Back in a real city, that’s for sure.

Once again we had struck gold with our accommodation, opting to stay at the Splendid Star Grand. Despite some renovation happening to the downstairs area due to recent flooding it was a friendly place with a good buffet breakfast. Located slap bang in the middle of the warren of alleyways that make up the old quarter, alleys which were so narrow in fact that we had to walk quite a way with our bags (this is becoming a frequent occurrence!).

Bizarrely when we made it up to our 7th floor room we saw we had a cathedral view – not something you would expect in Asia! The exterior of St Joseph Cathedral (completed 1886) is a little grey, modelled (as so many are) on Notre Dame – its interior is brighter. We made it inside one Sunday morning and it was packed for mass.

What was interesting was the atmosphere in the square in front of it, it had a truly European feel – the french quarter wasn’t far away to be fair – but its rooftop bars and roadside cafes felt of a different pace and continent to most of the city.

We made one our regular local haunt, La Place mainly because of the crayons available to draw on the paper tablecloths and the laidback atmosphere.

In order to sustain ourselves in the blistering heat we had to find quite a few spots of sanctuary across the city to get some much needed refreshment and write some diaries – a couple of favourites were the Hanoi Social Club which has regular music nights in this 3-storey converted house (built in 1924) and Xofa where it took us a long time to get a slot on a table with ac and a sofa but we made it.

The square kilometre that makes up the old quarter is also called the 36 streets, referring to the 36 professional and artisan guilds which once operated there. Its what the street names refer to and still today goods are sold in blocks, you know where you are if you are surrounded by jewellery for sale, or stainless steel water pipes, musical instruments, gravestones, pots of paint etc etc.

Where we stayed had two identical sides to it – easily confused, especially on the way back after a sweaty run. Another interesting architectural trait are the ‘tube-houses’: evolved from narrow market stalls, taxes were rated on the size of the street frontages, so the building would contain successive rooms leading back into courtyards, sometimes up to 60m long.

Hanoi can be translated as ‘bend in the river’ and its spiritual heart is certainly over water. Tom and I separately scaled the dizzying heights of Long Bien bridge during a sunrise city run, over a mile long and reserved for trains, motorbikes and pedestrians, with views both of the city’s bustling life and the calmness of the green fields surrounding the Red river.

A popular tourist activity is getting as close as possible to the train tracks – so much so a series of cafes have popped up there, although trains only pass by sporadically.

Hoan Kiem Lake is really the heart of the city, built upon a legend of the great Vietnamese hero Le Loi, who found a sword whilst fishing on the lake, which he used to win a battle against the Chinese. When he returned to the lake, a golden turtle surfaced and took the sword. Two giant turtles are preserved in a back room of the Ngoc Son Temple and worth a view.

You find the temple by walking across the red Huc bridge. The ‘turtle tower’ on the other side of the lake isn’t terribly exciting, built in the 19th century.

The legend and other local stories are reenacted brilliantly in a performance at the Water Puppet Theatre, something not to miss. Performances happen three or four times a day, and include a troupe of musicians and a series of 15 or so scenes, including a dragon boat race and ride on a buffalo.

We did venture to West Lake (which has another legend regarding its formation, about a buffalo calf) in the heat, promised some rides on swans but the humidity was too much so we only paused for refreshments at Highlands Coffee and a welcome lunch at Paris Baguette (a Korean brand!) with a passing look at the Quan Thanh and Tay Ho temples.

A visit to the Ba Dinh district gives plenty of history lessons. We started out at the fascinating Temple of Literature, which felt like an oxbridge college with its symbolic series of courtyards and focus on scholarship. Dedicated in 1070, a series of ‘stele’ or stones record the results of a state examination for potential mandarins. Further on we were entertained by some traditional music and enjoyed finding a giant drum and bell as well as an octagonal pagoda.

The imposing Hi Chi Minh Mausoleum was only viewable from the outside, and the walk around this area was pretty forbidding given the heat and military presence. That said we did enjoy finding the One Pillar Pagoda and its neighbouring Quan Am sanctuary.

We went on to the Ho Chi Minh Museum – inaugurated in 1990 to celebrate 100 years since the great leader’s birth. Every city in Vietnam must have a museum dedicated to Ho Chi Minh, so we felt we should experience at least one and this was quite an entertaining experience!! The displays were initially blatant propaganda material – and grew increasingly surreal – the 19th century summed up by a hall of mirrors, the future generations by a giant table with a plate of artificial fruit.

We spent a night at the grand Opera House, watching a performance called ‘My Village’ which was an jaw-dropping display of acrobatic dexterity, loosely giving an insight into Vietnamese daily village life.

The jugglers using the ‘see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’ mantra were a highlight, as was a girl who could move like a crab for a worrying amount of time up and down bamboo poles. We got soaked in a downpour on route to the theatre so had to sit in damp clothes throughout the performance!

Food wise we were again in heaven. For our first lunch we took to the streets and sampled Bun Cha (pork burgers and strips of bacon served with rice noodles and a sweet soup) for the first time – an incredible taste sensation. We also enjoyed sampling street food around the night market area and never quite got Tom his Bia Hoi moment, but got close!

One day food became the main focus: when we decided to take a grab out to Le Mat snake village, selecting the Hung Snake restaurant (3rd top restaurant in Hanoi on Trip Advisor!). We chose a bamboo snake which was killed in front of us and then prepared into 11 standalone dishes – including the beating heart, spinal cord and the crispy skin which Joanna enjoyed….

Vietnam and Cambodia are increasingly establishing restaurants which have a social mission, to help give street children a vocation. We went to KOTO, close to the Temple of Literature, staffed by street kids training in hospitality.

We loved Vietnam. The hustle and bustle (i.e. crazy traffic which seemed to work!) the trains, the planes, the food, the people. A place we hope to return to and one we highly recommend.