Explore The Old Street Of Lan Ong And Hidden Tales In The Heart Of Hanoi

Just like that, the walk seamlessly blended into life in Hanoi through the stories as told by FVH volunteer Nguyễn Phương Loan, and by the locals that the group met on the way.

Participants had the chance to learn about the special hidden corners in the heart of Hanoi that they had never noticed before. No. 6A Luong Van Can looks like an everyday children’s toy shop, but is actually the location of a temple right inside the house. Upon closer look, you could see the sign written in Chinese characters and two temple pillars on the house roof. Meanwhile, Xuan Yen Temple, which worships Princess Lan Ngoc at No. 44 Hang Can and the next-door No. 42 have an old-style mezzanine and doors, which can only be seen if you travel on foot and have a really keen eye.

One walk around the area could reveal numerous spiritual places in the heart of the old town. The special thing is that no matter how noisy the streets of Hanoi are outside, as you enter a communal house yard, or through a temple’s door, every sound quieted down and a peaceful feeling emerges. The group paid a visit to Dong Mon communal house on Hang Vai Street and met the guard of Tan Khai communal house on Hang Gai Street, from whom they learned tremendous interesting stories about communal houses in the old town centre. He told them a tale about a couplet sentence about Đức Long Đỗ – “Long Đỗ Trung Linh” in the most sacred royal temple Kính Thiên. Rarely did young people have the opportunity to listen to the tale of the couplets and the historical stories, and learned about the Nguyen dynasty temple.

Lan Ong Street – the centre of the walk – according to Loan, is one of the most unique features in Hanoi Old Quarter with prominent signs of cultural convergence, which include the features of ancient Vietnam, of France in the colonial period, and of China, as this was an area where many Chinese resided in the past.

Previously, only one-storey houses could be built on this street, as legends said that they were not allowed to be taller than the king’s palanquin when he visited. Then when the French colonialists came, some houses had a second floor with French-style balconies. However, on Lan Ong Street, you can also find a number of houses with large doors that consisted of four or eight parts, in accordance with Chinese architecture. Throughout the course of history until the modern days, the street has been enriched with a myriad of unique features.

It was difficult to fully describe the moments of the walk in words because, in the hearts of the participants, the tour was also made up of sensations, scents and sounds on the streets. It carried the scent of oriental medicine that filled Lan Ong medicinal street, of incense inside communal houses and temples, and of bamboo logs on Hang Vai Street. The atmosphere of a Hanoi autumn afternoon with the daily rhythm of the city is something that can only be felt and is difficult to describe.