@nonplussed1,
Hanoi ancient city
I still remember the feeling when I first arrived in Hanoi. That was uncomfortable even I was anxious when lost in the streets which was the akin names and horizontally along with dozens of shops are selling the same product category where the restaurants were built as mushroom on the busy roads and vehicles and people moved as loom. However, these feeling gradually passed and instead of love has replaced when I realized life is full of bustling the Hanoi people.
I have an American girl named Jennifer Nielson, she has lived for almost a year working in Hanoi Old Quarter, she said: “at first I was scared when walking in town because I couldn’t go on the pavement and felt as cars to be thrust me, but I have found a " pass " where I could be there all day just to watch the activity occurs. The most interesting thing in town was sat in restaurants or cafes on the second or third floor and looked at the people, cars are moving or looked at the homes where has porch with birds is singing in cages and daily life of the family around the home. At that time make me understand and experience about Hanoi old quarter.
There was an abundance of detail which is included both architecture and human life such as: temples, street vendors, small streets, markets and sidewalk cafes. Foreigners who come to Hanoi as caught up in a land of endless dishes, from traditional dishes of Vietnam such as grilled pork with noodle “bun cha”, Noodles soup “Pho “, fish soup “Chao ca” and noodles and fish” bun ca” … in the small restaurants on the pavement to the shoulder fighting street vendors selling duck eggs, fried cake, noodles and snails, tofu noodles and shrimp sauce, crab vermicelli mixture. In order to serve foreign tourists, the restaurants eventually coming up with all sorts of food imported from abroad as French toast, pasta and Italian pizza, Japanese sushi, green curry chicken or Thai soup, beef steak or French, Korean’s Kim Chi. The old Town is very special for me, it's like a general store with a huge area where merchants and craftsmen with a commodity business - something I can not see the United States.
One important event had related to Old quarter as I knew that was event from 1994 when Vietnam National Administration of Tourism opened the door and encouraged the tourism developed. This working had changed the face of older quarter as restaurants, hotels were built and travel agencies were established every where with variety different tours option. Absolutely as good result, the number of foreigner comes to Vietnam increasingly larger and they aren’t impossible to stay in older quarter for few days in their itinerary obviously. All of things are constituted the source energy which of rising smokeless industry and making Vietnam and Hanoi older quarter becomes new destinations of the millennium.