional New Year's food such as: "Chung" cake - green rice cake, Vietnamese jam,...
+++ PLACES YOU SHOULD GO +++ There many places to go in Hanoi but I'll just write about some famous places that you really should go.
- Uncle Ho's Mausoleum (to people that don't know who Uncle Ho is - he was the greatest leader of Vietnam): it's a decent place but really beautiful - as you can see in the photo. The mausoleum is surrounded by many trees, grass cover,... After visit the Mausoleum, you should visit the Ho Chi Minh Museum - which is close to the Mausoleum - there are things that related to Ho Chi Minh, many kinds of trees around the country, a lake with gold fish,... However, as Ho Chi Minh is very famous and Vietnamese people love him - so there is a long queue of people around the country in front of the Mausoleum everyday of the week - especially in the weekend.
- Sword Lake (or "The lake of the restored sword"): the name of the lake is based on a famous legend: years ago, king Le Loi had a cruise on the Lake - at that time, Vietnam was having a war - and the king was really worried about saving his own country. Suddenly, a turtle appreared and offered to let him borrow a sword to save his country - but he would have to return it after he succeed. So the king took the sword and he did win against his enemies - he went to the lake again, and the magical turtle appeared - he returned the sword to the turtle - that's the end of the legend. This lake is in the center of Hanoi - I suggest you should go to the 5th Floor of the building near the lake - where you will have a great view of the lake.
- The Temple of Literature: it is the first school in Vietnam - first built in 1070 by Ly Thai To. There are stone stelae of 82 doctors - who were at the first place in the court examinations (an old kind of test in Vietnam).
- The one pillar pagoda: very close to the temple and it's a special pagoda - with only one pillar - it was also built during Ly Thai To's time.
- The old quarter of Hanoi: with 36 ancient streets - they're near the sword lake. It's just wonderful wandering around these old and narrow streets - full of people in rush hours. And you can be very surprised seeing houses next to houses - it's just really strange seeing the combination of the old and the new but it's also very beautiful. There are many things that you can buy here: from handicrafts, silk, to clothes, food, ... everything!
+++ HOTELS AND TRANSPORTATION ++
- Hotels: the price is varying from 10$ to more than 100$ per night, depends on the hotel that you choose. There are many nice hotels: such as Sunway hotel, Horison Hotel, Hilton, Daewoo, ...
- Hanoians - like other Vietnamese people - often use motorbikes. As the results, you can see motorbikes everywhere in the streets. You can catch a bus, take a taxi, or even use "xich lo" - a special kind of transportation in Vietnam (you can see in the photo below) or "xe om" - people riding their motorbikes, earning money from taking customers to places that they need to go... or you can rent a bike, a motorbike, or a car and go around the city. However, the traffic in Hanoi is crazy (actually, the traffic in Vietnam is crazy) - I have to admit. So you'd better use the taxi.
Well, those are just something about the place I love that I want to share - so you all can know about my home town and about Vietnam. Hope you find it helpful - and if there's anything you need to ask, just ask - and if any one has a plan to go to Vietnam, I'm willing to be your guide. ^____^ Thank you all for reading! :)
(sorry, just found out that only from green member can I upload photos - so i'll do it later, when i'm "green" ^_^ )
More details
Sightseeing
Evaluate this review
How helpful would this review be to someone making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
