Here is another tranquil view of my favorite place - Truch Bach lake.
One of the things that you could do to amuse yourself on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon in Hanoi is to walk around any of the lakes in the city. As mentioned before, there are 6-7 lakes inside Hanoi city and just looking around some gives you the kind of quiet pleasure that only these lakes can provide.
So on this particular day, I went walking up Tran Vu and snapping a few pictures of life around the lakeside. There are the usual quaint coffee shops along the lake on Tran Vu road wherein local Hanoians drink the local coffee brew while sitting on low wooden stools on the sidewalk (literally saying that the sidewalk is the public property of the people 
).
There is the little island of weeping willows (2 of them actually), which some enterprising residents in the area put up brightly-colored plastic chairs and tables to serve traditional coffee. It is also the area wherein old men play some form of backgammon to gamble sometimes.
There are also some nice places to spend your afternoons too, on a rather classier setting. There is the Nguyen Son bakery at the end of Tran Vu road, nearer to Than Nien street. Located atop a houseboat, the bakery cum outdoor café serves little mouth-watering chocolate and mouse cakes at 15,000 VND a tiny piece, as well as ice cream with a few flavors (not sure what the brand is, wasn’t indicated), and coffee and other drinks.
The best part of the Nguyen Son bakery is you could sit on the rooftop terrace and have a great view of Truch Bach lake. For me, it is a better view of the lakes here, with the except of the Highland Coffee place overlooking Tay Ho lake – but that’s for a spectacular view of the sunset over Hanoi! At night you see a lot of these lovers perched on motorbikes lining the whole length of Than Nien street (locally known as Lovers Lane) which separates Truch Bach from Tay Ho lake (otherwise known as West Lake).
My favorite afternoon pastime is to sit beside this place and soak into the writings of Osho, my favorite Indian mystic and philosopher.
Brightly-colored plastic chairs and tables under weeping willows lend a romantic air to this little lakeside cafe. Have a drink of traditional Vietnamese coffee at 10,000 dong only, complete with wifi you can steal from the neighbors.
Tags: blogging in hanoi, Fabulous in Hanoi, Hanoi, hanoi lifestyle, hanoi resident, living in hanoi, shopping in Hanoi, things to do in hanoi, Vietnam, Vietnam coffee houses, Vietnamese coffee
January 22, 2009 at 10:19 pm
Hi Maria!
Yes, it’s a bit quiet here in Hanoi during the long TET holiday. This year TET starts on January 26 and supposedly ends on February 1. But in reality, the Vietnamese like to start going home to the provinces the week before TET holiday — and it can lead up to 1-2 weeks into February.
For stores being open here, I’m afraid majority of them will be closed. Perhaps for a few, like the silk and curio shops along the Old Quarter, there might still be some open. Most restaurants will be closed, except for those servicing foreigners.
You can try coming in on a later date – like Feb 2. By then, the shops will be open. Anyway, have a great TET holiday/Chinese New Year celebration.
Fabulous in Hanoi