Ngày Qu?c t? Lao ??ng

International Workers Day at Hoian markets.... scorching hot but market life goes on.... grabbed a great image of a market woman asleep among her noodles and thought this is the blip! but looking at my photos later I kept getting drawn to this one - you see these old women with their permanently stooped backs in Hanoi also.....from a lifetime of carrying heavy weights on a yoke and working in rice fields
this afternoon in a moment of pure idiocy I decided to ride a bike to the beach - i got there in one piece and managed to negotiate the complicated parking lot system where you pay $5000 dong and your bike is shoved somewhere with a number on it along with a million other bikes and motorbikes.... (this included a hug from the granny taking my money who seemed to think me being there was hilarious !!!) discovered the beach was like a salmon spawning.... for a girl used to WA's wide open spaces it was hell.... had a drink at a beach cafe and then braved a massive motorbike traffic jam to retrieve my bike - ended up with small exhaust burns on both legs.... but got it and wobbled the 5km home in the dark feeling slightly crazed....
NOTE TO SELF - on public holidays in Asia.... STAY HOME AND UNDER THE COVERS....