Take a Stroll in and around Hanoi’s Old Quarter in Vietnam

Do you know what a Southeast Asian city smells like?

Having spent most of my life in Manila, I never really thought about it until my Japanese friend visited me a couple of years ago. I had just picked him up from the airport and we were on our way to dinner when he said: “I haven’t smelled that in a long time man. That smell of a Southeast Asian city.” I took a whiff and I couldn’t really smell anything, but I understood exactly what he meant.

Before our trip to Vietnam, I fully expected to find that same smell in Hanoi. I envisioned it to be just like any other big city in Southeast Asia – hot, chaotic, crowded, and noisy – not much different from my home city of Manila. Apart from the stream of motorbikes flowing through its streets, it did feel a lot like home. Streets were paved with asphalt grey. The sky was a tangled mess of power lines. Many buildings were besmirched with the same grey-black water streaks typical of Southeast Asian cities.

But…