Recently, I had a break from travelling, for a variety of reasons, but started up again with a brief (but necessary) long weekend visit to Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. I have visited Vietnam before, the coastal city of Danang, where I saw among other Buddhist sites, the magnificent huge Mother of Compassion statue, see article about that trip here.
This visit was my first time to the capital city of Hanoi, just after they had experienced flooding due to the rising of the Red River running next to the main city area. The name “Hanoi” translates to “inside the river,”and is bordered by the Red and Black Rivers. When I arrived there all the floodwaters had receded and not a sign of flooding anywhere in central Hanoi, even near the river, and I knew that sometimes media reports were exaggerated or even wrong (as I found out recently when the Kagyu Monlam organisers cancelled the Thailand monlam!)
Overall, I loved Hanoi. The people (like the Thai people) were amazingly friendly, smiling, helpful, great customer service, honest, generally spoke good English and for someone like me whose idea of an ‘urban oasis’ is good coffee, baguettes and croissants, art, culture, Buddhist temples and stunning architecture, Hanoi is a dream place indeed. Cafes and patisseries, flower-sellers, restaurants on every street and classic and modern Vietnamese art everywhere! Although Vietnam is a socialist republic with a one-party system led by the Communist Party, and the CPV espouses Marxism–Leninism and Hồ Chí Minh Thought, the ideologies of Hồ Chí Minh, walking through the streets of Hanoi, as in Kunming, China, seemed like a ‘capitalist’ and consumerist experience indeed. The infrastructure was good (particularly in the French Quarter), although there is no metro system, buses go everywhere and Grab taxis are not expensive at all.
However, as everyone tells you, the traffic there is ‘insane’. Constant motorbikes/scooters everywhere on the pavements too, a ‘sea of traffic’ literally. One had to constantly be vigilant crossing the road or even walking on the pavement and get into the habit of continually looking both ways. At first it was energising and fun but after a while it became a bit draining with the hectic noise and constant movement of vehicles everywhere, and it did feel like taking your life into your hands every time crossing the road, even on zebra crossings and traffic lights! Hence why they even sell T-shirts saying “I survived Hanoi traffic”.
Also, when I visited the “Buddha head in the tree” of Ayutthaya, Thailand (see here), I was transported back to my teenage years, this happened in Hanoi too, when I saw another famous image I had as a poster on my bedroom wall in England, being sold everywhere as postcards, posters etc. all over Hanoi. The image “Make Art Not War” is not Vietnamese, but created by a world-renowned contemporary artist, Shepard Fairey and is version on the 1960s anti-war slogan “Make love, not war.” [1] It seems the Hanoi Vietnamese loved it too, as I do.
In this pilgrimage travel article, I give some of my personal experiences and observations on visiting Hanoi and three of the main (and oldest) Buddhist pagoda temples there: the Jade Mountain (Ngoc Son) temple, the One Pillar Pagoda, and the famed Tran Qoc Pagoda with a magnificent Bodhi tree gifted to the Vietnamese by India. As well as the stunning colonial architecture, street art, Train Street (where people can have a coffee while a train passes by), and the first national University of Vietnam, the Temple Of Literature. Of course there is a lot more to say and see in Hanoi than this, but it hopefully gives you a taste of the energy, vibes and style of the place and some of the temples there.
Music? Vietnamese Chanting Sino Vietnamese Buddhist – The Prayer for Harmony and Peace, Namo Avalokiteshvara by Thich Nhat Hanh Plum village, and more contemporary vibes for the energy and life Forever by The Charlatans and Passenger by Iggy Pop.
Hanoi Traffic: Do believe the hype!
When I first arrived in Hanoi, I took the public bus to the main city centre, which takes about 45 minutes. It was just as the sun was starting to set and already I got a taste of the sheer energy of Hanoi’s traffic and movement. It was exciting and lively, and although I have spent many years in India, in places like New Delhi, this had far more traffic, in the form of scooters and motorbikes.
I put my headphones on and the song that came up on my Youtube was Forever by the Charlatans, I had not listened to it before and when I played it seemed like the perfect background music for such intense energy and became my anthem for the rest of the trip there.
Arriving in central Hanoi, as per my personal predelictions, I headed the centre of the old town quarter, I am not a fan of big commercial shopping mall/business type areas. Thankfully I had packed light (one small rucksack) as the traffic in the old town was ‘insane’ as they say. An endless stream of mopeds, some even coming up on the pavement behind as walking. My hotel was down a side street though and less busy and on an upper floor with a very pretty balcony, and one of the best French patisseries in town around the corner, along with many others. Breakfast sorted!
Nights in Hanoi: The Lake of Restored Swords (Hoàn Kiếm) and the Jade Mountain (Ngoc Son) temple
On my first night, I headed straight out for one of the main attractions of central Hanoi, the Ngoc Son temple, which sits on a small island in the northern part of Hoàn Kiếm Lake, connected to the lakeshore by an elegant scarlet bridge (called Cau The Huc), constructed in classical Vietnamese style.
The temple is dedicated to General Tran Hung Dao (who defeated the Mongols in the 13th century), La To (patron saint of physicians) and the scholar Van Xuong.
According to the stelae at the site, Ngoc Son Temple’s construction started in autumn of 1841, under the reign of the Ly Dynasty. It worships Van Xuong De Quan (Wenchang Dijun), a Taoist deity that brings happiness and wealth to scholars. It is also dedicated to General Tran Hung Dao (1231 – 1300), who defeated the Mongols in the 13th century. The temple has undergone several demolitions throughout history. In 1865, it was repaired by scholar Nguyen Van Van Sieu (1799 – 1872). He built Tran Ba Pavillion, The Huc Bridge, and Pen Tower, turning the site into a big architectural complex at Hoan Kiem Lake.
At nighttime by the lake, the first thing one notices is the stunning lights of the buildings and red bridge that leads from the land to the temple on the lake. I did not visit the pagoda itself at that time, but took some photos of the surroundings:
A day or two later, I returned to the Pagoda in the daytime, just before sunset. See that below.
Hanoi days and nights: Chinese and French colonial architecture, railway street and street art
Hanoi as a city has been through a lot of cultural and political changes, and faced colonialism and occupations from China, Japan and briefly France, as well as a recent internal civil war between North and South Vietnam.
Both the Chinese and French colonial influence can still be seen clearly in Hanoi. In particular, the Chinese influence is still strong, who ruled over Hanoi and Vietnam from 111 BC (Han Dynasty) for about a thousand years until 1010, when independent Vietnam was created by the Vietnamese emperor Lý Thái Tổ who established the capital of the imperial Vietnamese nation Đại Việt in modern-day central Hanoi, naming the city Thăng Long (lit. ‘ascending dragon‘). In 1408, the Chinese Ming dynasty attacked and occupied Vietnam again. In 1428, the Lam Sơn uprising, under the leadership of Lê Lợi, overthrew the Chinese rule. renamed the city to Đông Kinh (lit. ‘eastern capital‘), and remained being so until 1789. The Nguyễn dynasty in 1802 moved the national capital to Huế and the city was renamed Hanoi in 1831. It served as the capital of French colonial Indochina from 1902 to 1945.
The city was occupied by the Imperial Japanese in 1940 and liberated in 1945, when it briefly became the seat of the Việt Minh government after Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the independence of Vietnam. However, the French returned and reoccupied the city in 1946. After nine years of fighting between the French and Viet Minh forces, Hanoi became the capital of an independent North Vietnam in 1954. The French Army withdrew that year and the People’s Army of Vietnam and International Control Commission occupied the city under the terms of the 1954 Geneva Conference.
During the Vietnam War, Hanoi’s transportation facilities were disrupted by the bombing of bridges and railways by the U.S. Seventh Air Force and Republic of Vietnam Air Force. These were all, however, later repaired. Following the end of the war, Hanoi became the capital of a reunified Vietnam when North and South Vietnam were reunited on 2 July 1976.
Railway Street, Hanoi
After having a wonderful time wandering around Hanoi’s Old Quarter and trying the local coffee and patisseries, as well as finding out where the vegan restaurants were (they have several!), I stopped by the well beaten tourist attraction of the Train Street.
Nestled in Hanoi’s Old Quarter, this narrow alley attracts travelers hoping to snap a picture on the active train track while a train passes by! It is actually a residential area but many locals have converted their houses into quaint little cafes where tourists can sip on traditional egg coffee while waiting for the train to pass by. When I arrived, the train came after only 5 minutes wait, lucky me! ha ha
I then wandered around the much bigger and wider roads and colonial architecture of the French quarter. As when I was in Kunming, China, I saw many women dressed beautifully in traditional Vietnamese dress taking photos there. However, this time the women all seemed to be from Vietnam.
Hanoi is chock-a-block (never has an idiom been more appropriate here!) with lovely cafes, restaurants (including several good vegan ones), juice bars, and patisseries selling croissants, baguettes and bakery items (which really tasted straight out of France!) They also had lots of home-grown fresh coffee and dark craft chocolate to buy too, a cocoa bean lover’s heaven for sure ha ha
Night-time scenes in the French Quarter and Old Quarter
Hanoi was a joy to walk around in the balmy, cooler evenings, especially in the bigger leafy roads of the French Quarter. Stunning buildings lit up and vintage street art:
One Pillar Pagoda: An 11th Century Emperor’s lotus flower offering to the Buddhist goddess
The next Buddhist pagoda/sight on my list of things to visit in a short time in Hanoi was the One Pillar Pagoda (Chùa Một Cột), formally belongs to an architecture complex called Diên Hựu tự, which means ‘pagoda of extended blessings’. People say that between 1028 and 1054, during the Ly dynasty, Emperor Ly Thai Tong erected One Pillar Pagoda.
According to the legend, Emperor Ly Thai Tong once had a dream in which the female Buddhist goddess, Quan Am Bo Tat, invited him to a lotus seat. Lý Thái Tông was childless and dreamt that he met the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, who handed him a baby son while seated on a lotus flower. Lý Thái Tông then married a peasant girl he had met; the couple had a son. He made the decision to construct a holy place in the shape of a lotus flower after explaining this tale to a monk, Thien Tue. One Pillar Pagoda is regarded as the Emperor’s sincere expression of thanks to Quan Am Bo Tat. It is located in central Hanoi, near the Ho Chi Minh Museum and Mausoleum.
The most famous part of this architecture complex is Liên Hoa Đài (蓮花臺) means ‘the lotus pedestal’ which is a temple with special structure: a building laid on one pillar. During the Lý dynasty era, the temple was the site of an annual royal ceremony on the occasion of Vesak, the birthday of Gautama Buddha. A Buddha-bathing ceremony was held annually by the monarch, and it attracted monks and laymen alike to the ceremony. The monarch would then free a bird, which was followed by the people.
Tran Qoc Pagoda: Day and night at the oldest Buddhist pagoda in Hanoi
The next Buddhist pagoda/sight on my list of things to visit in a short time in Hanoi, was the Tran Qoc Pagoda. The oldest pagoda in this city with a long-standing history.
It was built in 541 in the Early Ly Dynasty, originally named Khai Quoc Pagoda. At that time, the pagoda was located near the banks of the Red River. In 1615, when the dyke collapsed, the pagoda was relocated to Yen Phu dyke in the Kim Nguu mound area. The pagoda’s name was changed to Tran Quoc during the reign of King Le Hy Tong (1681 – 1705), with the hope that Tran Quoc Pagoda would be a place to help people repel natural disasters and also bring them a peaceful life. The name “Tran Quoc” is used to this day. Fast forward to the Tran Dynasty, Tran Quoc Pagoda was deemed the capital of Buddhism. Today, it is considered an iconic symbol of Hanoi.
I first visited there around sunset, said to be one of the most stunning times to visit the temple, which is on another lake further north of central Hanoi (about a 15 minute taxi ride from the centre). It certainly was a great time to visit. Although the Pagoda temple itself shuts at 5pm before the sunset, the view of the temple and sun set, reflected in the lake waters, was sublime indeed. Here are some photos:
Sunset from lake and view of Hanoi, walking south from the Pagoda, was also sublime and stunning indeed, as I am a huge fan of sunsets (see my article on Ayutthaya, Thailand), I share a few photos of it below. For those of you who do not care much for sunsets, scroll down! 🙂
Daytime at the Tran Qoc Pagoda
When I returned to the Tran Qoc Pagoda the following day, it was a bright sunny afternoon. Tran Quoc Pagoda worships Amitabha Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha, and Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva. Additionally, there is an altar dedicated to Guan Yu, Guan Ping, Zhou Shang, and Anathapindika. Tran Quoc Pagoda is believed to be the oldest surviving Buddhist temple in Hanoi. The original temple was completed in 545. The temple was, however, relocated from the banks of the Red River to its current located on West Lake in 1615. This makes Tran Quoc Pagoda between 1,400 and 1,500 years old depending on when you count back to. This temple has had many different names over the years. The current name Tran Quoc Pagoda, which means ‘Temple of National Defence’, was settled upon in the reign of Emperor of King Le Kinh Tong, who ruled from 1680 to 1705.
The most striking feature of Tran Quoc Pagoda, is the 15 metre, 11-storey Buddhist stupa. This is a recent addition to the temple in 1998. Each level of the stupa has six faces of the hexagonal tower. Within each face is a statue of the Buddha Amitabha.
Mother of Compassion statue and rock garden
Bodhi Tree gifted by the Indian government in 1958
One of my favourite parts of the Pagoda complex was the magnificent Bodhi tree, gifted by the Indian Prime Minister Nehru in 1958. I have seen many Bodhi trees in India, including the one at Bodh Gaya but this was a particularly magnificent and well-preserved one indeed. I did several circumambulations of the tree and it brought back fond memories of India and Indian people. After doing this, some Indian tourists arrived at the tree, and I asked one of them to take a photo of me in front of it. A suitable photographer indeed!
Temple of Literature (Văn Miếu) and Vietnam’s first national university
Endnotes
[1] One online art review states that: “The ‘Make Art Not War’ highly-stylised aesthetic also references that era, where psychedelic and hippie art too used Art Nouveau motifs. nly a few decades ago, Vietnam faced a brutal and bloody civil war, which involved foreign powers like the USA. Like the art of the 1960s, ‘Make Art Not War’ is unabashedly optimistic and political – not all is lost, it declares. The presence of paintbrushes, arranged like spears on a coat of arms however, propels Fairey beyond mere well wishes. There is a pointedness to his work, a call to act after the flower crowns are off, to “obey” his message. The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, calls him one of the most influential street artists alive. ” Seeing this artwork all over Hanoi, confirms that art goes beyond borders and culture and is clearly an image and sentiment that speaks to the Vietnamese in particular.