I enjoy living in Asia. I've always liked environments that are visually interesting, cluttered, off-center or crowded with color. I love stepping out of my door and into a melee of dogs and traffic, basket ladies and xe-om drivers, wriggly roads that lead nowhere, French inspired storybook houses and general fracas.
I don't mind wiffy smells or stepping over occasional piles of rubbish. I don't fuss over the personal hygiene of my chef. I don't stress about getting places on time. I don't care what parts of animals people find delicious.
I enjoy crossing the road where, when and how I feel like it, carrying construction materials and other oversize miscellany on the back of a motorbike, spitting on the road (yes, like a proper Asian, I spit), joining a queue with other ladies in pajamas buying milk in the morning, bargaining like your life depended on it... then throwing your hands up when you finally reach a price you both expected in the first place...
I like that my eggs still have poo and bits of feathers on them, that mangoes and avocados cost $1 a kilo, that I can greet people by saying 'hello sister' or 'hello brother', that people are open and straightforward (if you're fat, you'll have someone tell you immediately..as if it was a fact you might want to know), that this city nurtures innovators and 'makers of stuff'. I like the fact that everyday items, transportation and dress sense are defined by imagination alone...
Everyday recycling I've seen:
1. Old coke bottles with holes punched in the cap for a watering can
2. Rubber tire treads used to resole shoes
3. Fishing baskets as cages for roosters
4. Colorful hand fans used as lamp shades
5. Hub caps on balancing scales
6. Newspaper to wrap flowers
7. Plastic bags as head gear when it rains
8. Pajamas as everyday clothing
9. Old t-shirts as covers for bird cages
Things that turn my head:
1. Cock fighting outside my primary school
2. Goldfish sellers bicycles stacked with bags of colorful fish and turtles
3. Vietnamese women smoking
4. Accidents
5. Bunny sellers
6. Bullocks pulling 30mts of metal down one of Hanoi's the busiest roads
7. Beggars with electric guitar, amplifiers and a mic
8. A passenger on the back of a motorbike pushing a pushbike
9. A grandfather riding sedately down the road on his granddaughter's pink bmx
10. Avocado and Chocolate smoothies
11. A child in my class with two thumbs..literally..but that's amazing anywhere
Things that make me look away:
1. A man kicking a kitten (what an idiot...)
2. Accidents
3. Guys who pee on the side of the road
4. People hawking loudly then spitting in the pool
5. Oncoming traffic
6. High-rise window washers
