Hanoi's Old Quarter: The 36 old Streets and guilds

When tourists visit Hanoi-the capital of Vietnam, they probably stay the centre of the city – the Old Quarter. Why? The Old Quarter is a symbol of Hanoi and represents the eternal soul of the city. In the Old Quarter, you can be known about for the history, the unique architecture along with valuable heritages. Now, Let’s discover the beauty of “the 36 old streets”

History

The Old Quarter, located near Hoan Kiem Lake in Hoan Kiem District, is Hanoi’s major commercial district

Its heart and soul is exposed in the ancient commercial streets which are named after their original businesses dating back about 1,000 years. Tourists can easily recognize speical called names for the Old streets originated from names of products made by skill artisans like cotton, jewellery, herbs, and silk..ect in the past. Let's find out the story dating back about 1000 years.

Skilled craftsmen migrated to the Quarter to live and work together in the same guilds, which were made specialized for artisans performing similar services. The new allocation of production and service helped to create a cooperative system for merchandise transportation to designated streets. Soon under French colony, the Old Quarter increasingly became a marketplace for trade between the local and businessmen from China, India and France.

Although the old section of Hanoi is often called the "36 Old Streets," there are more than 36 actual streets. Some researchers believe that the number 36 came from the 15th century and they believe 36 is the lucky number

Despite the damages that Vietnam War left in Hanoi, the Old Quarter still retained much of the original traits that interests tourists, especially those with architectural passion. Most of these houses in the Old Quarter still retain unique architecture, they are called "tube house"duo to its unique spatial organization
In the past, because of the dense population in a limited area, people needed to spend the front room for stores; the inside room is widened to its length in order to accommodate family members for living, dining.

The house is sometimes too narrow that only one person can pass by at a time. Standing close together, these tubular houses make up the ward along the soil streets; some streets were paved with stone or brick. Only until the later time, they were asphalted.

Walking

Visitors will certainly be eager to walk along the old streets to drop by souvenir and buy specialties. Here is an essential guide for tourists who would like to explore the Old Quarter, with some names of specialized streets: China bowls (Bat Su), roasted fish (Cha Ca), silver or jewelries (Hang Bac), women accessories (Cau Go), shoes and sandals (Hang Dau), silk (Hang Gai), mixed fruits (To Tich), combs (Hang Luoc), jars (Hang Chinh), tour services (Ma May), candies and dry apricot (Hang Duong), fried/roasted sour pork hash (Tam Thuong lane on Hang Bong Street), bamboo products (Hang Buom), etc.

In addition, visitors as well as city dwellers can go to the night market taking place along 4 walking old streets: Hang Dao - Hang Ngang - Hang Duong - Dong Xuan in the evening from Friday to Sunday with products on great sale.

And finally, tourists can stop at Hoan Kiem lake- a legend lake relating the war against Mongolia period and the King Le Thai To.

How to get here
And the Old Quarter is about 15 minutes from Hanoi Train Station. Most hotels are located in or near the Old Quarter so you can easily walk to these streets without much effort and about 30 minutes away from Noi Bai International Airport.

Luckily,This distance and duration has shortened because Hanoi has inaugurated a new bridge Nhat Tan – One of Hanoi’s key projects. This bridge helps shorten travelling time from the inner city to Noi Bai Airport to around 30 minutes.