Temple of Literature

Written by Jordan:

We started our day thinking that we would go to the Temple of Literature, the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum, the stilt house that Ho Chi Minh lived in and the one pillar pagoda. Unfortunately everything but the Temple of Literature and the one pillar pagoda were closed by mid-day because it was Friday. Be sure to reread your guidebooks before starting out; it helps sometimes. We would have known about the mausoleum but not the rest.

That morning, we took two 7-person taxis to the Temple of Literature to find a many groups of small Vietnamese school children who would shout “Hello!” to us. A few would say to us “I like you, I like you. I not like you”. They seemed to enjoy being naughty. The Temple of Literature is a Confucian Temple that honors the great scholars of Vietnam. It was founded in 1070 AD by Emperor Ly Thanh Tong These Scholars are called Mandarins. There were many stone steles on the backs of turtles with the names of graduates of the temples doctorate program. Also there were amazingly ornate buildings with statues of great scholars in them. There is also a beautiful garden next to the temple.

After visiting the Temple of literature we walked over to the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum and found out it was closed on Fridays. We’ll visit it on our last day in Hanoi April 2^nd which is a Saturday. We did see the One Pillar Pagoda and wandering around the grounds of the Ho Chi Minh museum.

For lunch we went to a very special restaurant called KOTO (Know One Teach One). KOTO is an NGO (a Non Government Organization/Charity) that helps disadvantaged youth gain jobs skills in the restaurant industry. We didn’t have reservations so we went to a small local café for an hour while we waited for a table for 12. On the TV in our private room Aladin was playing with Vietnamese subtitles. The service at KOTO was great and the food was even better. If you ever make it to Hanoi, don’t skip this great spot to eat. We couldn’t help getting a few things from their dessert menu. It was worth the hour wait.

Filled with delicious food we went back to our hotel to organize ourselves for our overnight train ride to Hué. We went to a local supermarket to get snacks and containers for dinner. Everyone got their own special spoon. Then we went to another café where we ordered dinner and had tea while the staff packed our dinner in our containers. We got to the train after a 5 minute taxi ride from our hotel (we almost could have walked). We were in our sleeper cabins an hour before we left.