Life in the Old Quarter

Old Quarter at night

Ha Noi's Old Quarter pulses with activity and energy - not the hectic big-city energy of Ho Chi Minh City, but with the heartbeat of locals and tourists alike living, working, and playing in the narrow streets and multi-floor, skinny buildings. The streets teem with motorbikes, bicycles, cyclos, cars, and street vendors; life happens on the street. People stop by their regular coffee shops and stores; businesses work to help each other. If you order sticky rice for breakfast at your hotel, someone runs across the street to buy it from the sticky rice lady.

This and below: common Old Quarter sights - how do you put this in an apartment building?

Near the bridge leading to the airport, you can see a partially-built apartment complex. Apparently, the government is offering incentives for residents to move out of the increasingly crowded Old Quarter and into the suburbs. The buildings remain partially built and mostly empty, because people don't want to move.

In the 13th century, Ha Noi's craft guilds established themselves on specific streets, which took the names of the products being manufactured and sold. Old Quarter streets still carry those names: Hang Gai (silk), Hang Bac (silversmithing), Hang Mam (pickled fish), Lo Su (coffins). With a few exceptions (Hang Gai still has a number of silk suppliers and clothing stores), the streets don't sell their original wares. However, there are still "theme streets"  - Shoe Street, Snack Food Street, Children's Toys Street, Quilt Batting Street.....

The alleys are equally busy packed. These aren't alleys as we think of them in Canada - they're basically extra narrow streets winding off a larger street. Even in an alley barely wide enough to drive a motorcycle through, there are vendors, houses, and even hotels.

Typical alley scene

We made a few trips to the Dong Xuan market while in Ha Noi. This is not a tourist market, but an anything-you-need market for locals. I suspect that this market supplies many of the Old Quarter businesses. The second floor of the market is mostly fabric sellers; this is where I came during our last trip to buy fabric. This time, I found Vietnamese and Chinese silk (and pretty much any other fabric you could name....no fake fur though) for between $3 and $10/m.

Market as viewed from the second floor

Very small portion of the fabric section

Fabric shopping should always be this much fun!

The aisles are barely wide enough to walk down. And there are endless numbers of stalls smacked right next to each other. One stall we stopped at was deep and narrow, with fabric stacked to the ceiling. The stall owner had placed boards over stacks of fabric, forming stairs to back of the stall. When I seemed interested in looking at fabric at the top and back, she motioned me to climb in. So, I did! It was incredibly hot, surrounded by fabric under the fluorescent light that I kept hitting my head on. All the stall owners in the area began to not-so-subtly gather, and seemed to find the whole thing quite amusing. Always glad to help out.

Anyway, I bought some fabric, the stall owner gave us a couple of what turned out to be guavas, and everyone had their entertainment for the day.