Wednesday, October 16 Ha Noi

Wednesday, October 16 Ha Noi

So glad I'm writing about this since I find myself forgetting what I did hours ago.  Yesterday, we wandered around the old city, finding streets dedicated to one or another category of things for sale. One was a tin street, another hardware, bamboo ladders, glitchy decorations including a block of stores selling halloween tchatchkas. Here's a list from a guide book of some of the streets: silver, rattan, baskets, fish, scales, bamboo mats, leather, silk, bongs and pipes, brass, hemp and rope, coffins, bamboo shades, barrels, conical hats, fans, charcoal, drums, fabric, chickens, fish, sweet potatoes, and more.

 

Imagine narrow streets, sidewalks cluttered with goods for sale, people sitting on tiny plastic seats eating, playing board games, motor scooters parked on the sidewalks in tightly packed rows, and scooters honking, crawling between street crossers and other traffic.  Meanwhile, no one gets angry, babies don't cry, dogs don't bark, people are pretty relaxed and smiling.  We got to the open market, produce, meat, fish, and a part of the market inside with clothes, household goods, everything else.  We have lots of photos, some of which are on my camera which will have to wait until we're back home to access.  

We finished the day with dinner in an upscale restaurant with the expat colleague of Netsy's friend.