Hanoi Old City Gate, Shopping Market, and Crazy Bridge Walk

Another day and another hot, crazy walk on the streets of Hanoi. This morning we headed to an old city gate called Quan Chưởng. It was originally built in 1749 and rebuilt in 1817. It’s one of 21 remaining gates that once allowed access to the Thăng Long Citadel — the place we passed yesterday on the way to the mausoleum.

Next, we went to a shopping market we had read about called Dong Xuan Market — three floors filled with all sorts of small stores, from electronics to fabrics and dried foods. A real mixture of things. Prices seemed pretty good. I bought a 128GB micro SD card for $20 and a pair of cheap sunglasses for $3. We’ll see if either of them are any good. Oh, and we got another fridge magnet for 80 cents.

It was time to try and find a geocache — a physical one stuck under the handrail of a famous bridge. Or at least we think it’s famous. There were a lot of people standing on it taking selfies. Yep it turns out it's a well known landmark but we didn't know. Long Bien Bridge Wiki The good thing about travel is we know now and we won't forget about it. Bring on a quiz night question! 

The bridge has train tracks in the middle and a one-way system of scooters on each side. There’s also a skinny concrete walkway with a dodgy rail — that’s where we went. The GPS said 500m straight ahead. As I started to walk out there, I had a horrible thought that the cache might be on the other side of the bridge. 😳 To get there would mean walking all the way back and out again. Did I mention that it’s bloody hot here? 🥵

We got to a siding where the scooters were further away and looked for the cache, but couldn’t find it. We gave up and went back. The bridge must be very long because we never even walked above the river section. Looking at the map, we didn’t get a quarter of the way across. Oh, and there were no other stupid people walking — just us!

Actually, on the way back we did see three other people walking. Nutters! We stopped at the end where there’s a train station called Long Biên. I think I’ll need to look up whether it or the bridge are famous, as there were lots of people taking photos. At this stage I read the cache description online, which confirmed we had walked along the wrong side. Why didn’t I read that first!? Sarah decided to sit in the train station and wait while I checked the opposite side.

Another kilometre out-and-back trip. The bridge was being repaired at the start, so where people were taking selfies there was a shelter built over it. They had walked there along the tracks. I therefore did the same to try to get to the other side. Wrong call. There were no people there, and walking along train tracks on a bridge felt a bit dodgy. It didn’t help that there was a light coming in the distance — the light on the front of a train! Why was I allowed out here?

A hasty retreat followed before I found a way to cross a busy road and then another access ramp up onto the scooter part of the bridge, where I could walk safely. Back out another 500m. Found the cache straight away, thankfully, and went back to find Sarah. Phew. I’m a right dick sometimes! I’m also very stubborn and wanted to find it once I’d started.

Apologies — that was a super long story just to tell you that geocachers are basically a bit bonkers! In fact, on the way out there the first time, I was looking at the bridge struts and wondering if I could leap across without falling to my death or being run over by a scooter. Just as well Sarah was supervising my behaviour.

We walked back to the hotel via a Google-recommended Bánh mì shop. It had queues of people outside. No thanks! Instead, we went to our local shop and got lunch there, plus two nice cold Cokes. We were both feeling a bit shattered. But there was no sleeping — just TV watching and blog writing.

Late afternoon, we had recovered and braved the streets again down to the lake. Once there, it was relatively peaceful as all the streets around the lake were closed to cars. Nice! We walked down to see a pagoda that was a bit of a non-event and then a cathedral which was worth the walk. It’s St. Joseph’s Cathedral, and it looks very out of place here. It’s on the opposite side of the lake from the French Quarter and set among reasonably typical Hanoi-style buildings — nicer and bigger than those in the Old Quarter but not as grand as the French Quarter. Lots of large old trees providing shade. The sun was getting low and on the wrong side for good photos of the church. The inside was closed for a private mass, but at least we managed to see the outside. It’s a very popular spot for restaurants and cafés, and the area has a European square-like feel.

We walked back to the hotel by going around the end of the lake to the other side. The five-lane road there was also closed. Signs were advertising a German Deutschland Festival. I automatically started thinking “beer hall”... but there were none to be seen. It appeared to be more of a school or educational-type festival as far as we could tell.

At the end of the walk, two young girls and another young woman approached us. The older one — who may have been their teacher — asked if they could practice speaking English with us. Sure, we said! We paired up, and the young girl started asking questions and chatting. My one was slightly hard to understand at times but did very well. I’m guessing they were about 10 or 11 years old. Sarah had a similar experience and said her girl was 11.

They asked where we were from, which city, and how long we were in Vietnam for. I asked my girl if she knew where New Zealand was. She replied, “No.” I asked if she wanted to see it on a map. She said no and then something I didn’t understand. I asked her to repeat it. She said, “No, I don’t want to see — I’m too lazy.” Haha, what?! That may cost her a few grades! I told her she was doing very well with her English regardless. 😂 Sarah said the teacher was filming the conversation, so I’m sure the class will have a laugh back at school.

We said goodbye and went back to the apartment. The humidity had hit 78% according to Sarah, and the front of my quick-dry shirt was proof that I’d sprung a leak.

Another shower and then a chill-out before dinner.

We went back to the same place next door. They were so nice and the food was good. We had a different waiter called Wayne, but Pyke was floating about as well. We had Vietnamese chicken spring rolls, garlic fries, and Vietnamese sizzling pork served on a hot plate. We then made rolls using rice paper filled with the pork, noodles, and vegetables. A local Hanoi lager washed the tasty meal down nicely.