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The Other Side
Category: General Published on Saturday, 09 January 2010 14:45 Written by Brian Webb Hits: 251
The Red River begins in China’s Yunnan province and runs more than 1,000km down to the Gulf of Tonkin, splitting the city of Hanoi in half along its way.
Well perhaps splitting in half isn’t the exact term. Ever since the official founding of Thang Long ten centuries ago, the political and social power of the city has been concentrated on the west side of the river. The same is true today. So much of what we think of as Hanoi - the Old Quarter, the Citadel, the large, century-old colonial structures, the even older Temple of Literature, the seat of national power - remains on the west side of the river.
So the river, the same entity that has always made life possible here, bisects the city into two separate parts, both Hanoi, but hardly the same. Even while the city continues to expand to the west and to the north with new housing and business districts, it takes only a few minutes drive over the bridge before you reach areas that resemble rural Vietnam.
For the next part of this story click on this link.