Hanoi Tour
It’s a fair guess that everyone must have known or at least heard of Hanoi city or, the famous Turtle tower in the middle of Sword Lake, the heart of the city.
For those who have never been to my homeland, you must be wondering why or what makes this place so interesting?
With a long history of fighting and surviving wars, Vietnam, in general, has adopted some of the Western countries’ traditions, namely the French or Americans. The language and architectural designs are greatly influenced by their culture decades ago. If you walk around the central streets near Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc Square, you will easily find old houses or famous buildings that are built with French architectural style and it brought an ancient and romantic, like the French, vibe to the city.
Though, that’s not exactly what I wanted to talk about. There is another hidden beauty that not many people noticed, an inner charm that is actually why so many people fell in love with this city.
Yes, you are right. It’s the people of this land.
I spent a Sunday afternoon walking around and taking pictures of random people around Sword Lake. It was my first time asking strangers for pictures so I was quite skeptical of how that afternoon would turn out. To be more specific, I asked streets workers.
Most of them were shy and didn’t want to be on the camera. Some were hesitant at first but still let me took a photo of them. They are janitors, street vendors, and street photographers.
His name is Minh Hieu and he’s a street photographer. He is now 80 and has been doing this for the last 47 years. When I asked his permission to take a picture of him, he said he would have let me if he had a customer earlier that day. Turns out, to photographers, being filmed or photographed before having any customers will bring bad luck to that day. In his case, it had been 3 days wandering around waiting for customers.
He needed a customer and I wanted a picture of him. Somehow, I believed we were meant to meet each other that day and so, I became his first guest that day. In return, not only did I get such a lovely picture of the man, I got to listen to his story of how he was 80 and still worked as a street photographer, how to properly take a picture of someone and he even introduced me to his shop, where my souvenirs were printed.
Hanoi is truly a beautiful place, not just for the view but mainly because of the people who live there. Each person has their own stories, journeys that they want to share with everyone. Those tales could be what inspired them or an experience that they learned the hard way and now hope others won’t have to go through the same struggles.
Hanoi is truly a beautiful place not just for the view but mainly because of the people who live there. Each person has their own stories, journies that they want to share with everyone. Those tales could be what inspired them or an experience that they learned the hard way and now hope others won’t have to go through the same struggles.