Woke up early at 7:30am just to have breakfast and my parents beat us to it. When we reach the dining area at the rooftop, they were already there, halfway into their breakfast.
Most hotels in Hanoi provides complimentary breakfast with every room booked and ours did too. And I must say that the spread provided by MK Premier was really good, with a variety of choices across Asian and Western.
After breakfast, I called for a Uber Car to pick us up at our Hotel and we headed off to the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long. As the driver doesn't seem to understand English, we were not able to ask him whether he knew the way there. He was looking at the Google map when we were nearing and he was driving round in circles until he drop us opposite the actual location (according to Google Map). Grateful for pre-fixed Uber rates.
It took us quite some time to find the main entrance to the Citadel because the entrance didn't look like an entrance to a tourist attraction at all. It looks more like a school/office to me. Plus, we asked numerous people and guards along the way but due to the language barrier, it didn't really help much. So in the end, we figured it out by ourselves and realized that we walked past it twice. HAHAHA.
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| Main Entrance to Imperial Citadel of Thang Long. |
Each ticket costs VND$30,000, which is approximately equivalent to SGD$1.80, and we bought our tickets inside the main entrance building, where they displayed some history of the Citadel. After browsing some of the display, we finally went in!
The Citadel is located next to the Vietnam Military History Museum, which is also where the iconic Flag Tower of Hanoi sits. But since we were not heading to the Vietnam Military History Museum afterwards, a picture of the iconic tower from Citadel will suffice.
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| View of Flag Tower of Hanoi from Imperial Citadel of Thang Long. |
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| At the Doan Mon Gate. |
The Imperial Citadel of Thang Long was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2010, hence I chose this attraction to go to when I was planning the itinerary for our short trip. Totally no regrets at all. Maybe I should start visiting all the UNESCO World Heritage Site across the globe.
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| Short tunnel leading into the Citadel |
This Citadel was constructed on the remains of a Chinese fortress and on drained reclaimed land from the Red River Delta in the 11th Century, which marks the independence of the Dai Viet. There is a lot of history here, and they did a good job in preserving the site. This was really worth our trip.
Some of the relics are exhibited in the buildings within the grounds of what used to be known as part of the Kinh Thien Palace. And these relics hold and tells a lot of history about this place, which are all a good read.
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| Super coordinated jump-shot, which only required 1 take. |
Climbed down the tall staircase to visit underground bunker which was also known as the D67 House and Tunnel. The bunker was built with solid and bulk concrete and steel back in 1967. It was the headquarters of the Vietnam People's Army and there were preserved objects and tools that the military commanders used.
I feel somewhat surreal to be down at the bunker. Everything is well-preserved and I can imagine how it was like during the period of war. How all the meetings and planning were held down at this bunker.
The backyard/garden of the palace are lush green and it is being maintained quite frequently. When we were touring the area, we can see many gardeners trimming or watering the plants.
We also realized that most trees have white paint marking at the bottom of the root, and when we questioned why, we were told that it was to:-
1. Protect the trees from pesticides and the strong sun.
2. Make the trees stand out in the gloom.
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| Grounds of Kinh Thien Palace. |
After spending approximately 1.5hours within the Citadel, we headed over to Highlands Coffee at the Vietnam Military History Museum to grab some Vietnamese Coffee, which we saw when we were looking for the entrance to the Citadel. It really is a very hot and stuffy day.
Before we left the Citadel, we saw a class of pre-school students having their graduation photo taken in front of the Doan Mon Gate. This spot is known to be a popular graduation photo shoot location, where most graduating students would come to take photos with the iconic gate in their graduation gown.
After having a rest at Highlands Coffee, we made our way to Ngon Villa Restaurant to have lunch. It was only a short walk away from the Vietnam Military History Museum that takes approximately 10 minutes. The only tedious part was just that there were many small streets to cross. HAHAHA.
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| Ngon Villa Restaurant. |
I made a reservation with the restaurant prior to our trip because it was highly recommended and I read that it would be quite packed during peak hours. But when we got there, we were the only customers in the house! Feels like as though we booked the entire restaurant down (but we did not).
They sat us in a dining room at the 2nd level which really looked like it was in the Alice in Wonderland theme.
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| Dad, Mom, Boyfriend - Love in one frame. ♥ |
The food was great and I am pretty sure if ever we are back in Hanoi, I would come back here for more. When we left, there is really a crowd in the restaurant. I wonder what time is considered their lunch and dinner hour because people seem to eat their lunch and dinner late here.
Next stop, the Confucius Temple of Literature, which is about 10 - 15minutes walk away from the restaurant.
By the time we reached the gate of the temple, the place was already flooded by buses and buses of tourists. It was so crowded to the point that it was really hard to take a good photo without a crowd gathering at the background. But after some waiting, we manage to take some shots without a lot of people in the background.
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| Gate of the Confucius Temple of Literature |
Anyway, each ticket to the Confucius Temple of Literature only costs VND$10,000, which we got from the ticketing pavilion before heading in.
Walking through the gate lead us to the first courtyard and a smaller gate to the second courtyard, where the Khue Van Pavilion (a symbol for the Hanoi today) stood. So in the past, these two courtyards were known to be the "quiet zones" where scholars would chill and relax, away from all the hustle and bustle.
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| The Second Courtyard; Facing the First Courtyard. |
Passing the Khue Van Pavilion brings us to the third courtyard, which is also where the Thien Quang Well lays and also where the Steles which held the names of those who succeeded in the Royal Exam stood.
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| Third Courtyard. |
The fourth courtyard became a pitch stop for all of us because there were 2 gift shops, one on the left, and one on the right, toilet and a water dispenser. So, we spend a little more time here with mom shopping at the gift shops and dad drinking some water and resting under a tree.
At this point, the sun was really scorching. It was just too hot, so a break really did us good.
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| Miniature of Confucius (I think; I am not sure). |
Okay, I did not forget, the altars of Confucius, his Disciples and ten philosophers were also located at the fourth courtyard, which I did not really take many photos of as to some Chinese (aka me) think that taking photos of the alters is disrespectful. So I avoided taking too many photos and avoided taking direct shots of the alters.
After our pitch stop at the fourth courtyard, we finally moved on to the fifth courtyard, which we almost missed out because there was some renovation works going on that blocked part of the pathways and we did not see the small passage on the left side which leads to the fifth courtyard behind.
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| Photo credits (from pose to shot) to mom. ♥ |
The fifth courtyard, which used to be the Imperial Academy, was quite a beau and was really well maintained. The buildings that were once classrooms, dormitories and storage room, are now housing the exhibits of the temple and academy.
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| Layout of the temple and academy back in the olden days (I suppose). |
By the time we left the Confucius Temple of Literature, it was already 4pm. Uber our way down to the St. Joseph Cathedral because that is the place where our shopping begins.
Starting off from Ly Quoc Su Street, where the St. Joseph Cathedral stands, heading towards Hong Gai Street, then turning into Hang Dao Street, continue on to Hang Ngang Street, before ending at Hang Buom Street, where our hotel sits at. Each street sells a different category of things, so it was pretty easy shopping.
Mini Shopping Street Guide (Hanoi Old Quarter):Ly Quoc Su Street: Souvenirs,Hang Gai Street: Silk / Cotton, Linen, TailoringHang Dao Street: Shoes / Footwear (Hanoi Weekend Night Market)Hang Ngang Street: Textiles (Hanoi Weekend Night Market)Hang Buom Street: Candies, Wines, CoffeeHanoi Weekend Night Market is held every Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Ended the day with a birthday dinner at a random American Bar-Restaurant (not that of a good choice) near our hotel because we were all too exhausted to walk any further or to decide on what to eat.
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