Temple Of Literature

We knew it was not going to be "literature" in any Western sense. A better rendering might be Temple of Learning. From the 11th century on, it was a school of higher learning, created to educate prospective mandarins and then to select the best of them, on behalf of the king/emperor/whatever. Mandarins were the high officials who governed the realm, its provinces, etc., on behalf of the monarch. All very Chinese and indeed very Confucian, reminding us of some of the things we saw in China years ago. No mention of Homer or Dante or Shakespeare. But very old, as these things go.

Entrance

Good signage throughout, in Vietnamese, French, and
English (too)

Click to enlarge and be enlightened

And beautiful landscaping too

One passes through a series of buildings, gates, courtyards, reflecting the various
stages of learning

I particularly liked the bit about the humanities...

Near the end, a small forest of stelae, on which are inscribed
the names of those who passed the rigorous exams

Thus; click to enlarge

Apparently they had no notion of students' privacy

In the final big courtyard; the Court of Sages (I liked that)

Much Chinese bonsai around; penjing it's called, and these are very large specimens

Confucius (?)

Roof detail

Tree always wins over stone

In the final hall, an interesting set of traditional musical
instruments, perhaps between performances

Helpful model of the complex

Drum house

Hanoi Motorbikes

All the guidebooks warn you, but you have to experience the motorbike thing to understand, especially in the old city, with its density, narrow streets and alleys. Our hotel had a very useful information sheet for tourists (and in English too), the first item of which was "how to cross a street in Hanoi." Paraphrasing a bit, it said "appear confident and determined, look both ways, proceed when there is an opening, try to cross with a group, do not back up or return to the curb." There are occasional cross-walks and occasional cross-walk lights, which occasionally work. Many of the streets are one-way, but some motos do not appear to be bound by such rules. Also traffic lights. Many motos freely make right-hand turns on red, or left-hand turns on red, often without stopping or looking. The traffic light T-shirt pictured below captures much of this. All part of the experience, I guess. I count it our best experience in Hanoi not to have been injured. And we've consistently heard that HCMC is much worse. Something to look forward to.

On Hang Bong Street, our home

Unusual child-seating; usually the toddler is just squeezed in at the handlebar,
between the driver's legs

Massing for attack

The old city has sidewalks, but they are used primarily for
motorbike parking or restaurant seating or shop-keeping or
most anything but pedestrians; most of your walking is in
the street; shared use

Hanoi Food Tour

Our second night in Hanoi, we engaged a guide (through the hotel) to take us on a food tour. I am not a fan of Vietnamese food, nor is Vicki (!), but we felt (strangely) obligated. The tour took us through half a dozen hole-in-the wall eateries, some fairly well embedded in the urban infrastructure, and introduced us to half a dozen or so dishes. To wit: pho with chicken; steamed spring roll; egg coffee; dried beef salad with papaya; sticky rice, potato, tapioca, peanuts, served on banana leaf; pork noodle soup with veggies; pork/chicken/whatever on a stick in a baguette; mixed fruit salad with jelly, tapioca; black sticky rice with yogurt. Such was my understanding. The photos probably won't match up exactly, but they're representative of what was going on. Next night we ate at McDonald's.

Pho

Why we're not all that much into street food

Making spring roll

Yum

Most of the eateries were near our hotel and Hoan Kiem Lake

Thus

Down an alley and up two flights of stairs

For egg coffee, which I much enjoyed

Vicki making her way back downstairs

Beef jerky salad

Known as "Beer Corner"

Street scene

"I remember Mama" shrine in one of the eateries