Hanoi, Vietnam is the second largest city and the capital of Vietnam. I have lived there for the past five years and if I am being honest, I think it’s one of the best places that I’ve ever lived in – it’s safe, it’s pretty clean, and it has developed impressively fast since the American-Vietnam War that ended around 50 years ago.

For this blog post, I will be talking about some interesting things that I learned about Hanoi while I was there.

• The word “Hanoi” actually means the “city between two rivers.” I’m not completely sure why it is named that, but it may be because it is between the Red River and the South China Sea.
• The Long Bien bridge used to be one of the largest bridges in Asia and it was designed by the same architect who designed the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty, Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel.
• The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum actually has a display of the body of the Former Prime Minister Ho Chi Minh who fought against the American and French soldiers during the American-Vietnam War.
• Hanoi is filled with old architecture by the French and the Chinese. Examples are below:

         

• Most things in Hanoi are unbelievably cheap!
• The average height for men in Hanoi is approximately 166cm (5’4”) and for women it’s 155cm (5’1”)
• Pho (pronounced as “feau” in a French accent) is a popular and healthy noodle dish in Vietnam. I’ve had it multiple times and it’s better than any noodles that I’ve ever had.

Well, that’s just a little bit about Hanoi from me! If anyone has anything specific that they would like to know more about, I would be happy to answer 🙂