Clockwise from upper left: Hanoi at night, lake side park, street food, food fest (Photos by Don Knebel)
Today, we begin a visit to Vietnam, traveling from Hanoi in the north to Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, in the south.
Vietnam, approximately the size and shape of California, has a population of almost 101 million, about 2.5 times that of California. Twenty-four percent of the population is under the age of 15, almost twice that of the United States. Residents of Vietnam own and ride more than 70 million motorcycles, making it the world’s fourth largest motorcycle market. Because the cities contain very few crosswalks, residents and visitors must learn the art of motorcycle dodging to cross most busy streets.
Hanoi is located on the western bank of the Red River, about 300 miles from Vietnam’s northern border with China. The city’s name means “inside the river” but it is often called the “city of lakes,” with picturesque lake-side parks. Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, is currently home to 78 embassies. Since relationships with the United States were normalized in 1995, the economy of Hanoi has grown rapidly and the city now has one of the world’s highest rates of GDP growth. The city is becoming a popular tourist destination, with four million foreign visitors in 2023, a three-fold increase over 2022. As a result, the city is beginning to take on the look of a major international city, with high rise hotels, trendy restaurants and bars and, of course, fast food outlets. But visitors to the “Old Quarter,” the historic city core, can still find Hanoi’s famous street foods, with seating available at sidewalk tables outside the tiny kitchens, at least until the police come to remove them. Guides can identify those vendors whose food will not ruin your next day. In the coming columns, we will take a closer look at Hanoi’s long history, including its history during the Vietnam War.