Nice memories

Old Quarter and Old Quarter of Hanoi actually have 2 zones. One is the ‘Hang’ neighborhood that has existed for centuries. Anyone who has an acquaintance up there and then has the opportunity to visit is horrified because the long, narrow and dark alleyways are as deep as the entrance to the bunker. Second, the old neighborhoods were formed from the French colonial rule.

Old City Gate still remains intact The old, musty smell has been lingering for several hundred years like crowding around long-distance customers. From the endless dark alley emanates tiny, low apartments along the entrance, but since the Ly dynasty there has never been any sunlight. For the door and the only window facing a niche that didn’t even have any light for me. My street and West street When we were in high school, we used to bring fabric to a tailor shop on Hang Buom street. Her ten-square-meter room is powered up all year round, day and night. The greasy neon light is not enough to show the ancient green marble stones, which are covered with fabrics and accessories so that when the guests come in crowded, they just stand around the sewing machine and exchange soup. Don’t have a seat. The old town house often has a courtyard, from which it will make a sharp turn to the stairs leading up to the “mysterious” apartments on the second floor, for a time there were countless articles about the horror of public toilets on it. So the house still has a few square meters, where did we get the toilet? Yet, people still appreciate each square of the old town. I have a neighbor who lives in the same apartment building, who has moved in Hai Phong, and is also the parent of a student in my daughter’s class. Her house is 150m2, corner, light is full, but still cramped. The day the parents gathered for a picnic, she said if the old town family would give it or not, she would not live. I’d rather go to the woods better. Seeing this, a parent in the old town opened his heart to criticize, and since then, an argument broke out. Someone who told them to live in the forest was less miserable. Some people called for living in the old town to be as happy as a king. Anything is available, just walking three steps to buy what they need. I sat and listened, just like a Western man with a Ta quarreling over which cheese or shrimp paste is more fragrant. The second Old Quarter is actually the old one – formed during the French colonial period, starting in the south and east of Hoan Kiem lake and then extending down to Ba Trieu and Nguyen Thai Hoc streets. If the “Hang” quarter was crowded like a chess board, designed to match the general character of the Vietnamese, then the ancient French area was square and scientific, the most beautiful place was Trang Tien Street. Along with it are Hai Ba Trung, Ly Thuong Kiet, Tran Hung Dao, Nguyen Du, Tran Nhan Tong. Thien Quang Lake is the boundary that ends this old French quarter. From Van Ho, Kim Lien, Bach Mai onwards, the French did not live. They built houses to serve French officials and senior staff. Therefore, Indochinese architecture in the old French quarter has really become a specialty of Hanoi. The streets running from the beginning of Sword Lake in the North, to the South, towards Thien Quang Lake are Hang Bai, Hue Street, Ba Trieu, Quang Trung, Quan Su, Tran Binh Trong, connecting with the horizontal streets into one the luxury center of the Capital. In that place, Thien Quang Lake is the soul with the cool scent of milk flowers. I grew up in this area and heard my mother tell me about the people of that area, since the time when the French legionnaires were still walking around on Nguyen Thuong Hien’s sidewalk. She also mentioned that at the beginning of the street in the East (Vu Huu Loi street) was the musician Van Cao, the writer Nguyen Tuan at the end of the street in the west, the writer Tran Dan in the middle of the street. Artist To Ngoc Van was at the town of Yet Kieu, writer Te Hanh, Nguyen Van Bong and a number of big names drove across Nguyen Thuong Hien. As for the families of To Hoai and Kim Lan, they are also on Tran Quoc Toan street. Isn’t the Thien Quang lake land in a favorable time? Trang Tien Street and the Opera House in the French colonial period Childhood imprints I was born and saw the old French houses surrounded by confetti on the walls of the mansion, giant green shutters, moss-speckled yellow walls, ancient iron gates and even more. a large, quiet tiled yard. Even now, if you ignore the cafes, restaurants and fashion shops on the ground floor and look up to the balconies with the original Indochinois style (room away from Indochina), a dreamy sky is still there. Many times I think that my taste has been raised a few levels because since childhood, it has been covered with sight by this beautiful space. My primary, middle and high school are located right next to Thien Quang Lake. During the military training week, we were also brought to the edge of the lake by the teachers to train under the shade of the milk flower trees that had not yet reached winter. Then at the end of the session, they walked along Quang Trung Street and returned to school. Anyone who was not able to study would always flee to the other side of the road to come home. When I was in elementary school, I used to “stick as much as possible” to my father to Lo Su for snacks. Every time he turns to the dried cow mannequin in the shortest Hoan Kiem street in the capital, and he says he still eats there in 7th grade. That is, my father has been eating cow mannequins there for … decades. From the time of “the ancestor”, the cow mannequin was still ragging through the life of children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren as now. No wonder the ancestors of the culinary custom, Nguyen Tuan, Thach Lam, Vu Bang … all grew up in Hang Gai, Hang Bac, where delicious restaurants are available, so they are immersed in Hanoi’s food. Half a century ago, my father still has an immutable “culture” that perhaps only found in Hanoi and Saigon people, which is the habit of drinking morning coffee. If I go to the street and need to see him and cannot contact him, at that time, just visit the coffee shop in the Tran Hung Dao area, the Opera House will find him between two dozen gray-haired women. They are journalists, photographic artists … who had a relationship with him for three quarters of a century. After decades of being a friend, I met each day even more than I was snuggling with my childhood friends. Residents of the old town, they know by heart each nail shop, clock counter, gas lighter pump shop, or the top box selling shrimp paste in the middle of Hang Be market. Even an old woman who specializes in thread turning needs to leave the wooden box on the sidewalk and then go upstairs to take a nap, but the customers know the way to call down. Ho Thien Quang The standard of love The people of the old town not only love the city and get drunk, but also pass the gene on to their children. Not my parents kept telling the fairy tales of the street every day, from the day Ly Nam De Street was still Love Street (because it was always so many trees and so deserted that couples went there for a walk. and confidently) before turning the city “Hang Tin”, specializing in selling computers, and there was always a lot of traffic jams in the next half century. Then I also manipulated these stories for my daughter every time I passed the architectural buildings of Indochina, dyed in the sunset light. “Mother always climbed the wall to hide from school here. In this corner of the lake, her mother and Ms. Thuy often take pictures with the red corn spreader. As for Le Duan street, my mother always rides her bike alone. This is the best mixed tea in the world that mom often eats every time she goes to tutoring ”. My daughter grew up in Cau Giay district, she looked at the old town blankly, and she loves the street so much that everything in the old town has become the norm. Not loving the street, writer Nguyen Viet Ha, a resident of Nha Chung Street, wrote “Con Giai old town” with pride that did not hide the distinction between the street and the peripheral … And painter Le Thiet Cuong, who owns an expensive house right on Ly Quoc Su street, is so arrogant that motorbikes do not go, cars do not drive … walk, too much, cycling, showing the I don’t have to go anywhere more than 500m. Writer Di Li Anyone who has urgent need to come knock on Ly Quoc Su’s door, otherwise they will just hang around the street. Busy, we had an appointment with 4 people by Thien Quang Lake, he said: “Wait a second, I rode there for up to 10 minutes”. So exactly 7 minutes later, I saw the old town artist in orange pants leisurely building his car at a milky tree. Perhaps Le Thiet Cuong thought, wherever the 10-minute bike ride is the standard.