Today, I walked to Hanoi Botanical Garden (Bach Thao Park) and enjoyed the magnificent trees! Bach Thao means “hundreds of plants” in Vietnamese, and the garden is indeed a peaceful green haven in the midst of bustling Hanoi. The garden includes endemic species as well as trees and plants imported from other regions worldwide. It’s a favorite picnic spot for Hanoians.
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Some refer to the luxuriant hundred-year-old park as the “green lungs of Hanoi”.
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International Creative Sculpture Symposium
There were several interesting sculptures displayed in the garden sponsored by the Vietnam University of Fine Arts Hanoi. Artists from twelve countries created the sculptings while participating in an International Creative Sculpture Symposium – Canada, Yugoslavia, Germany, Japan, Laos, France, Switzerland, China, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, and Vietnam.
Photos taken in the park are mostly uncaptioned. I walked home on the back side of the Thang Long Citadel complex and admired North Gate from a different vantage point. Another imposing structure – The Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady of Hanoi (Cửa Bắc Church) – is across the street.
How lovely and the picnic is a work of art.