Hanoi: National Day
National Day
I had very high hopes for National day. The Lonely Planet guidebook we were using, talked about a similar level of celebration as with the 4th of July in the States. And they emphasized that if you are going to be in Vietnam for it Hoian was the city to be in. For this reason, we decided to fly all the way to Hoian and travel the country from north to south. Even though our Ho chi min city was closer and our flight to Hoian connected through.
Since arriving in the city we had been asking around about the national day celebration. And had been getting many mixed signals. Some folks told us that National day is a holiday spent with your family and because of that most people won’t be in the city they are in the country celebrating. Others mentioned that due to COVID the celebrations would be less/nonexistent. Others still, mentioned that there would still be fireworks and celebrations down by the lake.
That morning we got up and met another couple staying down the hall from us who we had met at breakfast and walked around the city
Street Murals
After passing through lantern street we made our first stop along the way to look at street Murals in Hàng Mã. While still morning it was blistering hot. We were profusely sweating and carefully plotting our course to walk in as much shade as possible.
Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum
I don’t know what we were expecting but visiting the mausoleum was unpleasant. To get into the plaza we had to go through TSA-level security screening. Which was fine. Once through, the plaza was in full sun and we baked. I could feel my skin burning from both the sun hitting it directly and from the indirect radiant heating of the concrete. The kind of heat where the bottom of your nose gets sunburnt. Overall, the plaza was a bit much and we headed off to a cooler place filled with more plants
Hanoi Botanical Garden
The botanical garden was a nice break from the heat. It ended up being more of a private park than a botanical garden. It was still beautiful and nice to be somewhere that was a few degrees cooler than the city proper.
Lunch
After the garden, we parted ways with the other couple and grabbed some lunch. The first course was tofu and rice noodles that we got from a street vendor right outside the gardens. We then went to a cafe to try and grab a smoothie or iced beverage. Sadly the cafe only served hot coffee. So we headed around the corner to a convince store and got a giant chilled water.
We sat outside the store and had a nice heart-to-heart. Reflecting on how our relationship has grown since traveling and the things we wish we had prioritized differently during the pandemic.
During the chat, we had both been eyeing the Ban Mi place across the street. So we split two ban mi’s one with egg and one without. (The one with the egg was way better). For context on the pricing, at the time 1 USD was about 23k VND.
Walk Back
After, lunch the intense heat of the morning had passed and we excitedly explored the city as we moseyed on back to our hotel. I admired the hand-stitched flags and Katie found a tennis court with the Olympic rings on the gate. We both looked at a beautiful plastic flower and watched some teenagers hanging out nearby. We then made our way back to train street.
Night
That night we made our way around the lake in hopes of seeing some fireworks. We had a seat near the edge of the water only to find out that where we were sitting was in someone’s business. So we bought a drink from the man. The drink was super sugary but delicious! We waited and admired the reflections of the city lights in the pond for about an hour until we gave up on the fireworks. We then walked around a bit looking at all the families and children playing in the streets until we were both famished. Then we made our way Hanoi Food Culture to celebrate our last night in Hanoi.
