A Day in the Old Quarter, Hanoi

Tube houses in the Old Quarter

The Old Quarter, Hanoi, is the oldest neighbourhood in Vietnam. It is a maze of 36 streets and guilds created in the 13th century. Each street was occupied by artisans and merchants specialised in a particular trade and until today, they still reflect this specialization. The purpose of street specialization was to serve the needs of the royal palace at that time. Its iconic architecture is the tube houses: houses with long but narrow rooms. (www.vietnamonline.com and en.wikipedia.org) It now houses many hotels, restaurants and souvenir shops. 

If you are wondering what life is like in the Old Quarter today, well, let me paint you the picture. A typical day in the Old Quarter normally starts as early five a.m. as the sun in Hanoi rises at about six a.m. When I peeped out from the hotel window, I saw a florist sorting out her flowers on the ground and loading them on her bicycle. On the other hand, the sticky rice seller brought her basket of sticky rice covered with banana leaves. She then settled herself on the five foot way of a shop which was still closed. She sat and waited for her customers. In no time, her regular customers came and bought for takeaway. Some even sat beside her and ate.  

A balloon sellers walking around with colourful balloons

Next to the sticky rice seller, another vendor selling winter jackets laid a plastic on the ground and then her pile of jackets for sale on top of the plastic. In a short while, a few Vietnamese ladies came and checked out her jackets. Some even stopped their motorbikes and tried the jackets before buying. Her business was good. As the stock ran low quickly, she closed her business for a while and disappeared. About ten minutes later, she came back with more jackets and started back her business. 

The chaotic traffic in the Old Quarter

At about seven a.m., Vietnamese music and announcements were blaring on the streets' loud speakers. The traffic started to build up around the Old Quarter's narrow roads. Those who were on their motorbikes and cars hooted their horns to signal oncoming vehicles. The traffic was chaotic. Pedestrians walked on the road as most of the five foot ways were taken up by the hawkers. Crossing the road needed some skills. Pedestrians needed to walk slowly and not to run when crossing the road. The logic behind this was cyclists and motorcyclists would have time to avoid the pedestrians if they walked slowly across. Running across the busy roads would just confuse them! 

Customers eating noodle soup at the roadside stall

As the day was getting brighter, more and more vendors and hawkers went around peddling their goods ranging from fresh produce to household and prayer items like the feather dusters and even prayer joss papers. Most of the vendors were women. Roadside stalls selling pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) and other Vietnamese street food as breakfast were filled with the locals.  

A woman vendor with a shoulder pole to balance the two trays of vegetables walking around the Old Quarter

A vendor selling fresh produce on her bicycle

A hawker selling Vietnamese breakfast

The cyclos or trishaws were looking for customers to give them a ride around the Old Quarter. They would smile and shout out "one hour" repeatedly to the tourists. What they meant was they were offering to take the passengers around for one hour for a fare which was to be negotiated.

Cyclos passing the Hoan Kiem Lake

At busy road junctions and corners, xe om (pronounced as say ohm) or a motorbike taxis were waiting for their customers. Usually, they would be hanging around their motorcycles and they had a spare helmet with them. Then, as pedestrians passed by, they would ask them whether they need a ride. 

A xe om waiting for customer

To sum up, Old Quarter is always bustling with life. Most of the Vietnamese are vendors, merchants and workers in the tourism and food industries. I would say that the Vietnamese are a  hardworking bunch. They start their work or business early in the morning and end very late at night. So, this is what makes Old Quarter a very busy neighbourhood.

Have you been to the Old Quarter? How do you like the life in the Old Quarter? Feel free to share with me.