Hanoi Ceramic Road

Length from An Duong gate to Van Kiep gate, the total path length of the ceramic is 6018 meters along the Red River with a total area of approximately 6500 square meters with many interesting topics.

Hanoi Ceramic Road

Ceramic Road was recognized as the longest pottery mural in the world by the Guinness Book of World Records last September, 2010 as a special way to celebrate the city’s 1000th anniversary

The road has ceramic pottery patterns as murals that were popular during the Dong Son, Ly Dynasty, Tran Dynasty, Le Dynasty and Nguyen Dynasty eras. The mural is also decorated with traditional architectural designs of Vietnam’s 54 ethnic groups, paintings of Hanoi, of children and of local and international artists.

Images of some Hanoi icons like the One Pillar Pagoda, The Huc Bridge, Khue Van Cac Pavilion in the Temple of Literature are also part of the road project work.

The whole thing was completed on September 25, and on October 5, 2010, a representative of the Guinness Book of Records inspected Ceramic Road and acknowledged it as the longest mural in the world.
This is typical creation also the gate into Vietnam’s fascinating history, and an unbelievable artwork, Ceramic Road is set to become one of Vietnam’s most popular tourist attractions.

Markets in Hanoi

Located right in the center of Hanoi, Vietwind Travel is near all the big markets of Hanoi, makes convenient for all travelers to go shopping.

Dong Xuan Market is a tourist attraction comprising of a three-storey building and hundreds of stalls. It is about 1km from Hoan Kiem Lake

Cua Nam Market is on the corner of Le Duan and Cua Nam streets. There are many stalls of Vietnamese traditional market style in the 1st basement, while 13 storeys are for offices.

Hang Da Market is on the junction of Hang Dieu, Duong Thanh and Hang Da Streets. The market is good for imported foods, wine, beer, flowers, and fabric and ready-made clothing.

Hanoi Night Market

Hom Market, on the corner of Hue and Tran Xuan Soan strs.This is a good place to buy babric if you plan to have clothes made.

Hanoi Night Market

Spreading across Hang Dao, Hang Ngang, Hang Duong and Hang Giay streets, Hanoi Night Market has become a destination during weekends of Hanoians and tourists. From 6h30pm every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, a lot of people come here to stroll or go shopping. The market creates a busy and crowded walking street.

Coming to the night market, the tourist can buy souvenirs, handicrafts and also taste traditional foods or enjoy cultural activities such as ca tru, and cheo. Performers of other traditional arts like dan bau or xam artists are also invited to demonstrate their talent in the night market. For this reason, the night market is considered efficient way to preserve and propagate the values of the traditional culture of Vietnam.

Hoa Lo Prison

Relic Hoa Lo Prison in the heart of Hanoi. French colonialists built the prison in 1896 to detain fighting French colonialism, which is called the Maison Centrale, but because the prison was built on the land of Phu Khanh village,Hanoi. This village which is specialized in the production of pottery, kilns burning day and night, so the village was called Hoa Lo prison here and also known as Prison Fire Fireplace.

The prisons are often isolated from other residential areas, particularly in central Hoa Lo Hanoi - the capital of the then colonial government. Besides jail felony and is building a secret base, forming the tripod legs, ready to suppress the revolutionary movement of our people. Hoa Lo is permanent buildings in most of Indochina, the ants also difficult to pass well.

Prison is surrounded by stone walls, reinforced 4m high, 0.5 m thick, reinforced by barbed wire systems have high voltage lines running across the four corners of the tower is likely the most observed election most all of the prisons. Particularly iron gate system, was brought from France to lock.
The cell, dark, cramped cell, lack of air and the infamous jailers, senior govern ready Con Dao prison repression, even killing prisoners.

Hoa Lo Prison

Hoa Lo Prison is indeed hell. Since unfinished, May 1,1899 to Hoa Lo Prison was detained persons undertaking. According to the original design, just enough Hoa Lo prison 500 inmates, but it has been extended several times to have more space detained prisoners. The years 1950 - 1953, Hoa Lo prison of 2,000 inmates. Currently, Hoa Lo relics preserved the guillotine has been working for the French, May 1,1930 carried out up to the 13 Yen Bai Vietnam soldiers captured Nationalist uprising Yen Bai (headed by Nguyen Thai Hoc).

Many generations of Vietnam has imprisoned at Hoa Lo Prison, which is the patriotic scholars such as Phan Boi Chau, Luong Van Can, Duong Ba Trac. to Mr. Nguyen Van Cu, Truong Chinh, Le Duan, Nguyen Van Linh, Do Muoi ... the outstanding people of our nation, which later became General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, with many soldiers and officers from other networks. Although the enemy was beaten, shackled in the dungeon cell, even to sacrifice their lives, but the soldiers will still keep fighting. Hoa Lo Prison became school revolution, the ideological training environment, will the revolutionary struggle. Even in the Hoa Lo Prison, the training focus is political opening, the Red Prison newspaper, magazine Prison ... born enemies to respect that. In 1930, the cost of the first Communist Party was founded by Mr. Hoang Quoc Viet secretary has taken a leadership role, many organizations struggle, victory.

After the complete liberation of the capital (10.10.1954), Hoa Lo prison under the control of the revolutionary government. Since 1964 - 1973, Hoa Lo Prison was used to detain American pilots shot down during the war of destruction of North American imperialism, including P.Peterson - later the first U.S. ambassador in Vietnam.

1993, on the grounds of the Tower of Hanoi, Hoa Lo - a commercial center is built, the rest become historic revolution especially in the capital, which is evidence of the crimes of the French. It also kept many documents and records of the mirror indomitable fighting heroically sacrifices of many generations of communist soldiers arrested imprisonment. Hoa Lo relic is still pretty much intact with precious materials, scientific display, is fascinating attractions, attracting many domestic and foreign tourists to Hanoi every occasion.

10 Famous Places In Hanoi

As a capital of Vietnam with more than 1000 years of history, Hanoi has many cultural and historic sites that attract a lot of tourists nationwide. Vietwind Travel is pleased to recommend foreign tourists with 10 must - see tourist destinations in Hanoi.

1. Tran Quoc Pagoda

This is one of the oldest pagodas in Vietnam on the eastern shore of West Lake .The current structures are very impressive and date back to 1842. The pagoda is just off the road that divides West Lake and Truc Bach Lake. Tran Quoc Pagoda is the foremost symbol of Buddhism in the country. The landmark is beautiful offering good ambience and nice photos.

Tran Quoc Pagoda

2. West Lake

To the north of the old quarter is the enormous Ho Tay. This lake is the largest in Hanoi with a shore length of around 17km (10.6 miles) and is a popular place for recreation with many surrounding gardens, hotels and villas.

3. Hoa Lo Prison

The Hoa Lo Prison was a prison used by the French colonists in Vietnam for political prisoners, and later by North Vietnam for prisoners of war during the Vietnam War when it was sarcastically known to American prisoners of war as the "Hanoi Hilton". The prison was demolished during the 1990s, though the gatehouse remains as a museum.

4. National Museum of Fine Arts

For a singular glimpse into Vietnamese culture, the Country’s National Museum of Fine Arts is the best place to visit. The museum showcasing Vietnam's fine arts from every historical period. The facility contains a vast collection of art, sculpture, crafts and artifacts from every period in Vietnam’s history.

5. The Presidential Palace

Although Hochiminh President passed away but The Presidential Palace in Hanoi is a remarkable landmark. The palace was built between 1900 and 1906 to house the French Governor-General of Indochina. The Presidential Palace complex is open every day from 7:30am to 4pm, with a lunch break from 11am to 1:30pm.

6. Hoan Kiem Lake

Hanoi is a city of lakes and Hoan Kiem is one of the most popular with visitors. Superbly scenic and serene, the lake provides a habitat for soft-shell turtles and contains many picturesque pagodas and small bridges.

Hoan Kiem Lake

7. One Pillar Pagoda

The Buddhist One Pillar Pagoda is almost peerless in Vietnam, with a history that dates back a full millenium. The iconic landmark was badly defaced by French troops in 1954 but was rebuilt decades later.

8. Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

One of the most conspicuous mausoleums in the world, the massive tribute to the most famous leader in Vietnam provides Hanoi with a landmark on par with Lenin’s tomb in Moscow. Open since 1975, the mausoleum site also contains a museum on Ho Chi Minh.

9. Grand Opera House

Hanoi Opera House is located on the August Revolution Square, the center of Hanoi, near Hoan Kiem Lake and the Vietnam History Museum. The theatre, designed and overseen by the French, was constructed from 1901 and was finished in 1911. It marks a significant period in the history of architectural development in Vietnam under the French at the end of nineteenth century to early twentieth century. It is a historical witness of the Revolution of Hanoi.

The Hanoi Opera House is not only a venue for art performances, but also a place for visitors to enjoy an almost 100 year old historical architecture.

10. Temple of Literature

Temple of Literature is located on Van Mieu Street, 2km west of Hoan Kiem Lake. Van Mieu - Quoc Tu Giam is a famous historical and cultural relic consisting of the Temple of Literature and Vietnam is first university. The temple was built in 1070 in honor of Confucius, his followers and Chu Van An, a moral figure in Vietnamese education.

Temple Of Literature

Tay Ho Palace

On the east bank of West Lake, there stretches out into the lake a strip of land.

This is Tây Hồ village, an ancient village of Thăng Long. In the village, right on the water edge, there is a temple dedicated to Liễu Hạnh, who lived in the 17th century and was deified as Thánh Mẫu (Holy Mother), rank-ing first in the pantheon of Vietnamese folk religious beliefs. The places dedicated to Holy Mother Liễu Hạnh are sometimes called đền (temples) or phủ (palace). Tay Ho Palace was built according to the following tale:

Tay Ho Palace

In the early 17th century, one morning, Dr. Phùng Khắc Khoan (1528-1613) and his friends were boating on West Lake when they met a beautiful girl. They talked and composed poems together. When Phùng asked her name, the girl smiled, read a poem and then suddenly vanished. By analyzing the poem, Phùng came to realize that she was Liễu Hạnh Holy Mother. After that event, Tây Hồ villagers built a palace to be dedicated to her.

Tay Ho Palace

Today, this site attracts many pilgrims who come to pay homage to the Holy Mother and to admire the natural beauty here.

Cốm Vòng (Pounded Young Glutinous Rice)

In Việt Nam when you pass by rice-fields in autumn where the first glutinous paddy grains bend the fresh stem, you will surely smell the fragrance of the young rice ears. Inside the green cover of each rice grain, there is a drop of fragrant white milk. In the sunlight the drop of milk gradually condenses; the rice stem becomes more and more curved due to the greater and greater weight of this precious substance given by nature, as writer Thạch Lam describes.

Many places know how to reap this paddy and process it into cốm, but most famous cốm is that but most famous cốm is that made in Vòng village.

Vòng village is in Từ Liêm district, a few kilometers northwest of the heart of Ha Noi. It comprises four hamlets namely Vòng Tiền, Vòng Hậu, Vòng Sở and Vòng Trung. Yet only Vòng Hậu and Vòng Sở hamlets are famous with their delicious com.

Cốm Vòng (Pounded Young Glutinous Rice)

When rice is harvested, it is unadvisable to crush or tread on it. The seed should be plucked from the rice ears. The secret of Com Vong is how to dry the paddy with the frying pan.

Skills and years of experience have led the women of Vòng village to produce high quality cốm using firewood to keep the fire smoldering.

After being fried, the rice grains must not be allowed to cool down. Pounding must also be done carefully, regularly and too heavily. While the pounding is being carried out, cốm must always be turned upside down. After that the cốm flakes are sieved and starched. Finally, they are spread very thinly on lotus leaves.
“Com is not a dish for those who are in a hurry. While eating cốm, people should take it slowly, little and have the time to ponder. Only by doing so, can we enjoy the fragrance of new rice, of wild flowers and grass. One will find, in the green color, the freshness of young leaves, and in the sweetness, the softness and purity of vegetation. Besides, each com flake has the scent of old lotus leaves that seem to keep the warmth of summer days on the lake” (Thạch Lam).

Com can be taken with bananas and preferably with red ripe persimmons. In the past, in the corn season, the future son-in-law usually presents com and persimmons to his parents-in-law.

For over half a century now, the cốm cake has been used as wedding cake. It is square, covered with green banana leaves and bound by red bamboo tape.

The cake itself has the green color of young leaves. In spite of being fried with sugar and fat, the com flakes still keep the fragrance of glutinous rice. The fillings comprise well-kneaded ground green beans and some strands of copra.

Gio Lua (Boiled Lean Pork Pie)

Pork may be processed in various ways: pie, sausage, jambow, roast pork, etc. Giò lụa is a typically Vietnamese specialty.

Giò lụa is available in all corners of Viet Nam but the best may be that of Hà Nội made by the inhabitants of ước Lễ village (former Hà Đông province), Mr. Liu, a man reputed for his making of giò lụa, once told writer Nguyễn Tuân: “Not any pork can be used for giò lụa. Frozen pork can’t be pounded. Meat must be fresh.

Giò Lụa

When cutting the pork, you must be careful not to cut your finger. The pounding requires hard work. If meat is pounded in an irregular manner, it will be spoiled. In the past, there was no electric fan. When I pounded meat, my face, my body sweated but I continually pounded in spite of mosquito bites and other distractions.

When I was tired, I looked at my grandchildren who would pour a cup of alcohol into my mouth... It’s not necessary to pound with great strength but continuously and regularly’ When I hear the beating of giò, I can guess whether it is spoiled or not. I don’t know how long ago my ancestors taught us this trade but at the temple dedicated to the cult of our ancestors there are always two wooden pestles, red lacquered and gilded about lm long. To be frank, I think, if a man does not know how to pound meat regularly, he is like a builder not knowing how to pour concrete...”

Gỉò Lụa (Boiled Lean Pork Pie)

After the selection and pounding of the meat, it is necessary to have banana leaves for packing.
The outside cover is made of old banana leaves and the inside cover, young yellowish banana leaves. The flavor of giò lụa comes from those of properly pounded meat and of fresh banana leaves after they are boiled. Giò lụa can be eaten separately or with rice, vermicelli or used in the preparation of other foods.

Chả Cá (Grilled Chopped Fish)

Almost all foreigners who come to Hà Nội look for Cha Ca Street to taste this specialty. In the past, in this street were sold various types of Vietnamese lacquer, and it was known as Hàng Sơn (Lacquer) Street.

At the end of the 19th century, the Đoàn family residing at No. 14 came up with a new dish of grilled fish served with vermicelli and some spices. As the dish was liked by their friends, the family opened a shop to sell it. It was called chả cá Lã Vọng as at the door of the shop was placed the statue of La Vong (a famous Chinese figure) holding a fishing rod in one hand and a string of fish in the other.

This food was gradually accepted by Hanoians and its reputation spread all over the City. Later, the traditional street was re-named Cha Ca.

Chả Cá (Grilled Chopped Fish)

The shopkeeper places on the table in front of his customers a small earth stove with hot charcoal on which there is a small frying pan with boiling fat. Then the ingredients and spices are displayed: mắm tôm (shrimp paste), lemon, chili, roasted peanuts, bánh đa (a kind of cake made of ground rice), different kinds of herbs particularly fennel and spring onion.

Fish used to make this food can be bagarius, carnero, mussel but the best is dwarf catfish cut into pieces then mixed with lemongrass and pepper. When chả cá is brought to the table, the guest puts some spring onion and some fish pieces into the pan with boiling oil.

Chả Cá (Grilled Chopped Fish)

Then he takes bún (vermicelli), onion, coriander, fennel and roasted peanuts along with one or two pieces of chả cá and dip them into the shrimp paste with lemon juice, chili and sometime, some belostomatid essence.

Delicious! While tasting the specialty, take a glance over the dim room full of blue smoke spiraling upwards. The air is impregnated with good smells.

Bánh Cuốn (Rolled Cake)

In Ha Noi, bánh cuốn was first made in Thanh Trì, a suburban village. Thanh Trì lies to the south-east of Hà Nội on the bank of the Red River. The inhabitants here are skilled in making the original rolled cake, as thin as paper, as clear as porcelain glaze and having a nice flavor. The flour is soft and elastic. In the past, every morning, Thanh Trì girls brought bánh cuốn to the inner area and sold it in the streets.

They carried a bamboo basket covered with a flat basket on their heads and when customers called them, they would put it down. In it there were a bottle of fish sauce, vinegar, chili, some bowls, and dishes, a dozen or so pairs of chopsticks and layers of bánh cuốn arranged over one another. Each layer of bánh cuốn had been covered with a little fat and fried pieces of onion.

Bánh Cuốn (Rolled Cake)

The huckster slowly took out each layer, rolled it and placed it on a dish to serve her customer. Banh cuon taken with hot sour sauce is really a delicious and popular food. When urban people have more sophisticated tastes, they take bánh cuốn together with giò bò (beef paste), giò lụa (lean pork pie) or chả lợn (fried pork pie). In each way, they can enjoy a special flavor. Though there are now new types of bánh cuốn, that made in Thanh Trì is still flavored by many Hanoians.

Half a century ago, a number of improved bánh cuốn stalls came into being on Ha Noi streets. They still used Thanh Trì bánh cuốn but added fillings of half-lean-half-fat port and fresh chopped shelled shrimp, fragrant mushrooms, and jelly fungus soaked in warm water and cut into small pieces with onions, fish sauce and pepper. All those ingredients are fried then put into the rolled cake which will be steamed before being .served to the customer. In the bowl of prepared fish sauce, some drops of belostomatid essence are added to give the food a flavor.

Today, at bánh cuốn stalls in Ha Noi Old Quarter, the cake. And the fillings inside the cake are made at the same time. Customers have to wait for each dish of cake and enjoy the warm and fragrant smoke, particularly on cold days. Unfortunately, belostomatid species have gradually been subjected to extinction and almost all stalls use chemical belostomatid essence. Nevertheless, the bánh cuốn stall at No. 17 Cha Ca Street still serves customers with the real belostomatid essence.

Bun Cha (Grilled Chopped Meat And Rice Vermicelli)

Thạch Lam wrote poetry-like prose to describe the attractiveness of baskets of bun cha in Ha Noi streets in the 1930’s: “When you are hungry and sitting down-wind, you smell the aromatic smoke of grilled chopped meat, you’ll be very much likely to become a poet.

Blue smoke spirals up like a misty veil on the mountain side; fat sizzles on burning coal and the bamboo fan gives the sounds like those coming from the moving branches of a tree.

The meat for making chả is of two types: for chả băm (grilled chopped meat), people use lean shoulder of pork and for chả miếng (grilled meat piece), they use belly pork. The meat is pressed between two bamboo slats, and then grilled on a small box of burning charcoal. The huckster slightly fans the flame with a small bamboo fan, just enough for the meat to be done to a turn without being burned and losing its flavor.

Bun Cha Hanoi

Bun in this dish is different from other kinds and it should be thin strands made into small rolls. The vermicelli is placed on a small tray covered with green banana leaves, in a corner of which there is some cabbage, lettuce, coriander, perilla ocymoides, cockscand mint, and particularly basil grown in Láng village. The sauce must be well-prepared with fish sauce, sugar, lemon, garlic, chili and pepper in such a manner that is neither too salty nor too sour.

Bun Cha Hanoi

The preparation of the sauce to be served with bun cha is in fact a culinary art. In the past, this specialty in Hà Nội was sold by hucksters in the streets or markets. Now it is sold everywhere, at many stalls. People no longer use bamboo slats but steel-grids and the vermicelli is not the same as in the past. Bún chả has partially lost part of its past charm.

Hà Nội's Specialties

Well-known Vietnamese writers of the 20th cen-tury such as Thạch Lam, Nguyễn Tuân and Vũ Bằng have written many articles praising Hà Nội specialties. “Hanoians take food daily but never pay atten-tion to it. 

However, if they go to other provinces for some time or even to Hải Phòng, Nam Định, they will realize how delicious Ha Noi foods is” (Thạch Lam). “Even the most delicious specialties are all available in Ha Noi Old Quarter” (Vũ Bằng).

In this booklet, we wish to review the most popular foods of Hanoians.

Phở (Noodle Soup)

In Paris, Geneva, Montreal, Sydney, and throughout the world wherever there is a Vietnamese community, there is phở. But only in Hà Nội can you fully taste its peculiar flavor. We don’t know when phở came into being but early in the 20th century the well-known phở restaurants in Hà Nội already appeared. The noodles, made from rice flour, are cut into thin and narrow strands. Before serving eaters, the seller would parboil them to make the noodles resistant but not breakable. At the request of clients, meat can be prepared separately or together with the noodles. 

Noodle Soup

Tái means thinly sliced fillets of beef, mixed with ground ginger, dipped into the boiling soup for a moment and served immediately. The fatty meat from the chest of the cow called gầu is favoured by young men. Nam means sinewy beef. Pho Ha Noi must be served with all the necessary spices: pepper, lemon, chili, onion, coriander. 

When having phở, we can feel the hotness of pepper and chili; taste the particular flavor of the other ingredients and that of tender fresh beef. All these spices are mixed and produce and particular taste of the delicious hot soup flavored with stewed beef bones, ginger and roasted onions.

That is phở served with stock. As for fried phở, the noodles must be fried until they turn yellow, mixed with fried beef and then served on a plate along with onions, spring onions, coriander, etc. Phở sốt vang is a kind of stew in which the beef, marinated in liquor, is stewed with ingredients such as anise, cinnamon, Tasaki, etc.

Noodle Soup

Beef noodle soup is traditional phở. In the early 1940’s in Hà Nội, chicken phở began to appear. In a number of phở stalls, beef was substituted with chicken. At first chicken phở was not popular. However, this food has gradually attracted the people with its peculiar taste. Some slices of lean chicken with yellowish skin are mixed with thin strands of fragrant lemon leaves, some green spring onion, coriander and red chili. “All the above ingredients are dipped into a very clear soup, giving the dish of phở a special flavor, as sweet as a Virgo, if beef phở is to be compared with a young man full of strength and spirit” (Vũ Bằng).

In Hà Nội, almost all quarters have phở restaurants but gourmets usually select a regular one for themselves. However, well-known stalls last for dozens of years only. Today in Nam Ngư Street (linking Lê Duẩn avenue to Phan Bội Châu Street), there are many phở stalls with different kinds of phở. And in Bat Dan Street, there is a “traditional Pho' stall which is favored by lots of gourmets.

Thủ Lệ Park

Thu Le Park was inaugurated in 1977. Situated on the western side of inner Hà Nội, it covers an area of 29 ha. The park owes its attractiveness primarily to the beautiful landscape with Linh Lang Lake of 80,000 m2, BÒ earth mound and a natural earthen surrounding dyke that looks like some snakes playing with one another by the lake. 

Thủ Lệ Temple (or Voi Phuc Temple) was constructed in the Lý Dynasty amongst luxuriant ficus trees (see Thủ Lệ Temple).

Tiger in Thu Le Park

Thu Le Park is also a zoo which is divided into various sections. Reptiles are grown by the lake where there are suitable caves for them. The section for birds runs along the entrance to Voi Phục Temple, with peacocks, pheasants, mandarin ducks, flamingoes, cranes, storks, and singing birds. 

There are sections for animals such as tigers, panthers, bears, lions, monkeys, elephants, dear, weasels, civets, etc. Besides these sections, there are plenty of grassed areas, recreational areas and open platforms for dancing.

The park is called Thủ Lệ because it lies in the land of Thu Le village, an ancient village that dates back at least to the Lý Dynasty (11th century). The village’s history is closely linked to that of Linh Lang to whom Voi Phuc Temple is dedicated.

Chi Lăng Park

Bordered by three roads, Trần Phú, Hoàng Diệu and Điện Biên Phủ, this nice park is named after the Chi Lăng victory over the Ming invaders on 10th October 1427. At Chi Lăng, now in Lạng Sơn province, the Vietnamese army defeated the reserve troops commanded by Liễu Thăng, leading to the liberation of Đông Đô (Hà Nội) two months later.

Chi Lang Park

Chi Lăng Park was originally a lake inside the Ha Noi Citadel (Trần Phú Road was the Citadel’s southern wall). This hike was where soldiers bathed and was called Elephant Lake. Under French domination, the Ha Noi Citadel was destroyed (1894-1897), and Hà Nội was subjected to re-planning. The lake was filled and this park was built. In the comer of the park on Hoàng Diệu Road there was a group of statues.

On the pedestal, two French soldiers were depicted, one pointing his rifle at the flag tower, the other throwing a hand-grenade. At four sides of the pedestal were representatives of the four classes of local society: man-darins, peasants, craftsmen and traders. At the front side was a peasant carrying a plough. For this reason, the park was commonly called “Farming Park”.

In 1985, a 5.2m high statue of Lenin was set up here on a 2.7m granite pedestal.

Lenin Park

This park lies between four streets namely Trần Nhân Tông, Lê Duẩn, Đại Cồ Việt and Nguyễn Đình Chiểu, and occupies an area of more than fifty hectares.

Lenin Park

Before 1958, the Ha Noi People Committee decided to transform the dump into a recreational park. At the time, all Hanoians were mobilized to voluntarily work for this project which was completed in 1960. On 11th January 1960, President Ho Chi Minh planted a memorial banyan tree in the park.

Lenin Park

As the country was then not unified yet, the park was called Thống Nhất (Unification) to show the affection of the apital’s people for their southern compatriots.

In 1975 the country was reunified. On 19th April 1980, the Ha Noi People’s Committee renamed the park after Lenin in commemoration of his 110th birth anniversary.

The park has two big gates on Trần Nhân Tông and Lê Duẩn Streets and two smaller gates on Đại Cồ Việt and Nguyễn Đình Chiểu Streets. In the park, there are many trees and flowerbeds, a large lake, tree-covered islands, recreational areas for children and quiet places for the elderly. Early in the morning, people, who live around the park, come here to do their physical exercises and to enjoy fresh air.

Every year, a “Spring Flower Festival” is held here, attracting lots of people with a wide variety of flowers and ornamental plants.

Bach Thao Park

Bách Thảo Park is located right at the back of President Hồ Chí Minh’s Mausoleum and the Presidential Palace. It covers an area of twenty hectares of land which originally belonged to Khán Xuân ward. In 1890, the French displaced the people of this ward to build a large garden for planting trees and raising animals. The garden was called Jardin botanique but Hanoians used to call it Trại Hàng Hoa (Flower Garden) or Bách Thú Garden (Zoo).

During World War II (1939-1945) the animals grown there gradually died because of lack of care. Finally, the French administration moved the remaining animals to Saigon Zoo.

Bach Thao Park

After the liberation of Hà Nội on the 10th October 1954, the State rebuilt this area and renamed it Bach Thao (Botanical) Park. At the park’s northwest corner, there is an earth mound which is usually called Khán mound or Nùng mound. It is, in fact, Sưa mound because Khán and Nùng mounds no longer exist today. Sưa is a type of hardwood, similar to iron wood.

In the past, sưa trees grew in abundance on this mound. Also on this mound, there is an ancient temple dedicated to Huyền Thiên Hắc Đế, a boy who, according to legend, helped a King of the Lý Dynasty defeat foreign invaders.

Chí Linh Park (Or Indira Gandhi Park)

Surrounded by Đinh Tiên Hoàng, Lê Lai, Lê Thạch and Ngô Quyền Streets, this park was originally part of the compound of an ancient pagoda named Phổ Giác or Tàu in Hậu Lâu village. In 1883, the French colonialists moved this pagoda to the garden of the Institute of Royal Physicians and built the Mayor’s Office, Treasury, Post Office and a park in the former’s place.

In 1886 when Resident General Paul Bert died, the French named this garden after him. A year later, a statue of Paul Bert was set up here followed by a great inauguration ceremony. This statue was placed on a stone pedestal where the present round flower basin stands, looking out to Sword Lake. Behind the statue was an eight-sided house where the military orchestra played every Saturday evening. This statue was removed in 1945.

Lý Thái Tổ

After the August 1945 Revolution, the park was renamed Chí Linh. Chí Linh is a mountain area west of Thanh Hóa province which was the base of the uprising led by Lê Lợi in the 15th century. The park’s name is apparently associated with the Lake of the Restored Sword and the legend of King Lê Lợi returning his sword to the Turtle God.

On the lake’s west bank there is a temple and a statue dedicated to the King. Around the lake, apart from Lê Thái Tổ (Lê Lợi) Street, there are streets named after this King’s generals: Lê Thạch, Lê Lai, Nguyễn Xí and Trần Nguyên Hãn.

In order to strengthen the Indo-Việt Nam friend-ship, since 1984, the park has been named after the late Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi.