Surely this guy can only get to where he is going by making left-hand turns....?
Thursday, 27 August 2009
Band and marching practice
On Monday I was teaching at Blue Dragon, a charity for street children in Vietnam, when I heard drumming coming from a school nearby, so I went to have a look. Some children were playing drums, while others marched in formation carrying bamboo canes. I saw this again in the streets near where I live and wondered if it was something to do with Vietnam's National Day on 2nd September, but my students tell me it's probably just practising for the school's opening ceremony.
Caphe Vietnam
Hanoi has a cafe culture like nowhere else. Almost every other building in Hanoi seems to be a cafe. This is 8:30 in the morning - probably mid-morning coffee break for many people as life starts so early in Hanoi. For me it's a chance for a caffeine kick-start.
Caphe Vietnam (or Caphe sua nong - coffee milk hot) is a small espresso strength brew with a slurry of sweet condensed milk in the bottom. Sounds disgusting I know, but I quite like like now and again...
Get used to it...
This is the sort of thing that would get people fuming back in the UK. Obstructing the pavement and blocking the ATM machine. Here in Hanoi it's so commonplace that after a while you hardly notice. The pavements are blocked so often, you usually spend more time walking in the road with the traffic than on the pavement.
The road where my school is, Le Van Huu, seems to be 'sign street' most of the businesses seems to be making signs of one sort or another. This means that they are out on the pavement welding and cutting, and using all sorts of noxious smelling chemicals. Health and safety would rightly have a fit. A few weeks ago I was walking along Le Van Huu when the blade on an angle-grinder shattered and fragments went whizzing past my head. I could easily have been blinded had it hit me in the eye. I now try to remember to wear glasses or sunglasses all the time...
The road where my school is, Le Van Huu, seems to be 'sign street' most of the businesses seems to be making signs of one sort or another. This means that they are out on the pavement welding and cutting, and using all sorts of noxious smelling chemicals. Health and safety would rightly have a fit. A few weeks ago I was walking along Le Van Huu when the blade on an angle-grinder shattered and fragments went whizzing past my head. I could easily have been blinded had it hit me in the eye. I now try to remember to wear glasses or sunglasses all the time...
Public information
Don't look too closely at this. Especially if you've just eaten or have a sensitive disposition...
Outside a hospital near the old quarter in Hanoi is this display cabinet showing rather gory photos. I assume that this is some kind of warning of the dangers posed by the streets of Hanoi rather than some gratuitous voyeurism.
Outside a hospital near the old quarter in Hanoi is this display cabinet showing rather gory photos. I assume that this is some kind of warning of the dangers posed by the streets of Hanoi rather than some gratuitous voyeurism.
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