Location

Thisbeautiful capital strategically lies at the center of the triangularbasin of the Red River. With around 3.5 million people, and an area of920 square km, Hanoi is now the country’s center of economy, politics,culture, and society.

Hanoiis famous for numerous rivers, lakes, and mountains alongside and inthe surroundings. Scattered around are places of sight-seeing, whichare so much attractive thanks to green lands full of streams, rivers,and mountain, such as Tam Dao, Con Son, Kiep Bac,etc. Hanoi is also well known for typical tropical seasoned place ofSouth East Asia with four seasons: fresh, green and cool in Spring, abit hot in Summer, fine in Autumn, and cold in Winter. Yet the mostinteresting thing is that all those take place in most sites of thecapital. “Leisuring around the rivers in the suburbs or walkingdown the green mountains like Soc Temple in Soc Mount, Ve Linh Mount,Phuc Tuong Mount, etc, in autumn brings in such a great feeling.Believe me, you will taste the cool and fresh air as if the mostdelicious desert after such a busy time”, said a busy trader during her stay in Hanoi.

Before being named “Hanoi” as present, the capital had had several names throughout history. In 1010, Ly Thai To, the first ruler of the Ly Dynasty, movedthe capital of Đại Việt (the Great Viet) to the site of the Đại LaCitadel. Claiming to have seen a dragon ascending the Red River, herenamed it Thăng Long (Ascending Dragon) - a name still used poeticallyto this day with the belief that this was good omen of the country’sfuture. It remained the capital of Vietnam until 1397, when the capital was moved to Thanh Hoa, also known as Tây Đô (Western Capital). Thăng Long then became Đông Đô (Eastern Capital). KingMinh Mang, under the Nguyen Dynasty, has laid the name “Hanoi” on thecapital since 1831. This means “a city lying Between Rivers or RiverInterior”, which are Red and Day rivers. Hanoi became the capital ofVietnam when North and South Vietnam were reunited on July 2, 1976.

Manyhistorians reckon that the city was established more than 1,500 yearsago. Therefore, with the length of living, Hanoi is very rich ofcultural, historical and traditional values.

Historical Places to visit

Withinthe “River Interior City”, there are a number of historical andbeautiful places to get by. Mentioning about Hanoi, what comes first totourists’ mind is the ever first historical University of the capitaland also the nation - Van Mieu - Quoc Tu Giam(Translated as “The Literature Temple”). Besides its foremost meaning,Van Mieu is also the place to worship Confucius, setting doctor steles.Youngsters and youth always come here to pray for success by touchingthe rock tortoises’ head before any examinations, cause it is believedto be very sacred.

Since Vietnam isa Buddhism-oriented nation, its capital has been the Buddhism centerfor centuries. As a result, it is not surprising that there are as manyas about 600 temples and pagodas in Hanoi. For Buddhist tourists, amongmany great pagodas, Tran Quoc Pagodashould be the first to pay a visit. It is not only the oldest one amongthose 600, (6 century years old), but also one of the most gorgeous andsacred. The second that is worth visiting is Mot Cot Pagoda (One-Pillar pagoda), another symbol of the capital. Its special architecture is similar to a lotus on the top of water.

Located near the two symbolic pagodas and right in the middle of the capital it is the historical Lake – Hoan Kiem Lake (Lake of Returned Sword), and Ngoc Son Templewith 100% natural beauty. Related to the Lake, Vietnam has a classicstory telling about King Le Loi after winning over Minh invader,returned the magic Sword to the Tortoise down in the Lake. Since then,the Lake was named “Hoan Kiem”. It is more surprising that up to now,the historical Tortoise still sometimes appear up the Lake surface fora moment.

As for Catholics coming toHanoi, there are also great Churches to come for praying and/orvisiting. From 19th century, many Catholic churches were built in here.The biggest one is Cathedral. And Cua Bac church is a beautiful original typical French architect.

Asyou may have found out, Hanoi is more an antique and peaceful city thana modern one. This might be seen quite clearly when you take a walkaround the 36 Old Quarter.This is a typical characteristic of Hanoi with small old streets, tubehouses which still remain their shape from 19th century. Additionally,the beauty of Hanoi in the past is also found in the ancient citadel,right nearby.

Historical places that worth to pay a visit cannot be without Ba Dinh Square, the political area where President Ho Chi Minh read the Independent Declaration on the September 2^nd, 1945. As famous as this is the House of Parliament, Presidential Palace, President Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, etc.

Toknow more about Vietnam in general and Hanoi in particular, both interms of history, tourists should spend one or two days on visiting thenation’s Ethnology, Military, History, Ho Chi Minh,... museums. Thesewill open a huge detailed picture of this antique and beautifulhistorical city.

Culture

Talkingabout Hanoi’s culture, there must be a long time to complete the story.The initial Hanoi’s famous cultural thing is a series of traditionalhandicraft villages, such as Bat Trang ceramic and pottery village,Hang Bac silver-making street, Ngu Xa bronze-making, Phu Donoodle-making, Yen Phu incense, and Ngoc Ha flower, and Dong Ho picturevillages. All of them have existed for centuries, and are still famousfor 99% hand-made and 100% nature-originated products.

Hanoians are extremely good at making and tasting food. They have so many delicacies, for example, Banh cuon (steamed rice roll), Cha ca La Vong (La Vong grilled fish), Pho (noodle) with chicken or beef, Nem(spring roll), and so on. it can be said that this is the mostattractive thing for foreigners to come and feel a “special Hanoithrough Hanoi specialties”.

Addingmore to Hanoi's culture, kinds of arts play very impotant role. Hanoi’sfamous culture also lies in Folk performances, which are Water Puppet, Cheo, Tuong and A Dao… (a traditional kind of music performances).

Sight-seeing

Besidesplentiful cultural relics, Hanoi boasts many scenes of beauty. The mostpopular ones in Hanoi are peaceful lakes. Standing around all thecity’s lakes are great and high green trees with large shadows on sunnydays. Also, they are sources of inspiration for artists. The famousHoan Kiem Lake (mentioned above), West Lake, Truc Bach, Bay Mau Lake,etc., are the undeniable green, fresh, and peaceful beauties of thecapital. Lots of songs and poems have recommended their beauty fromtime to time, season to season. “West Lake in the Autumn afternoon,peaceful flat water surface from far far away is so much appealing…”,those beautiful popular song words are always ever bear in mind byHanoians as time goes by.

Water Parknear West Lake is another side of sight-seeing places with all colorfuland playful water games to play. This is really suitable for children.But it is strongly suggested that they should always be accompanied bytheir parents when playing strong-feeling games there!

Agreen and peaceful Hanoi, a fast-growing hospitable city with greattourism potentials, is now open and warmly welcome friends from allover the world.