Visiting Hanoi Vietnam (Sept 2009) Part 1

Hanoi the capital of Vietnam with it's population 4 million presently.
In the fall of 1010, King Ly Thai To (Ly Cong Uan) moved the capital from Hoa Lu to Dai La. On the way, the king saw a vision of a golden dragon ascending from the Red river ( song Hong). The King decided to change Dai La to Thang Long (Ascending Dragon). Thang Long remained the capital city until the end of the Tran dynasty when in 1397, the capital city was moved to Thanh Hoa -Tay Do (Western Capital) and Thang Long became Dong Do (Eastern Capital).

Vietnam was invaded by China in 1407, and the city was renamed Dong Quan. In 1428, after ten years of fighting, Le Loi liberated Vietnam and renamed the city Dong Kinh. In 1527, the city was renamed Thang Long. In 1802 when King Gia Long (Nguyen Dynasty) moved the capital city to Hue, the name Thang Long remained but, Long no longer means dragon, Long in this case means prosperity. Ha Noi, was the name given to the city by King Minh Mang in 1831. Ha means river and Noi means within - Ha Noi means within the river.

Hoan Kiem (or Lake of the Restored Sword) was once part of the Red river (song Hong). Throughout thousands of years of geographical changes, the lake moved eastward to its present position kilometers from the river. Before the famous historical legend of King Le Loi here, Hoan Kiem Lake used to be called Luc Thuy Lake (or Green Water Lake) since the water was green all the year round. In 15th century, it was named Hoan Kiem Lake after the legend of Emperor Le Thai To, which is somehow similar to the story of King Arthur and the Lady of the Lake's.

Now please close your eyes and turn back time to the Le Dynasty 6 centuries ago to witness the legendary story. During the war against the Minh aggressors, King Le Thai To was given a precious fairy Sword by the Golden Turtle God. After 10 years of continuous struggling, the King finally defeated the Chinese and reclaimed the nations independence. After that, on a nice day, while boating on lake Luc Thuy, a large turtle came towards him.

It immediately grabbed the sword with its mouth and submerged. The king mourned the lost of such a valuable sword, yet could not find either the turtle or the sword. He realized that the God must have lent him the sword to drive back the enemy, but then that his nation was free, the sword must be returned. Hence, King Le Thai To named the lake Ho Hoan Kiem or Lake of the Restore Sword after this episode.
Some believe the turtle living in the lake now is the very one that took away King Le Lois sword, as this species can live as long as 500 or even 700 years.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• hoan
• kiem
• lake
• vietnam
• richard
• fishman
• fishman24
• malaysia
• travel
• tour
• trip
• visit
• town
• capital
• history
• legend
• turtle
• hanoi
• sonychia
• traveller
• backpack

[petervalientes]

Đảng ta mừng quốc khánh Tàu

Thăng Long lể hội cuối dầu ngàn năm

[fishman25]

@petervalientes but they say the oil in this world is going to finish within this 20 or 30 yrs ????

[xiaoping1303]

Hanoi is still a poor city; we can see lots of people who have to use motorbike to go to work b/c they can't enough money to buy car; Hanoi people are very poor& uneducated

[fishman25]

actually xiaoping, I think vietnam have move up correctly, they are infact at the highest rate for economic progress among sea countries, even some does beleived that in another 5 yrs they might be better then Malaysia. I wouldnt say Hanoi people are poor but actually they are very clean from corrucption therefore leading to very very low inflation. e.g their food is cheap therefore they dont need a very high pay to survive. :) this is very healthy

[fishman25]

another thing, about the car, vietnam's have to many hills and with its population 90 mill ... cars is a very bad idea and i think its the govnt decision for this.

[vinhpham55]

move your cam slower !

[fishman25]

ok  ok :)

[JinZin1986]

Ah i love your vid, makes me miss VN even more! I haven't been there for 3 years, I love my country sooo much! God bless VN and its wonderful people.

[Brunoburgh]

Hanoi is to celebrate its 1000 year anneversary this october right?

[FixYourError]

@fishman25

Hanoi people are extremly poor. They might not be as poor as many african countries. But compared to China or Japan. THey are extremely poor.

[thiensongnhi]

@Brunoburgh Yep! They will started celebrating 1000 years of the capital from Oct.1st to Oct.10th. It will be huge! If somebody is thinking of visiting, this would be the perfect time. It is just that I don't think you can book for many hotels now since I read somewhere that Hanoi is now short of accommodations for visitors...

[0SPACEB0Y]

@KatiushaVN4 nam taxes suck, no wonder you are so poor and always making racist comments towards east asians, whites, blacks, etc. you are just jealous. all you ever do is make dumbass comments on here to put others down, in an attempt to make you look better than the others. it doesnt work. we can see right through you! LOL

[KatiushaVN4]

@xiaoping1303

You sound as if people in Beijing are all rich. Whole bunch of people there are damn poor. For your information, for the same car, the car in Vietnam costs 3 times more than in China due to high tax in Vietnam

[se2cond]

@xiaoping1303 Hey hey wacth ur mouth........ the Whole vietnam does'nt use CAR as a thing to RIde yet MOst the People Use motorbike. ......... to ride... and not everyone need a car... lol

[KLAVkun]

@xiaoping1303 you shouldn't say we are uneducated. even if we are still poor, it just doesn't mean we are uneducated. watch what you say