Great Lakes Hanoi

Hanoi is a city of many lakes. Many of the best known landmarks in town are either right next to a lake, have a lake inside them, are inhabitants of a lake, or are, in fact, a lake. Tran Quoc Pagoda is almost surrounded by West Lake, the Temple of Literature has a handful of ponds inside it and a small lake across the street, cụ rùa the mystical mascot of Hanoi lives in Hoan Kiem, which is in and of itself an attraction which every tourist, and more than a few of the rest of us, have to walk around to have truly experienced Hanoi. Many of the city's lakes have trees, green space and sidewalks to walk around them – all of which are not so easy to find in central Hanoi if you are not next to a lake.

In the spirit of properly exploring this city in which I live, as a mission for a new bike route, and as a test of my Zen sensibilities for enduring Hanoi traffic, I set out on a pedal-driven journey to see as many of Hanoi's lakes in one trip as I could.

My goal was limited to the lakes inside the perimeter of Minh Khai - Truong Chinh - Duong Lang - Duong Buoi - Lac Long Quan and the Red River. Having mapped out a route only roughly ahead of time, I missed four of what turns out, in my count at least, to be 32 lakes/ponds in central Hanoi. With the three lakes I went past on the other side of the river, that makes 31 lakes for the day. The great in the title should be understood to refer to the number of lakes, not the size of them! Almost 65 km on a very loopy route passing by quite a few places that I had never been to before in my years in Hanoi, plenty of friendly faces, hundreds of cafes (I only stopped at two, honest), and – yes – a couple of traffic jams as well.

Here are the lakes in the order I saw them. “Hồ”, by the way, means “lake”. Many of the lake names are simply the name of the area, the village, as most of them were in villages back in the day. The four that I missed are listed in parenthesis in the order I would have seen them, had I followed the map!

Three lakes on the other side of the river, a prelude to the main event:

Hồ Lâm Du 1: A new fish raising shack floats in the middle of this lake, and there is a lady at one corner selling bánh rán on the sidewalk. Lâm Du is the name of the place, the village.

Hồ Bồ Đề: A handful of cafes on one side of this lake sit across from the school (usually full of uproar) and the local People's Committee building (usually dead quiet).

"Hồ Đình Ái Mộ": This tiny bit of water is in front of the Ái Mộ communal house, where the friendly neighborhood elders will invite you to stop for tea and bananas.

Hồ Gườm / Hồ Hoàn Kiếm: The most famous of all Hanoi lakes, home of the 'Turtle Tower' island and Cầu Thê Húc, the red wooden bridge to Ngoc Son Pagoda on Jade Island, and the famous turtle who always causes a traffic jam whenever she comes up to the surface. Green space, walkways and wide streets all around it.

Hồ Hai Bà Trưng: Very small lake in front of Hai Bà Trưng Temple, a friendly motorcycle mechanic is on one corner next to my old house, surrounded by a small street which usually doesn't get too much traffic. “Hai Bà Trưng” are the Trung Sisters, legendary Vietnamese heroes from about 2 millennia ago.

Hồ Thanh Nhàn 1: A relatively good sized lake I had never been to before. I came out on the residential end of the lake and had to jump down next to it and duck under a bridge to get to the park end of it, and the park stopped about halfway back up the other side.

Hồ Thanh Nhàn 2: This lake has no road, alley or path to it, it is surrounded by the backs of houses and businesses. I got there climbing through someone's “yard” (don't tell anyone) from the big Thanh Nhàn Lake, and got out through a walkway at the back of a bia hơi. I got a surprised “hello” from a lady hanging laundry behind her house, and the guy sitting by the lake watching his black puppy play around was friendly enough – I asked him if there was a road I could get out from there, he said no … he didn't say “What the sam hill are you doing here?”, he just said no, and kept watching his puppy while I rode halfway round the lake and back again to find the back of that bia hơi.

Hồ Thanh Nhàn - Võ Thị Sáu: Nice small lake with a sidewalk-style path around it. There was wedding preparations going on at one corner when I went by, and I had to wait for the procession of suit-ed and áo dài-ed folks to get through the alley before I could keep going. Võ Thị Sáu, the name of the main street past this lake, was an anti-French guerrilla, captured at age 16 after throwing a grenade and executed at age 19, who now has streets all over Vietnam named after her.

Hồ Qùynh: Very cool lake with only small streets around it and cafes green vines hanging the whole way out across the street, like the picture in my head from Turpan, on the Silk Road. Quỳnh is the name of a common flower here, and also used as a given name, usually for women.

Hồ Tiến: On the campus of Bách Khoa University, which was very quiet on a Sunday, this lake was overshadowed by the big library building next to it. It doesn't even have many benches around it, it was looking under-appreciated.

Hồ Bảy Mẫu: The big lake in Công Viên Thông Nhất (aka Lenin Park), with swan-shaped paddle boats, and sweet walking paths all through the park. No bicycle riding inside the park – that is what the sign says anyway. Mẫu is a measurement of land, so this lake is presumably 7 mẫu in size.

Hồ Thiền Quang / Halais: A squarish lake neatly taking up one city block, I buzzed around this one pretty quickly on streets with traffic, though there are walking trails and trees around the lake too. Thiền Quang means something like 'enlightened path'.

Hồ Ba Mẫu: Oddly, having been around the lake in Lenin Park like a hundred times, I am not sure I had ever gone across the street to this lake, which, although not in a park, is large (3 mẫu, apparently) and has a lot of open space around it. Good for riding, good for relaxing.

Hồ Kim Liên: Another one I had not been to, this lake is hidden between the French Hospital and one of my offices, and has a very competitive 9 year old bicyclist prowling around it just waiting for a new challenge. Kim Liên is the name of a golden lotus.

Hồ Hố Mẻ: I had been past this lake but never really looked at it before, and frankly it isn't much to look at. Small square lake, reasonably clean as far as I could tell, but with main streets on two sides, a muddy track on one side and an overgrown path on the other. There is a bus stop there, so its easy to get to I guess, but no big trees, no green space, no cafes. It does, though, have a nice name – which I have no idea what it means.

(Ao Khương Thượng): I had intended to go by this one next, I have never seen this pond, but just totally forgot … too much sun???

Hổ Xã Đàn: Sweet lake, one side has cafes pushed up on the sidewalk practically overhanging the lake, while another side has, across the street, cafes and bia hơi with a huge (by Hanoi standards) open space in front for sitting outside under the trees.

Hồ Huy Vân: I wasn't expecting much from this lake, small and in the middle of what has to be one of the most densely populated areas of the city, but in fact it was delightful – trees around it, everything was clean and taken care of, and the pagoda on the corner looked spic and span.

(Hồ Linh Quang): Based on the map, I wasn't sure if I could get to this lake, and I just rode through the neighborhood without going down every alley to find it, so I didn't see it.

Hồ Giám: Across the street from the Temple of Literature (Quốc Tử Giám), this lake is small but surrounded with well manicured lawns and, on the day I was there, completely deserted except for me.

Hồ Hảo Nam: They just finished a new wide street past this lake, the other side of it didn't look easy to go around so I just went past on the new road, waved at it, and kept going.

Hồ Đống Đa: A big lake with a nice alley running around it, somehow I don't think I had ever been around this one before either. The side near the main road looks a bit industrial with giant pylons standing in a line across the corner of the lake to support the new metro rail system which is, at the moment, just a lot of concrete pylons and messy construction in the middle of roads and lakes.

Hồ Thanh Công: I used to work up the street from this lake, it is pretty big and the one entrance goes through “Indira Ghandi Park”. Thanh Công means 'success'.

Hồ Láng Thượng: A long, narrow lake lined with cafes and bia hơi places staffed with those guys who jump out in front of you in hopes of startling you into stopping and buying a beer. Another nice spot which I had never seen before.

Hô Ngọc Khánh: I used to work up the street from this lake, too, and stopped there for coffee on the way home all the time, it is a quick loop off a main street.

Hồ Thủ Lệ: Another long lake, between Daewoo Hotel and the zoo, this one has more swan/duck paddle boats. I went in to the park at the far end and walked around, but didn't go into the zoo itself - I haven't been there for a few years, but I don't remember being so inspired by it. The lake is nice, it has a big island in it with two bridges and walking trails.

(Hồ Giảng Võ): This lake was next on the list, and I have been there often before, but I had my head down and rolled right on to the next one … I'll remember it next time!

Hồ Đội Cấn 1: I don't know the actual names of these two lakes, but they are close to Đội Cấn Street. Cutting off the street onto the alley the first one is one your right.

Hồ Đội Cấn 2: Back another alley to the left is the second lake, which is right behind the B52 Museum. I went halfway around until the path got all sandy, where I turned around.

Hồ Hữu Tiệp: A couple hundred meters through a skinny alley are two more “lakes”, or perhaps they are just one lake with a road across the middle! The long skinny one on the left I'm calling Huu Tiep Lake.

Hồ B52: And the square one on the right commonly gets called B52 Lake – it has the remains of a crashed B52 bomber sticking out of the middle of it which was shot down in 1972. I was pretty tired by this time, so I stopped at the “B52 Cafe” which has your standard Vietnamese coffee and a chunk of B52 sitting there as a curiosity/memorial.

(Hồ Ngọc Hà): This very small lake is also just a stone's throw (if there were no houses in the way) from the last three, but I was intent on getting to West Lake for a cool breeze and a proper break, and so I overlooked it.

Hồ Bách Thảo: Inside the Botanical Garden, this place is great for walking around, but since I wasn't in the mood for walking I just rode past on the street, looked in, and put it on the list. There is a big mound in the park which reminds me of those old burial mounds in the US midwest … I suspect it isn't related though.

Hồ Trúc Bạch: On my right as I came up Thanh Nien Road, Truc Bach Lake I am familiar with thanks to having spent many a productive hour sitting next to it drinking coffee and watching fish and lizards.

Hồ Tây: West Lake is by far the biggest lake around, often offers a cool breeze and the route around it is the standard cycling circuit in Hanoi. Being worn out, I just stopped at my watering hole to watch the lake for awhile without going around it.

And that was the end of the Great Lakes Hanoi tour, I only missed four and didn't fall into a single one, so I'll call that a success.

Looking Back

It's not every day on the way to work that I see a car like this parked by West Lake. While this particular Volkswagen was a shiny, pretty much spotless soft-top, the ones it reminds me of were somewhat less glamorous. They received a great deal attention, but the attention was mostly focused on making them roadworthy - we usually left the spots untouched. The kind of roads I see in my daily life around Hanoi, and the traffic on them, never really give me a chance to miss having a car. But, if you're going to have a car, anyplace, having one like this is a great idea!

Cup o' ... Traffic ?

Back in Hanoi, on a sweltering summer day, I am amused by watching traffic through my cup of tea.  I guess I am easily amused - anyway it kept me out of trouble until I had to go back to work!

Honda, Trek or BMW?

Every day before I head off to work I ask myself, should I take the Honda, the Trek, or the BMW - and some days I take the BMW...

HA! Not really, this particular buffalo, affectionately known as the BMW (buffalo-most-wet?) of this particular muddy pond, would not fit in very well on my commute to the office. In fact I think he would block the whole lane on Long Bien Bridge, and cause a huge traffic jam. Which is why he stays there in that pond outside of Hoi An. 

These two photos are from the top of Marble Mountain, halfway between Hoi An and Danang. Above, looking out to the sea and Cham Islands, over what used to be Hoa's Place, for those in the know. And below, looking north toward Danang with the mountains of Son Tra Peninsula in the background. If you look closely, on the left, you can see the yellow "Dragon Bridge" which recently opened. The head of the dragon, facing to the right here, is equipped to spew water or fire when the dragon feels frisky.

PS Buffaloes get frisky too sometimes!

Glacial Tourism

Some days I remember what it is like to be a tourist here. A couple weeks ago, on a touristic sort of impulse, I decided to go an visit "B52 Lake". I had heard about this place since I first came to Vietnam, usually in underwhelmed reports of people getting lost in the back alleys of Ba Dinh looking for the lake (pond) where the remains of a B52 shot down in 1972 are still there sticking out of the lake. I say Glacial Tourism because it took me so many years to get around to stopping by this place which is less than 10 minutes from my office, not because the B52 crashed on a glacier or anything like that. In fact, the day I went there was a proper Hanoi summertime scorcher, which just made the iced coffee taste that much better, at the "B52 Cafe" which you can sort of see in the picture back there behind the trees.

And in fact it is a small lake, even by Hanoi standards, and there is indeed a piece of airplane, including a set of wheels, sitting out there in the lake. It's a little hard to know what to make of it - there is a sort of marker at one corner of the lake noting it as a historical site. The 'Christmas Bombings' in 1972 are, at least in the government press here, referred to as "Dien Bien Phu in the air" - drawing the parallel between Vietnam's decisive victory in the battle of Dien Bien Phu which effectively ended French colonialism here in 1954, and the 1972 American bombings of Hanoi and the north. The Vietnamese, to the surprise of everyone, succeeded in shooting down a number of the B52 bombers, though casualties and damage from the bombings were very high.

The "Museum of Victory over B52" is just a block or two away from here, although there is not a direct path between the two places. I have probably gone past that museum at least a hundred times on the way to work, perhaps I'll actually stop in and see it one of these days...

The Scenic Route

Some days (ok, every day I possibly can) on the way home from work, I decide to take the scenic route. Where I come from, when someone says "the scenic route", it means a lot of corn, or trees,  maybe a river, and maybe an hour detour. My life here is a lot more compact, perhaps more suitable for my rediscovered hobby of bicycling.

These shots are the view from my watering hole (and sometimes my office) on West Lake. It's a good sized lake, with a nice route you can ride right along the lake shore clear around it - about 16km. And best of all, you can't go more than 50 yards without running into another cafe! That tower they are putting up over there, I'm sure will include a few cafes, but I probably won't go there much. It will be, once it is finished growing, the tallest tower in Hanoi.

After using up all my lake-watching minutes for the day, I start homeward, which now involves a bumpy pedal across the Long Bien Bridge. There is a railroad in the center of the bridge and a small deck for motorbikes and bicycles on either side. The ramp up to the bridge always smells like something-bridges-shouldn't-smell-like, but once you are up on the bridge the air is fresh - especially when going past the bakery! I don't know where the bakery is, I just know where I smell it every day on the bridge.

 The sign on the bridge is about traffic safety. The sign, it seems to me, is a great idea. The actual traffic safety, it seems to me, is still bottled up somewhere and they've forgotten where it is and can't let it out anymore.

The first thing the bridge crosses is a big road, alongside which is the 'ceramic wall', a long stretch of artwork in ceramic by a wide variety of artists, and non-artists I think, which was put up before Hanoi's millennial celebration in 2010. Some of it represents historical figures or events, and some of it is just fun. Behind the wall, and under the bridge here, is the wholesale fruit and veggie market. 

 Long Bien Bridge was built by the French, and goes from dike to dike - across the river and a fair bit of land on either side that is on the river side of the dikes. You can see they grow corn here too! And bananas, which seem to grow like weeds, and taste way better than weeds where I come from.

Having hopes of staying alive in traffic, I equipped my bike with a bell which happened to come with a compass on top of it. Fun while it lasted, however, it now seems to be lost - you can see the "S" arrow is pointing more or less up to where the North Star should be - but the bell still works. In the heat of the afternoon, traffic is pretty thin. At 7.30 in the morning, not so much! 

Once across the bridge, I can follow the even more bumpy alley straight ahead along the railroad. You can't really see it but the railroad is up above the wall on the right. 

This guy passing me here is well-prepared for the hot day, he's carrying along a mattress on his head - keeps the sun off, and when you get tired you can stop and take a nap in comfort! 

This place put up a tarp to keep the alley (and the house, their front door is there on the left) cooler. Lots of people here also spray water on the street in front of their house on really hot afternoons in an effort to keep things cooler.

After a bit I duck through this motorbike/bicycle/basket lady underpass, neatly equipped with spot mirrors, to get under the railroad. From here there are a couple of tiny alleys which pop out on an actual street again before very long. 

The carousel is pretty quiet on hot afternoons, gaudy, colorful and empty! 

 And, to match the gaudiness of the playground equipment, the red fuzzy tree and the Pepsi umbrella...

After the park there is a greenish not-so-refreshing lake lined up with houses and a bia hoi - the 'green space' is, after all, the lake! 

Cross the highway and I pass this giant mural on the front of the Air Force Museum. 

This road, err, construction zone, goes beside the airport... 

Hanoi's very own paintball range ... who knew that Hanoi had paintball!?  

A lot of vegetable fields beside bluish-blackish irrigation (?) ditch. 

 This is the scenic route, remember? This little path goes beside the paintball range and (almost) into a military post - this is still right next to the airport and you can sort of see the antiaircraft guns on the left of the picture - but at the last minute cuts around the edge of that and then goes by the neighborhood football field.

Across from the football field are banana trees - yummm! 

And finally I get home, and go up to the Friday Afternoon Office which looks pretty lush these days (much lusher than this fuzzy not-so-smart phone picture might suggest!)