The City is Yellow!

No, I'm not talking about yellow journalism or even 'yellow movies' (the Chinese equivalent to 'blue movies') in the city of Hanoi. I'm referring to the walls of Hanoi. A first-time visitor to this city will definitely be pleasantly surprised (as was I) by the generous use of bright cheery yellow paint throughout this city - on the walls of stately colonial and government buildings, cafes, restaurants and the villas and houses on tree-lined avenues, especially around the Ba Dinh District and the area surrounding the Old Quarter.

This lovely example, near the Ba Dinh Square, had shades of French Provence (complete with blue window shutters), but ironically sited halfway across the world in Hanoi. Asked our local guide about the prevalent use of the color 'yellow', and he shrugged and said, "we like yellow, nice color, yes?" - a definite under-statement, considering that the country's national flag has only two colors and one of them is yellow.

Travelling through the city, I was truly glad that the city's favourite color wasn't purple or horror of horrors, hot pink - instead I was met by warm splashes of yellow brightening up the usual drab and grey concrete structures of a city.

The President's residence is brick yellow as well, with huge ornate grey-blue gates. I'm reminded of a mini-version of the Palace at Versailles, and let's not forget also the possible influences from the imperial colors of the Forbidden City in Beijing - after all Hanoi isn't that far off from the borders of China.

A young man sits and waits on the steps of the Hanoi Opera Theatre, modelled after the Paris Opera House (the Palais Garnier). With such a serious expression, who's to know whether he is pondering his future and that of his city or whether he, just like the 6 Gorge(ou)s, is wondering where to have his lunch today?

By the way, yellow is my favourite color as well!