In the 13^th Century, the city of Hanoi – then a collection of tiny alleyways and small streets – was divided into 36 streets. The process was not very different from what was happening at the same time in Europe. Every trade and craft guild took over one street and named it theirs. One of the things you notice when you tour around Hanoi is that all the streets in the Old City bear the name Hang, which means merchandise in Vietnamese. So the bottle makers’ street, for example, is called Hang Chai. On this site we’ll be touring the old city as often as possible and bringing you photos and commentaries about the 36 streets. They include such items as herbal medicine, coffins, votive papers, and chicken.

Click here to see what we’ve got so far.


Mair and Marie Do