Walking tour in the Old Quarter of Hanoi, not to miss
Walking tour in the Old Quarter of Hanoi, not to miss
Nov 18, 2011 11:09:51 AM
Hanoi would not be Hanoi without its Old Quarter, a maze ofstreets dating back to the 13th century, its present-day chaos just a differentversion of the old chaos, when
specialized trade guilds were responsible foreach street. The quarter is exhausting ("What's with all thehonking?!" my friend asks) and crowded; you'll be jostled by passingmotorbikes, cyclos, and
hawkers with shoulder-poles hanging pendulous burdensof local produce. The quarter is one of those places in the world that grows onyou the more you experience it.
Said to resemble a tree sprouting from the cool waters ofHoan Kiem Lake, the streets are like chaotic branches and tendrils as they fanout in jagged patterns across the area north of Hanoi's famed lake. Limited onone side by the Red River and on the other by the once-great Hanoi Citadel,whose walls are still standing in some areas, the Old Quarter is, as the namedenotes, the oldest area of the town and has long been an important economiccenter. In its earliest inceptions, the Old Quarter was accessed by a series ofcanals on its northeast edge that lead to regional waterways. The western endof the quarter was developed in the early 19th century when the completion ofthe Hanoi Citadel left open areas that were settled by outlying villages andtradespeople. The quarter hosts the city's largest market, Dong Xuan, andwelcomes the bulk of foreign visitors to the city with its maze of streets,multitude of services, and great hotel and restaurant "finds."Getting lost in the maze is one of the biggest joys of Hanoi.
Most interesting are the Communal Houses set up by theguilds in each area. Like small temples to honor a local god, many to the BachMa, or "White Horse," who represents the city of Hanoi, these littlecourtyard areas are usually protected from the street and have often hiddenentrances or just humble low roofs out front that give way to elaborateinterior courtyards and temple buildings. Aside from communal houses, you findstandard Buddhist and Daoist temples among the city's crooked streets. Mostnotable is the Bach Ma Temple in the eastern end of the quarter.
Keep an eye out for the classic Old Quarter tube house, thebest and most accessible example of which is at 87 Ma May St. or at 38 Hang Dao(directly north of the lake). Tube houses are so named because they are justthat: a long, narrow tube of space that is subdivided into sections that servedthe family's every need. Why so narrow? And, in fact, why do Vietnamese stillbuild so narrow and high today? Properties were taxed on the basis of theirstreet frontage, and real estate has always been expensive in this bustlingquarter (real estate prices in Hanoi rival any city in the West these days).Tube houses are divided into sections. The front is the business office, whereany goods are displayed and where business is conducted. In a succession ofcourtyards and interior spaces, some two stories, a tube house has areas setaside for gardening and for servants, and, at the back, private family quarterswith the kitchen and the loo, which was traditionally nothing more than a largelatrine pot that fit into a nook and had to be emptied regularly. You can spottraditional homes by their low tile roofs parallel to the street.
European buildings of the French are more elaborate, usuallytwo-story structures, with architectural flourishes like overhanging baywindows and a high sloping roof, some of the mansard variety. The more time youspend in the Old Quarter, the more adept you get at finding the old among thenew. In fact, many shops with the most modern, neon-lit storefronts on thefirst floor are, in fact, old colonials, so be sure to keep an eye on theroofline to spot some antique gems among the clutter.
The Old Quarter evolved from workshop villages organized bytrades, or guilds, and even today, streets are dedicated to a product or trade.Some streets still offer the services of old -- for example Hang Thiec Street,or Tinsmith Street, is still the place to buy tin receptacles and forsheet-metal work -- but others have changed: Hang Vai, or Cloth Street, is nowhome to the bamboo trade, and many old streets support new trades. You won'tfind anything named "Motorcycle Seat Repair Street" or "CheapPlastic Toys Imported from China Street," but they do exist. It's afascinating slice of centuries-old life in Hanoi, including markets that are socrowded that the streets themselves narrow to a few feet.
Hanoi's Old Quarter is also where the seeds of Communistrevolution were sown -- starting in 1907 with the Tonkin Free School Movement,a program of study at a school in the Old Quarter, just north of Hoan KiemLake, which focused on Vietnamese traditions instead of the de rigueur Frenchcurriculum. The Old Quarter school was closed down by French officials, but thepatriotic zeal that founded it would never die and instead produced smallworkers' strikes throughout the 1920s, many of which brought bloodshed. OldQuarter trade guilds were fertile ground for the worker's revolution, spawningindependent presses; over time, Communist cells emerged that would unite duringthe August Revolution of 1945. The Old Quarter was, in fact, Vietnamese turfduring violent skirmishes with the colonial French in their bid to control theupstart colony from 1945 until complete Vietnamese victory at Dien Bien Phu andFrench withdrawal.
I had the good fortune of meeting an American Viet Kieu, orreturning Vietnamese, on a trip in Halong Bay and hearing about his life in oldHanoi and his impressions now. Born on Hang Bong (Cotton St.) in the OldQuarter, he grew up in a house near West Lake but had spent a lot of his youthcareening about the commercial streets at the town center while his motherworked as a seamstress. Asked what was different between the old Hanoi and thenew (this was the his first time back since taking flight after the GenevaAccords divided the country), the kind gentleman talked only of thesimilarities, saying that his home out near West Lake is just as it was (andthe owner abruptly slammed the door on him when he told her why he'd knocked,for fear he'd come back to re-claim his house). He said that the Old Quarter,barring the proliferation of motorbikes, neon, and improved pavement, wasexactly as it was when he left Vietnam in the mid-1950s. For those who decrythe cacophony and chaos of motorbikes, cars, and trucks in the district, it'simportant to remember that the Old Quarter is a market area, a place forbusiness, and business in Vietnam is conducted at high decibels. The streets ofthe Old Quarter have always been busy and noisy, only now it is modern trafficthat makes the racket, not shouting hawkers pulling bullock carts.
Note: There is an initiative to make the Old Quarter apedestrian-only zone, and on weekend nights, the length of pavement along centralHang Ngang and Hang Duong is closed to car and motorbike traffic. A nightmarket has opened up with lots of flea market-style sellers of touristtrinkets.
The following is a translation of just some of the streetsand the trades that were practiced in the Old Quarter. Some of the streetsbelow still sell or produce the same items; others have evolved to more moderngoods, but the clumps-of-industry principle remains. Look for the following:
Street Name Translations of Old Quarter Trades
Hang Bac silver
Hang Be rattan rafts
Hang Bo baskets
Hang Bong cotton
Hang Buom sails
Hang Ca fish
Hang Can scales
Hang Cot bamboo mats
Hang Da leather
Hang Dao silk
Hang Dau beans
Hang Dieu bongs and pipes
Hang Dong brass
Hang Duong sugar
Hang Ga chicken
Hang Gai hemp and rope
Hang Giay paper
Hang Hom coffins
Hang Khoai sweet potatoes
Hang Luoc combs
Hang Ma paper replicas/toys
Hang Mam fish
Hang Manh bamboo shades
Hang Muoi salt
Hang Non conical hats
Hang Quat fans
Hang Than charcoal
Hang Thiec tin
Hang Thung barrels
Hang Tre bamboo
Hang Trong drums
Hang Vai cloth
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Said to resemble a tree sprouting from the cool waters ofHoan Kiem Lake, the streets are like chaotic branches and tendrils as they fanout in jagged patterns across the area north of Hanoi's famed lake. Limited onone side by the Red River and on the other by the once-great Hanoi Citadel,whose walls are still standing in some areas, the Old Quarter is, as the namedenotes, the oldest area of the town and has long been an important economiccenter. In its earliest inceptions, the Old Quarter was accessed by a series ofcanals on its northeast edge that lead to regional waterways. The western endof the quarter was developed in the early 19th century when the completion ofthe Hanoi Citadel left open areas that were settled by outlying villages andtradespeople. The quarter hosts the city's largest market, Dong Xuan, andwelcomes the bulk of foreign visitors to the city with its maze of streets,multitude of services, and great hotel and restaurant "finds."Getting lost in the maze is one of the biggest joys of Hanoi.
Most interesting are the Communal Houses set up by theguilds in each area. Like small temples to honor a local god, many to the BachMa, or "White Horse," who represents the city of Hanoi, these littlecourtyard areas are usually protected from the street and have often hiddenentrances or just humble low roofs out front that give way to elaborateinterior courtyards and temple buildings. Aside from communal houses, you findstandard Buddhist and Daoist temples among the city's crooked streets. Mostnotable is the Bach Ma Temple in the eastern end of the quarter.
Keep an eye out for the classic Old Quarter tube house, thebest and most accessible example of which is at 87 Ma May St. or at 38 Hang Dao(directly north of the lake). Tube houses are so named because they are justthat: a long, narrow tube of space that is subdivided into sections that servedthe family's every need. Why so narrow? And, in fact, why do Vietnamese stillbuild so narrow and high today? Properties were taxed on the basis of theirstreet frontage, and real estate has always been expensive in this bustlingquarter (real estate prices in Hanoi rival any city in the West these days).Tube houses are divided into sections. The front is the business office, whereany goods are displayed and where business is conducted. In a succession ofcourtyards and interior spaces, some two stories, a tube house has areas setaside for gardening and for servants, and, at the back, private family quarterswith the kitchen and the loo, which was traditionally nothing more than a largelatrine pot that fit into a nook and had to be emptied regularly. You can spottraditional homes by their low tile roofs parallel to the street.
European buildings of the French are more elaborate, usuallytwo-story structures, with architectural flourishes like overhanging baywindows and a high sloping roof, some of the mansard variety. The more time youspend in the Old Quarter, the more adept you get at finding the old among thenew. In fact, many shops with the most modern, neon-lit storefronts on thefirst floor are, in fact, old colonials, so be sure to keep an eye on theroofline to spot some antique gems among the clutter.
The Old Quarter evolved from workshop villages organized bytrades, or guilds, and even today, streets are dedicated to a product or trade.Some streets still offer the services of old -- for example Hang Thiec Street,or Tinsmith Street, is still the place to buy tin receptacles and forsheet-metal work -- but others have changed: Hang Vai, or Cloth Street, is nowhome to the bamboo trade, and many old streets support new trades. You won'tfind anything named "Motorcycle Seat Repair Street" or "CheapPlastic Toys Imported from China Street," but they do exist. It's afascinating slice of centuries-old life in Hanoi, including markets that are socrowded that the streets themselves narrow to a few feet.
Hanoi's Old Quarter is also where the seeds of Communistrevolution were sown -- starting in 1907 with the Tonkin Free School Movement,a program of study at a school in the Old Quarter, just north of Hoan KiemLake, which focused on Vietnamese traditions instead of the de rigueur Frenchcurriculum. The Old Quarter school was closed down by French officials, but thepatriotic zeal that founded it would never die and instead produced smallworkers' strikes throughout the 1920s, many of which brought bloodshed. OldQuarter trade guilds were fertile ground for the worker's revolution, spawningindependent presses; over time, Communist cells emerged that would unite duringthe August Revolution of 1945. The Old Quarter was, in fact, Vietnamese turfduring violent skirmishes with the colonial French in their bid to control theupstart colony from 1945 until complete Vietnamese victory at Dien Bien Phu andFrench withdrawal.
I had the good fortune of meeting an American Viet Kieu, orreturning Vietnamese, on a trip in Halong Bay and hearing about his life in oldHanoi and his impressions now. Born on Hang Bong (Cotton St.) in the OldQuarter, he grew up in a house near West Lake but had spent a lot of his youthcareening about the commercial streets at the town center while his motherworked as a seamstress. Asked what was different between the old Hanoi and thenew (this was the his first time back since taking flight after the GenevaAccords divided the country), the kind gentleman talked only of thesimilarities, saying that his home out near West Lake is just as it was (andthe owner abruptly slammed the door on him when he told her why he'd knocked,for fear he'd come back to re-claim his house). He said that the Old Quarter,barring the proliferation of motorbikes, neon, and improved pavement, wasexactly as it was when he left Vietnam in the mid-1950s. For those who decrythe cacophony and chaos of motorbikes, cars, and trucks in the district, it'simportant to remember that the Old Quarter is a market area, a place forbusiness, and business in Vietnam is conducted at high decibels. The streets ofthe Old Quarter have always been busy and noisy, only now it is modern trafficthat makes the racket, not shouting hawkers pulling bullock carts.
Note: There is an initiative to make the Old Quarter apedestrian-only zone, and on weekend nights, the length of pavement along centralHang Ngang and Hang Duong is closed to car and motorbike traffic. A nightmarket has opened up with lots of flea market-style sellers of touristtrinkets.
The following is a translation of just some of the streetsand the trades that were practiced in the Old Quarter. Some of the streetsbelow still sell or produce the same items; others have evolved to more moderngoods, but the clumps-of-industry principle remains. Look for the following:
Street Name Translations of Old Quarter Trades
Hang Bac silver
Hang Be rattan rafts
Hang Bo baskets
Hang Bong cotton
Hang Buom sails
Hang Ca fish
Hang Can scales
Hang Cot bamboo mats
Hang Da leather
Hang Dao silk
Hang Dau beans
Hang Dieu bongs and pipes
Hang Dong brass
Hang Duong sugar
Hang Ga chicken
Hang Gai hemp and rope
Hang Giay paper
Hang Hom coffins
Hang Khoai sweet potatoes
Hang Luoc combs
Hang Ma paper replicas/toys
Hang Mam fish
Hang Manh bamboo shades
Hang Muoi salt
Hang Non conical hats
Hang Quat fans
Hang Than charcoal
Hang Thiec tin
Hang Thung barrels
Hang Tre bamboo
Hang Trong drums
Hang Vai cloth
visit our sites for more information
Halong Bay Package
Vietnam Travel news
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