The second pedestrian street in Hanoi will be open from May 11-13 on Tring Cong Son Street.
A new walking street is scheduled to open on Trinh Cong Son Street, Tay Ho district, a part of West Lake, starting on May 11. It will be open from 7:30pm every Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
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There will be 15 kiosks designed with the typical architecture of Hanoi and Hoi An’s ancient houses that will be offering the traditional crafts and signature foods of Tay Ho and Hanoi such as Phu Thuong sticky rice, West Lake shrimp pancake, snail noodles, lotus tea, and Vong green rice flakes.
A 2,000 square meter outdoor stage for live music performances will also set up here to provide entertainment for the area every week with different kinds of music ranging from traditional to modern Vietnamese and music by songwriter Trinh Cong Son. Trinh Cong Son (1939-2001) was one of the greatest songwriters of modern Vietnam. He is the only Vietnamese musician to have a musical genre named after him - Trinh music. Despite not being professionally trained he created his own style and wrote nearly 600 songs that have deeply touched many generations of Vietnamese. He is as influential as Bob Dylan, someone who he is often compared to.
Well-known local singers Hong Nhung, Minh Quan and Ngoc Anh have been invited to the opening night on May 11. The pilot program will run until the end of 2018 and is expected to create more entertainment space for the local people and tourists and help lessen the burden on the pedestrian area around Hoan Kiem Lake which has been causing congestion.
With nearly 18km of shoreline, West Lake is the biggest freshwater lake in the northwest central area of Hanoi. It’s abundant with gardens, pagodas, hotels, restaurants and other entertainment centers where the beautiful sunset can be viewed.
The Trinh Cong Son pedestrian street project was proposed in 2015 and was planned to open on October 10, 2017 to mark the anniversary of Hanoi's Liberation Day but was delayed due to the objections of the residents who were worried that the kiosks would block their houses and make the street looks bad. They also raised concerns about litter and noise pollution when the street is pedestrianized.
The local authorities worked and dealt with the complaints. The old kiosks have been removed and replaced with mobile kiosks. They also persuaded the locals that pedestrianizing the street would help promote the district and create a shared public space where everyone would benefit. Now the preparation is almost complete and is ready for the opening.