xin chào, my friends!
i'm back! after being missing for almost a month. vietnam was good this time round! no rain, HOT sun. burnt by vietnam.
while being up north of vietnam for four short days we spent alot of time eating, walking, talking and laughing, and then eating again. yes, we love to eat well, especially while away. i thoroughly enjoyed early(very) morning walks and breakfasts by the roads and the misty streetscapes provided just the the perfect backdrop for days spent sitting on tiny chairs along roadsides or days inside the cafes, which could have been perfect, minus the honking. and we made a few vietnamese friends. my favorite part was when they took us out on their motorbikes.
you know, the viets are terribly tolerant of noise, dirt and dust. the first day in hanoi i was quite overwhelmed by the number of motorbikes on the streets. over time we grew quite receptive to the honking sounds and were able to distinguish between friendly honks and honks that meant danger. the air was really bad too. one night we laughed about how our noses were black inside.
i think vietnam has given me, many insights and memories that i'd wish to keep for a very long time. somehow i also think, that i've enjoyed hanoi the most. maybe because we've settled our issues and left work behind us; albeit only for a while. maybe also because it's at the tail end of the trip, time seemed to pass slightly quicker than while we were in hue or danang. but i really like how the streets in the old quarter of hanoi looked; the dusty pink and a kind of cadmium yellow that was old and weathered on the facades of the shophouses. every shopfront looked like a picture frame, into which you see so much depth and activities. and the trees seemed to give the streets more character too.
okay, now... coffee! i've been drinking at least 2 glasses of ice coffee in vietnam everyday. i love viet ice caphe! it is delish! and the routine felt good. i never really quite got sick of it too. i've been slowly acquiring a taste for coffee over the years, but now that i'm back i feel like i've missed tea. vietnamese milk tea is, GROSS.
when i was younger, vietnam was really one of the last places on earth i thought i'd visit. now, i think that vietnam is a place you should at least visit once in your life. and it should be soon, before it grows anymore. next stop sapa! and i wanna see hcm and halong bay too. and even though lloyd thinks hanoi is uglier now, there's still a certain niceness to it for me. . . since i've never quite been there prior to this trip. and hoi an was lovely. also, i would like to add, that this would be, one of the most special and meaningful semester for me. i hope we'll see our happy faces at the end of this long tunnel!
so this, is vietnam. for you (makes voldemort face), for me, and for all of us.
and next year, we won't be saying xin chao, but
annyong haseyo!
