Hanoi - 36 streets quarter

We found a very nice apartment in Hanoi, well located in the Old Quarter. It is a nice little loft on the last floor of an old building in the backyard of a private alley. Getting into the flat at 23h on Saturday night after landing was quite an experience. It took us probably around 45 minutes to finally find the flat. First we needed to unlock a keylock attache to a wire in the street. With the key we could open a gate to a private alley. In the alley there are many different building with no reference system whatsoever so based on the pictures we received from airbnb we had to find the correct building door. Then it was on the 4th floor, last floor. It was quite the challenge!!
We really liked this accomodation as there were 2 bedrooms, one of them we turned into an office and rest area so we have enough space. There was even a laundry machine which we used abundantly!

It was a Monday and we first left the flat to look for breakfast but quickly realized Vietnamese usually eat pho and other salty food or soup for breakfast. We also saw a lot of vietnamese eating ice cream in the early morning which we found surprising ! Many many people are otherwise just sitting on the most tiny chairs you could create and sipping their coffee or their tea to kick off their day. There are lots of street vendors from which you can just order from a small booth and just eat and it in the street.

Later, we decided to go visit the famous neighborhood of the 36 corporations.
The Hanoi Old Quarter is the most hustling and bustling area of Hanoi. For more than 1,000 years, this quarter has still retained a few of its ancient features.
The most famous feature of the Hanoi Old Quarter is its handicraft streets. People usually say the phrase “Ha Noi bam sau pho phuong”, which means Hanoi Old Quarter has 36 streets. The Old Quarter actually has more than 76 streets with an area of about 100 hectares. Each of these streets specializes in 1 craftsmanship or job (wood work, herbal medicine, sewing...). Hanoi’s authorities actually worked to preserve a lot of the Old Quarter. How did these specialized streets formed themselves? In the past, handicraftsmen from all over the country came to Thang Long and started their career in the Old Quarter. They separated into streets and each street created and sold different products. Businessmen traveling by boat would visit this area and purchase goods, so day by day the handicraft streets began to flourish. Then, people named the street after its main product with the word “Hang” to signify a store or a series of stores.

It was really impressive. We went into the medicinal plant street, sewing/fabrics street, candy street, equipment/tools street. The shops are really small, immediately next to one another and so many objects are packed to sell. It is incredibly messy but actually well organized at the same time. It s quite confusing. We particularly liked the medicinal plant street and Niki bought some tiger balm. There was also a street that sells propaganda poster back from war time which was interesting to see.
We walked a bit further into a big market behind the 36 corporations area and this market was even more messy! The amount of objects packed in such small spaces is quite incredible and insane! It can be very easy to wonder around for hours in those streets and go through every little thing to find some hidden treasure objects.

We really liked this area except the smell from time to time which can be quite repulsive.

We stopped to eat a nice Pho for lunch and headed back home to work !Lue lisää