The ability of the students to find new ways of sharing a bicycle (or even a motorbike sometimes) will never cease to amaze me.
Showing posts with label Hanoi Streets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hanoi Streets. Show all posts
Junction
The traffic junctions are usually quite a mess here (an organized one, that is). Some other times however, you have the occasional traffic lights - as it is the case down my office!
Wedding prep
When I say everything here happens in the street, it really is the case. Proof to the point: this wedding car being covered with flowers and ribbons. There are some common points between East and West, aren't there?
Vespa shops
Vespa shops are blossoming in every part of the city, offering the cute, colorful scooters to those interested - well, for a nifty price tag. I'm dying to get one!
'36 streets week' - Hàng Tre
Hàng Tre is probably one of the most fascinating streets there is in the Old Quarter; as soon as you step into it, it feels as if you're in a bamboo forest. Definitely worth the visit!
'36 streets week' - Hàng Khoai
Hàng Khoai, or 'sweet potato street', is home to one of Hanoi's mosques. The poetry of it is that 'mosque' is apparently translated in Vietnamese by 'nhà thờ', which is the same word than... 'church'. One small step for ecumenism, and one giant step to make learning vietnamese easier!
'36 streets week' - Hàng Lược
Again one of those doorsteps I came to know and like so much; unfortunately my vietnamese is far from allowing me to decipher what's written on the wall in the background. Any clue?
Oh, and I almost forgot: Hàng Lược once was 'combs street'. I desperately looked for one but didn't succeed. Bummer.
'36 streets week' - Hàng Chiếu
When you start feeling lazy on a hot Sunday afternoon, you might want to go to Hàng Chiếu ('mats street') to buy yourself one of those. That's all you need, really!
(okay, that, and a cocktail maybe)
'36 streets week' - Hàng Chai
Hang Chai, a.k.a. 'bottles street'. No more bottles but still, quite a nice street where you can find flowers.
What do you think tomorrow's street will hold? ;)
'36 streets week' - Hàng Mã
One of the ways to pay respects to the departed is to burn offerings; and where to buy that? Well, right here in Hàng Mã ('votive papers' street). You'll find paper notes and many other items for that effect.
I bought a stack of hundred-dollar bills for slightly less than $0.5; the two young ladies were puzzled at first that a foreigner could even be interested in buying those, and then giggled about it. A fun afternoon!
Banana to go
This is one of the things that make Hanoi so distinct from many other cities; I wanted a banana but by the time I snapped the shot, she was already too far away. Bummer.
Bird's eye
Here's the view from the rooftop of my office's building; you can see the West Lake (close to the horizon line), and, on the foreground, the land where a new building is being erected. Hanoi being super humid at this time, this area is most of the time under the water; I don't know how the workers do to cope with it. I really hope they'll manage to finish the foundations soon so that they can work without wading in the mud!
Tree cage
In some streets in town you can almost feel the trees wanting to hug the pavement - and that feels nice.
On the road again
Ask anyone who arrived in here for the first time what their first shock was, and I bet you'll probably hear about the traffic. Yep, it really is something. By all means I'm not saying that it's worse than Paris (God knows I'm scared of even thinking about driving on the Place de l'Etoile); no, I'm just saying that it is an 'organized mess'. No matter where you go, the traffic never seems to stop, and the traffic lights that happen to be on certain junctions seem to have a purely ornamental function.
At first, you'll probably be so disconcerted you won't dare to even cross the street. After a little while, you'll venture out and get a kind of thrill by just walking steadily from a sidewalk to the opposite one, with all the motorbikes avoiding you with a certain sense of grace. And after this first, you will progressively acquire this nonchalance Hanoians display when they walk on their streets.
The only thing is, when you go out of Vietnam, just forget all I said. Rules don't apply anymore out there!
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