I stumbled upon a zoo yesterday, believe it or not!
I knew there was a zoo nearby but what I didn't know what how near that was. My bad sense of direction meant that although I've been here since last Friday, I am still struggling to get my bearings in this place. We are off Dao Tan main road in Hanoi, with Dae Woo Hotel being the most famous landmark here, I guess.
I had passed the lake, which I have come to know now as Thu Le Lake or Ho Thu Le a few times for the pass few days, but never though the zoo was there. Each time hubby and I walked pass to get to the other end of the road, to Kim Ma Road, the thing that caught our eye the most was the swan boats floating in the middle of the lake. We saw many of the swan boats floating around so serenely that we told ourselves that we should try it one day. One fine day.
We never ventured further around the lake and thus we never knew that the swan boats were at the entrance of the zoo, sort of. Until yesterday.
At about half pass 1, I had decided to put on my shoes and bundle myself up in a jacket and long pants, while my scarf wrap around my neck, since the sun shone quite warmly in the morning. Enough of exploring the city virtually, it was time to get the real action!
Walking out, I had already decided that I had wanted to spend at least 2 hours walking about the nearby areas. And that before doing that, I wanted to get some snacks for myself from the shop that hubby frequented. So off I went, heading straight for the unassuming little bakery nearby the busy junction of Kim Ma and Lieu Giai Road.
Armed with my breads, I continued walking along the Kim Ma stretch, heading towards Nyugen Chi Thanh direction, with another lake to my right, Ho Ngoc Khanh or Lake Ngoc Khanh. Oh ya, something about this lake from hubby. He once said, he saw people fishing out a dead body from this lake during one of the days he was in office! Seemed like the person got too drunk and slipped into heavenly waters, no pun intended. It's the lake that we will be facing soon, if all goes alright.
Walked beside the lake a about 5 minutes before I decided to cross the road the other side. Where there are shops to look at and lanes to peek into whilst walking. A note about crossing the busy streets in Hanoi. Just cross, when you see a gap big enough between traffic. Just wade through the flowing traffic. Keep a steady line and you should be able to get to the other side safely enough. The oncoming bicycles, bikes and vehicles will be honking at you, but fret not, it's just their way of alerting you they are coming. They will not bang you down, or at least not I've not seen that yet.
Back to walking. Saw some pizzarias, vn eateries, a minimart which carried Bear Beer that caught my eye (made a mental note that I should go back there to take a closer look), and of course, lots of Japanese and Korean restaurants. Really. Dao Tan and Kim Ma seem to be invaded by them. I didn't see that many Vietnamese restaurants here, not counting the stalls by the roadside and the cafes.
Passed by some five foot way carparks, crossed some lanes which I didn't venture into, passed some flower and fruits stalls and of course battled with constant honking and dustiness of the roads. I had kept myself on the main road since I didn't have a map with me and as I said, my sense of direction is appalling.
The one road I decided to turn into was sort of a furniture road. I didn't know that but since it seemed like a very busy road, I decided to turn and have a short walk along it. I would say about 95% of the shops there sold furnitures! Old, new, modern, chinese style tables, chairs, desks, cupboards, trolleys, babycots, altars, and so much more made of wood mostly. There was a shop or two which actually served as furniture making shop, as I saw their workers grinding the surface of a table and another working on cutting the wood using a motorized sawing machine.
After a while, I got bored. They were all furnitures, and only furnitures. Nothing much else to see except wooden things and shop workers idling around. Traffic was busy, as in most streets in Hanoi. I turned around and headed out to the main road after walking for about 20 minutes.
Trusting my crooked bearings, I crossed the busy junction to the opposite side. Went to into a bakery and bought myself another 2 buns. This was a western style bakery, though, and of course, the prices were western. After paying, got out and walked into another busy road, which I now think is Le Thanh road.
For a busy road, it's quite small. Anyhow, it's two way traffic here, and as I walked there, the sound of siren caught my attention. Looking ahead, quite towards the middle of the road, I saw a stationary ambulance in a swarm of stationary motorbikes and cars. They seemed to be stuck there, trying very hard to wriggle their way out of the mess. I walked on, passing by some shops selling food, clothing, and a mobile shop.
As I walked further away from the junction, heading towards the seemingly unmoving traffic, I began to see furniture shops, yet again. Seems like this road is the extension of the road I just left earlier. Or the start of it. Trade specification, maybe? One road, one main trade. Some of the shops bore same names as those on the road I was on before. My guess was this must be a tourist hound or else they won't be having that many branches almost at the same road. It's that way back at home in Melaka's Jonker.
It didn't cross my mind how bad the traffic was until I had to weave in and out at the five foot way, avoiding some motorbikes with had the smart idea of squeezing into any available spot, just to move ahead. Yes, I literally had to hunt for space to walk at the road side as walking along the five foot way was out of the question (various furniture laid out for display).
The ambulance managed to squirm out of the traffic, taking a turn towards one of the small lanes nearby. The rest of the traffic remained stuck, or literally inching forward. I continued walking, all the time trying to guess if the traffic would clear up by the time I reached the end of the road. My first time witnessing a major jam in Hanoi. You could see the drivers and riders getting frustrated in this situation. Stuck and totally not moving, especially those in the middle.
As I walked ahead, those that just came in from Kim Ma heading into the road towards Nguyen Chic Thanh and Le Thanh Road opted to make a U turn to release themselves from that nightmare, which I thought all of them should have done so! I walked faster then, getting bored of the traffic and when I got into open space, at the junction, I was so relieved. Goodbye, bad jam and good luck, man!
At that point I didn't know where I was, but I saw a lake, fronted by a chinese temple across the main road. Icon4 tower sat majestically at my left, separated by a little roundabout. I headed straight for the temple and the lake. Very Chinese. Reminded me of a little of Cheng Hoon Theng back home, there were similarities in the architecture. Similar but not the same. I went in.
It wasn't a big temple, at least I didn't think so. But the lake was huge. Then I saw Resco Tower at the other end, and realized the lake was the same swan boat lake, but I was instead at the other end. I felt funnily silly as when I passed by the lake earlier at the other side, I had wanted to venture towards the swan boat area and round the lake to take a better look but decided to postpone it until I got back. Fate, what more could I say.
It was serenely there, with mostly couples relaxing by the lake and locals taking walks. Trees lined up the path along the lake and rubbish. Yes, it was quite dirty there, in my humble opinion. Other than that, everything else was okay, quite picturesque. The entrance to the main temple itself was like 80 meters inside. Quite a small temple actually, but with a big compound. Ahead I could there some sort of a small playground and so I went.
That's when I saw the fencing dividing the temple grounds that the lake. And saw the ticketing booth. I went in, saw two ladies sitting beside the booth, one in uniform of sorts, and knew I couldn't skip the entrance fee. I paid my dues, which was 4k d and started walking. Mind you, at that time, I still wasn't aware that I had reached the zoo.
Until I saw the first of the many cages. Then I laughed at myself as the realization dawned on me. I had bought myself a ticket to the zoo! I had been told there was a zoo nearby but which I had not plan to do, given the not so encouraging reviews online. How funny! That's how I stumbled on a zoo, by chance, by accident.
The place itself wasn't something to shout about. I really didn't bother to spend time looking at the cages for the animals. I just breezed through the path, enjoying the people and the atmosphere. They had built some playground at some areas, with merry go rounds, a mini roller coaster, things for kids, mostly. Colourful, bright, but I cannot but feel those weren't supposed to be there, in the zoo. Oh, and another thing, the zoo had neighbours of houses if not mistaken. I saw buildings right after the fencing of the zoo. Just like a typical Hanoi setting, very close buildings. Wonder how the neighbours take it all in.
For a week day, the zoo had quite a number of visitors, which was surprising for me. Didn't think that it would have, my bad. Anyhow, like I said, I skipped the cage-hopping, animal-staring thing and just walked along the path. Took some pictures especially when I got to the swan boat area. They also had the plastic ball on the water, not unlike zorbing ball, just on water.
Took one whole big round of the lake and exited at the same temple, the further end of the lake from my place at Dao Tan. On purpose. So that I could walk some more. Walking along the lake from the outside, saw some roadside barbers. Such a nice and relaxing way to have a hair cut. One even had a hammock nearby. When I nearly reached Resco Tower, I crossed the road and made my way back to the little minimart along Nguyen Chic Thanh road, to get the Bear Beer. Couldn't get that out of my mind as it looked so similar to something I sketched before, my Polar Beer. For my hubby.
Once that was done, I decided to call it a day and headed back. It was almost 5 at that time. My legs were slightly tired by then and I had already taken off my jacket. The first time without a jacket outside of the apartment!
One observation on the traffic here, comparison actually. While I was walking along Ho Nguc Khahn, I saw a group of schoolboys, I presumed that they were schoolboys as they were all in the same white shirt uniform with bags, cycling along Nguyen rd. They were cycling in a straight row on that busy street, happily chatting. I could only think, if they were in KL doing that, they might not be able to that more than once. How different the traffic culture is!
Thus, I ended my amazing find of the Thu Le Zoo and walkabout Dao Tan/Kim Ma/Nguyen Nguc Khanh, yesterday.
