Vietnam Historical Trip, Day 8: Da Nang to Hanoi

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We had an internal flight up to Hanoi this morning on Vietnam Airlines. At noontime, we arrived at the bustling city of Hanoi, Vietnam. Drive picked us up from Noi Bai International Airport.

I used up my membership privilege to book a suite at the Intercontinental Hanoi Westlake. To our surprise, we had been upgraded to a premier suite that faced the lake...yeahhh!! We were given a welcoming drink as well as delectable sweet and savory treats at the Diplomat Lounge. We skipped our heavy lunch then. Yup... it was served all day long and we could hop in anytime as many times as we wanted to!

Barely 2 days in the city, minus a day trip to Ha Long Bay, so we headed to Ba Dinh Square. That's when we know that Ho Chi Minh City is named after the Vietnamese revolutionary leader & president that died in 1969. A mausoleum has been erected as his resting place. Then we continued to walk to the One Pillar Pagoda, which is also known as the Perfume Temple, and the breeze stopped for photo shots.

Wiki: The temple is built of wood on a single stone pillar 1.25 m in diameter and 4 m in height, and it is designed to resemble a lotus blossom, which is a Buddhist symbol of purity, since a lotus blossoms in a muddy pond. 

Ba Dinh Square in Hanoi is where the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum is located.
One Pillar Pagoda

Apart from temple, it also host as the Imperial Academy, Vietnam's first national university. Hence its called the Tenple of Literature. The Stelea of Doctors caught our attention, of the turtle, dragon, unicorn and phoenix in which the names and birthplaces of the graduates who passed the Royal Exam were carved on the stones.

It's main entrance which required entrance ticket
Our tour guide doing some explanation
The  carved blue stone turtles
The book of elite
The university compound
The classroom veranda
Robe for the scholars

The Old Quarter of Hanoi offers several interesting activities and places, from the night market to the water puppet show, which we missed!

Visiting one of the shop specializing on shell artwork 
Painting shop
Water fountain in the middle of Dong Xuan Market

Then we headed to the Hoan Kiem Lake to take picture with the red ornate wooden bridge as the background. The bridge leads to Ngoc Son Temple. At dusk, we backed to the hotel to call it a day.

We didn't take the chance to take picture on the bridge
We decided to walk to our room instead of taking buggy from the lobby
The best time for relaxing our mind
The Diplomatic Lounge, with the lake view

Location: Hanoi, Hoàn Kiếm, Hanoi, Vietnam

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