Hanoi Overview

Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam, its political and cultural center. Such a statement, however, cannot do justice to what Hanoi has been a city begat by mythology, inspired by legends, a survivor of countless violent struggles and political intrigues, sustained on patriotism, ideology and the willful independence of its people. This is a city that has experienced an eventful millennium.

Many may decry a lack of urban planning in developing countries, but ancient Hanoi was planned by the most divine of methods nearly 1,000 years ago. In 1010, Prince Ly Thai To witnessed a golden dragon taking flight from near where his boat was on the river, clearly a sign that this was the land destined for his dynasty's capital. Carefully chosen between the mountains and water for the protection of their guardian deities, Hanoi was then laid out by geomancy in order to achieve a harmonic balance between the Tao, the earth, the state, society and family. Assuming, of course, the earth was square.

According to the plan, the north, the sacred primordial birth place of the city, was to be left undeveloped, reserved only for recreational and religious activities. The Ho Tay area, once the site of the Summer Palace, is still a peaceful retreat for fishing and relaxing.  The south was for the serious academic and civil affairs of mandarins and is the site of the venerable Temple of Literature. The west was reserved for the largely agricultural affairs of the peasants and is not heavily built upon. The east was for commerce and the affairs of merchants and artisans, reflected today in the crowded, busy streets of the Old Quarter. Foreigners and foreign themes were farther south, and farthest south and downstream (where dyes and other pollutants collected) were where the cemeteries, slaughterhouse and leper colony were kept. Of course, the city center was the seat of divine power, such a choice location that it was taken over by the French who left little evidence remaining of the original Vietnamese kingdoms. Despite several major political and economic changes, center city looks much the same way the French left it in 1955 with broad streets and stately, French colonial buildings.

Casual tourists can be forgiven if the ancient city's plans elude them in the last thousand years, Hanoi has undergone many dramatic changes resulting in buildings being razed and rebuilt or replaced by structures of different regimes with only scattered bits and pieces of the original imperial city remaining. The result is a mix of ancient Chinese-influenced Vietnamese, neo-Parisian, Edwardian, French, neo-Vietnamese-French fusion and Soviet-era Russian architectural styles. These buildings reflect the city¿s Buddhist, Chinese Confucian, Taoist, animistic and ancestor worshipping beginnings and the subsequent French Catholic colonial and then Soviet communist histories. Economic reforms of the latest era have added yet another layer to this mix as homeowners and shopkeepers renovate old buildings with sometimes less than aesthetic results.

Despite its turbulent past, Hanoi today is a modernizing city that retains much of its romantic Old World charm. Traffic is getting worse as is pollution but lakes throughout the area keep spaces open and breezes blowing and much of center city is a pleasant walk. Avoid the oppressive heat of the summer season (May - July) and the wet, chilly months of the winter (October - December). Fall and spring are splendid for discovering this city's many sites, the serene, tree-lined lakes and the many museums, pagodas and tourist attractions that are a testament to its interesting, varied history. See the many crafts that began with the 36 original guilds of the Old Quarter (which expanded to hundreds) on streets named by their specialties: Silk Street, Paper Street, Silver Street and so on. Right outside of Hanoi are many pagodas worth visiting.

For those tourists already familiar with Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi does not have the 24-hour go-go pulse of its southern sister. Rather, it is a city with seasons and moods, two lovely, one too hot, one a bit dreary; a downtown that sleeps at night; a more polite, conservative citizenry; and a long established artistic and intellectual tradition. For sites to see in the city and neighboring regions, it beats Saigon by a long shot. As the economy develops, the city's pace may pick up and even one day rival the boom of the south. Or it may not want to. In the mean time, visitors can enjoy the qualities that make Vietnam's capital especially unique today, with one foot in the past, one in the present and a wary eye on the future.