One Twenty Five

Today was a good day. Nay, a great day. I woke when I couldn’t sleep any longer, took a long, [super] hot, shower, put on my only appropriate-for-this-part-of-the-world dress and stepped onto the streets of Hanoi.

Good morning Vietnam. And how are you?

Then I walked. And walked. And walked some more. Kathmandu, Nepal was organized chaos, minus the organized. This, this city is an organized bliss in comparison. The streets are named after what they sell, which means you’ll find the shoe street, or the scarf street, or the fruit street around the corner. I could smell the flower street before I saw it, but then there was the meat street.  My God, the meat street. My stomach turned, as I found myself running past the eels and fish flip-flopping around in their buckets. The bright red blood from the chickens splattered onto the street below. I won’t be going down that street again. Mark those words.

My favourite street was the shoe street. Knock offs. Everywhere you looked. Christian Louboutins. Manolo Blahniks, Tory Burch. Prada. Gucci. You name it, they had it.  And the purses. My goodness. Stores and stores of knock off purses…

And then as fate would have it, my laptop’s power cord broke two nights ago. Aren’t I lucky girl for finding myself in the best city in the world for such a dilemma? I headed to the electronic section, and wvalla! just a few dollars later, and I got myself a new one.

It’s another world here. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t make me appreciate home, but at the same time, I somewhat love it. The living for yourself, by your own rules, on your own terms, the chaos, the lack of rules… and everyone is so friendly too. Especially the Vietnam guards, but I have a sneaky suspicion that’s just because I’m a young girl. 

Tomorrow I’m meeting a friend. I’m looking forward to a conversation over dinner. Come to think of it, I haven’t spoken to many souls since I landed. Not that that bothers me, actually, I hadn’t noticed till now.  I get lost in the world as I’m walking around, trying to take it all in, [and trying not to die from a motor bike].

Good night Vietnam, today was a pleasure.