I dare say it is so far the most pleasant Asian city I have visited. Hanoians love the activities on the fresh air, so they have quite a lot of smaller and larger parks and squares, where they play badminton, roller skate, have dance classes or just hang out. Curbs are low or reasonable and sidewalks rather wide, so it is really nice to walk around, although in some places they are blocked with parking scooters.
I'm enjoying a lemonade in cafe L'etage- a small room with a narrow balcony over busy Trang Thi street. Difficult to access, through the backyard, narrow staircase and somebody's house, but worth all the confusions. On the opposite side is Hoan Kien Lake and it would be so pleasant if a girl next to me wasn't training for "the voice of Vietnam" with plugs in her ears! Where are mine? Better.
The lake than... Three lakes even, all with organized waterfronts and pagodas on the islands. Jogging foreigners, pissing grandpas, kissing kiddos, policemen taking care of order and disorder and unity of the nation. Sexy Vietnamese girls with lousy, old white faces, woman carrying a tree on a bicycle, newest BMW, another wave of scooters.
Yesterday spent a few hours with American guy. "What do you do" I asked. "I used to work in law enforcement" he said. "What does that mean?" I really didn't know. "I'm an ex soldier" he explained. Aaaah! Those euphemisms...
So I kept looking at the shapes of balconies and the height of curbs and counting benches along the lakeside (something he found a very refreshing attitude) and he, it turned out later, was analyzing types of crowd and counting policemen with guns by their belts. It was definitely the safest walk i had in this city:) He was a nice guy, so trying to be friendly I marked that his mind must be really twisted. Dear honesty! He didn't seem to be very pleased...
I'm enjoying a lemonade in cafe L'etage- a small room with a narrow balcony over busy Trang Thi street. Difficult to access, through the backyard, narrow staircase and somebody's house, but worth all the confusions. On the opposite side is Hoan Kien Lake and it would be so pleasant if a girl next to me wasn't training for "the voice of Vietnam" with plugs in her ears! Where are mine? Better.
The lake than... Three lakes even, all with organized waterfronts and pagodas on the islands. Jogging foreigners, pissing grandpas, kissing kiddos, policemen taking care of order and disorder and unity of the nation. Sexy Vietnamese girls with lousy, old white faces, woman carrying a tree on a bicycle, newest BMW, another wave of scooters.
Yesterday spent a few hours with American guy. "What do you do" I asked. "I used to work in law enforcement" he said. "What does that mean?" I really didn't know. "I'm an ex soldier" he explained. Aaaah! Those euphemisms...
So I kept looking at the shapes of balconies and the height of curbs and counting benches along the lakeside (something he found a very refreshing attitude) and he, it turned out later, was analyzing types of crowd and counting policemen with guns by their belts. It was definitely the safest walk i had in this city:) He was a nice guy, so trying to be friendly I marked that his mind must be really twisted. Dear honesty! He didn't seem to be very pleased...
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