Buying ethnic

Four days in Hanoi has been very relaxing. The non-stop rain hasn't bothered me much, the highlights of the trip have been eating, chatting and sitting around. Four days seems like a major break when you're used to one and a half day weekends.

At the same time, it's weird to be somewhere so foreign. This is the first time since I was a kid that I've been in a country where I know nothing of the language and don't have any friends resident. I have very little awareness of Vietnamese culture and the currency still has me confused!

I felt like a real idiot shopping for souvenirs from mountain villages I didn't even get close to. At one point I was wishing that someone would confiscate that ugly lime coloured thread that the Hmoung hill tribes insist on using. Their baby carrying cloths would look much better on the walls of my room in Hong Kong without it.

Helplessness will be over soon because Dad, Mim and I fly back to Hong Kong tonight. It's just a shame that there's only a couple of days left before they have to fly back on Sydney on Friday night. I'll be working in the daytime so evenings are going to be action packed!