The last post on Hanoi covered our motorbike tour of the city. This post is dedicated to our wonderful walking tour of the Old Quarter with our buddies Lan and Hiep. We had signed up for a free walking tour with Hanoi eBuddies and were quickly contacted to coordinate availability. It was determined that we would not only have one local buddy, but two! Both Lan and Hiep are students at the local university and were eager to show us their city. And since they both were showing us around for free through the goodness of their hearts, we covered all expenses along the way.
Lan and Hiep met us at our hotel and quickly explained that they were our buddies, not tour guides, and were happy to answer any questions we had. Lan ran us through her proposed agenda, which sounded super to us, and then we were off to explore. Lan was petite but commanded the road with one arm extended. And as a reminder the roads are wild. You basically just walk somewhat slowly across the road and hope that no one hits you. And they somehow don’t…
Anyway, our first stop was Bach Ma Temple, the oldest Buddhist temple in the Old Quarter. Our buddies explained that it is tradition to enter on the right and exit on the left (or right once you’re inside). Lan ran us through the animals that are significant for the Buddhist religion and they were abundant in the golden decorations throughout. Our guides were both non-believers, and so is most of the country they explained. But there are still believers and traditions held onto today.
The next stop was Long Bien Bridge, a historic bridge that connects two of the districts in Hanoi. And as luck would have it, a train was coming by! We were whistled off the platform and watched the old-school looking train roll by.
Then we were on to St. Joseph's Cathedral, a catholic church that just so happened to be serving mass as we walked in. We stayed for the opening, even though it was all in Vietnamese, and then stepped back outside to continue. This particular church is also dubbed Vietnam's Notre-Dame because of it's similar appearance.
As we walked back toward the Old Quarter, we brainstormed on what food we wanted for dinner. Luckily Lan and Hiep knew a great spot for some traditional Vietnamese Pho. They ordered for us and we thoroughly slurped our way through our entire bowls.
Now, I should have mentioned that the whole country of Vietnam was eagerly awaiting the start of the Asian League Quarter Final football (soccer for us) game. Because Vietnam was in it and it was kind of a big deal. Our buddies had invited us to grab drinks with them for the game, and we did just that next. We were lucky enough to grab seats at a spot in the Old Quarter because the streets and restaurants were packed with eager fans. Unlucky for Vietnam was that they were set to lose the match 1-0 to Japan. But they put up a good fight and the crowd was really into it, including our buddies.
A short walk back to our hotel wrapped up our wonderful walking tour with Lan and Hiep. We said our goodbyes and appreciation for their kindness in showing us around the bustling Old Quarter in Hanoi. Having locals show us around allowed us to get an insiders perspective on the area and hear more about the culture and traditions. I'm so happy we landed two of the best buddies in Hanoi!
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