Thursday Nov 27 2025 - Hanoi Vietnam
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It's our Wedding Anniversary!
STEPS 13,000
WEATHER 24 and sunny
TOUR DAY 2 on our own
ITALICS TOUR DESCRIPTION
2 additional nights - From November 27 2025 to November 28 2025
Days at leisure. (Breakfasts)
We had added two additional days on our own in Hanoi.
I was up around 7 and decided we needed to change our room as the windows were painted over to hide the ugly view. I must have daylight! So by the time John was up at 8 and before breakfast we had requested a new room, with no problems, we just had to pack up, leave our key and they would move our stuff and we would have a new key when we came back. Breakfast is a decent buffet, although the coffee is strong!
The hotel (and everywhere else) is ready for the holiday season. There is Christmas music playing all the time.
I tried a few new fruits, dragon fruit and passion fruit.
Hanoi is crazy and it is one of those cities that belong to the “you either love them or you hate them” category . As soon as you arrive in Hanoi you confront its impossible traffic, take a deep breath and say “okay, I have arrived in Southeast Asia.”
Shoes are being shined as you walk along the streets with everyone sitting on those impossibly low stools. Women are washing dishes on the sidewalk. Women are hanging laundry above your head.
We head out and scooters buzz through the streets, the smell of delicious food fills the air and everywhere you turn there are scooters!
You take your life into your hands to cross the street.
We headed out with no purpose and found ourselves in front of the Opera House.
The Hanoi Opera House, a cultural and architectural gem in the heart of Vietnam’s capital, has a rich history dating back to the early 20th century.
Constructed between 1901 and 1911 during the French colonial period, the Opera House was modeled after the Palais Garnier in Paris, reflecting the influence of French architecture in Indochina. It was designed by French architects Harlay and Broyer, who aimed to create a symbol of European culture in the region.
The Opera House was not only a venue for performances but also a focal point for social and political events. It hosted various cultural activities, including plays, ballets, and classical music concerts, catering primarily to the French elite and Vietnamese aristocracy.
The hop on buses also stop here so on impulse we decide to get a 24 hour ticket for only $18 CAD each or 800,000 dongs! There are no coins here, everything is rounded. So my way of calculating quickly is 400,000 per person, is $20 dollars as a dong is .50 cents!
Pictures in no particular order as we drive by.
Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum - we'll visit later this week.
Hanoi's swan boats are a popular, fun activity, especially on Trúc Bạch Lake, a smaller lake connected to West Lake, where you can rent paddle-powered swan boats for about 100,000 VND/hour.
We rode all around and then came back and got off at the cathedral stop which is really by Hoàn Kiếm Lake.
We walked around the lake, then over to the cathedral and strolled the streets before sitting down for a beer to watch the crowds. John had to remove his shoes to go to the bathroom and put on toilet slippers.
The bus took us by ceramic street. Hanoi Ceramic Mosaic Mural is a 6.5-kilometer stretch of wall covered with vibrant and beautiful murals that bring a splash of color to Hanoi’s otherwise monotonous boulevard.
Nguyen Thu Thuy, a Vietnamese artist and journalist, can be considered as the mother of Hanoi Ceramic Mosaic Mural. Her suggestion to turn the dike system surrounding Hanoi into a ceramic mosaic earned her the first prize in the Hanoi Embellishment Exhibition in March 2007. She aimed to revitalize urban Hanoi and bring people together via public art to celebrate the 1000th anniversary of the founding of Thang Long (ancient Hanoi).
The mural was intended to depict the history of Vietnam, along with modern artworks showing boats, dragons, flamingos, fish, pelicans, and some drawings made by children. Ceramic tesserae from Bat Trang Ceramic Village was chosen to be the primary component of the mural. Ceramics are often used to produce pottery, bricks, or tiles thanks to their durability, Therefore, the idea of using ceramics to construct a mosaic mural seemed odd.
It turned out that this was really just around the corner from the hotel. Typical tour bus strategy to make you think that you were really visiting things out of the way. Tour guides do the same thing.
The Hanoi DOJI Building, officially DOJI Tower, is a prominent architectural landmark in Hanoi, Vietnam, famous for its unique diamond shape and opulent gold/gem decorations, recognized as Vietnam's largest diamond-shaped building, housing the DOJI Group's operations and luxury retail, with restaurants like Jade Moon offering dining with city views. It's a significant commercial hub and an iconic symbol of the DOJI Group, located at 5 Lê Duẩn Street.
Then we walked to the old quarter for lunch. Duck and beef, those are green peppercorns.
After lunch we hopped back on the bus
We got off at the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long.
The UNESCO World Heritage site Hoang Thanh Thang Long, or the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long, is perhaps the crown jewel of Hanoi’s legacy of historic sites. Dating back to the 7th century, the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long gives visitors the chance to explore architecture, relics, and stories stretching back through 1,300 years of Vietnamese history.
It contains two sections: the archaeological site at 18 Hoang Dieu Street and the central axis of the Nguyen Dynasty’s Citadel of Hanoi, which together create an integrated heritage complex. This was the most important sector of Thang Long Citadel, the capital of Dai Viet under the Ly, Tran, and Le dynasties from the 11th to the 18th centuries. It was also the core of the earlier Dai La Citadel, dating from the period when the region was ruled directly by China (7th to 9th centuries) and the headquarters of the North Vietnamese government and army during the Resistance War against the Americans (also known as the Vietnam War) between 1954 and 1975.
The cipher bunker of the General Staff s a secret, underground wartime facility built in 1966 beneath the Thang Long Imperial Citadel in Hanoi, Vietnam, to protect high-ranking military communications during the war against the US, particularly during heavy bombings in late 1972, now open to the public as a revolutionary relic showcasing Vietnam's wartime intelligence efforts with displays of original equipment like seals, stamps, and coded messages.
Pomelos
We made our way back to the hotel for a siesta
and then dinner in the hotel restaurant, this hotel had the best bar restaurant of the trip.
My club and John's burger.
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