Hanoi: Day 2

Saturday, we spent the day tackling Hanoi. With only one full day to explore all Hanoi had to offer, we had to pick and choose what we wanted to see the most. So we started off with my pick, the Museum of Ethnology. I first read about it on Tess’ blog and then heard about it in a few guidebooks and websites. They all raved about it so I wanted to check it out for myself. 

 The Museum of Ethnology focuses on the 54 ethnic groups within Vietnam. The museum provided different details about the different ethnic groups- from daily lives, to clothing, and food, language etc. I was amazed at how people are able to survive today- some of the ethnic groups still rely on hunting and gathering methods for food and survival! The Museum also had life-size replicas of houses of the different ethnic groups. We were able to explore the houses; they were all so different- one was about 15-20ft off the group and around 100ft tall while another was just 2 or 3ft off the group and about 100ft long. 

After the Museum of Ethnology, we took a cab to the Ho Chi Minh Complex. The museum there was closed for lunch when we arrived, so we wandered over to Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum. This too was closed- it’s closed every year from September to December for renovations/fixing ups (gotta keep him looking good! Haha).

 We walked to a place for lunch, in search for pho, but the café that was recommended to us wasn’t serving lunch- only tea, so we found another small café and grabbed a quick lunch before heading to a local market. This market was very different from the one we visited in Ho Chi Minh City. It was definitely geared to local people- as it barely sold any touristy things. It had three levels and was packed with people and goods. There was barely any room to walk. Needless to say, we didn’t spend too much time here.

Our next stop was Hoan Kiem Lake, one of Hanoi’s famous lakes. We walked around part of the lake- it was just around 4 or 5 so the sun was slowly setting, providing some nice pictures.

We stopped at Fanny’s, a French ice cream parlor along the lake before heading back to the hostel.

We met up with Tess and the group she is abroad with (some HWS and Union kids)again later that night before packing our bags for Halong Bay the next day.

  HWS kids in Hanoi!

Tess and I