Hanoi, Vietnam: In the morning, your guide and private car will meet and take you to Dong Ngac cultural village about 15 km from Hanoi center. This is an ancient village and a cultural heritage site in honor of its educated and heroic people recognized by the kings of Vietnam. You will arrive in the village where you will embark on an interesting market tour with the host from the traditional house belonging to the Pham family, where you will be cooking your lunch.
At the local market you will have the chance to experience the bustling market and local life as your host and your tour guide show you and help you to purchase all the ingredients which you need to cook for your lunch today. This is a local market so you can bargain easily, so have a go and enjoy the experience.
Back at the traditional house it is time for your private cooking demonstration. After watching your host then practice yourself and then the best part of all, try your dishes.
After all your efforts you can reward yourself and rest back into some reclining chairs in the fragrant retreat of your host’s village garden. All too soon it is mid-afternoon and time to say good bye to your new friends.
Continue on your cultural village experience. Visit one of the oldest schools in Hanoi built in 1921, the ancient communal house and pagoda, and drop in on some of the families who are very welcoming and happy to share their knowledge of their homes and history with you.
Take special note as you walk down the cobbled streets of the village in and out of the historical homes that each brick is part of a dowry of brick cobbles paid for by grooms’ families in earlier times when the daughters of Dong Ngac village wed.
After lunch you will cycle around Thuy Phuong village. Here you will stop and spend time at the local kindergarten. Mid- afternoon, you will visit Thuy Phuong secondary school where you can enjoy an interactive lesson with the children.
In the late afternoon return to Hanoi city by private car.
Note: Journeys Within’s one-day itinerary ideas are some of our favorite one-day activities – many of which are exclusive to Journeys Within. We do not book these one-day itineraries by themselves, but only as part of a full tour package.
