Farewell Hanoi

I’ve spent quite a few nights in the Old Quarter of Hanoi, Vietnam over 2 trips, the first in 2014.

If you’ve been, you remember well the entertaining, chaotic traffic. 😀

Hanoi has already started implementing a motorbike ban, beginning with petrol-powered motorbikes inside Ring Road 1 on July 1, 2026. These restrictions aim to combat the city’s severe air pollution, progressively phasing out fossil-fuel vehicles

I’ll believe that when I see it. 😀

I did see tourist areas blocked off for the evening in some other cities. Restaurants and bars could spill on to the street as they do in Europe.

There’s much to see and do in Hanoi, however.

I was moved by the Hanoi Hilton (Hỏa Lò Prison) museum. This is where John McCain spent parts of his five and a half years as a POW during the American war.

Both my visits I was very impressed with the Roman Catholic Church of Cửa Bắc.

Of course, tourists love the inexpensive local restaurants.

This time I wasn’t allowed into the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. I had a drone in my backpack which was detected going through the metal detector. Busted.

In fact, taking this photo from quite a distance and outside the fence, armed guards came to chase me away.

No worries. Images of Ho Chi Minh are everywhere.

He was the founder and first president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam from 1945 until his death in 1969.

He was worldly having worked on ships from 1911 to 1917. This included stops in the USA.

He lived in France for years. Then moved to Moscow in 1923. And to China in November 1924. In Canton, Hồ organized the Association of Vietnamese Youth.

It wasn’t until 1941 that Ho Chi Minh returned to Vietnam to lead the Việt Minh independence movement.

I passed St. Joseph’s Cathedral often, staying in a nearby hostel.