Markets

I usually don’t go to markets. I don’t need more stuff. I don’t buy local food and prepare it because I’m staying in hotels. I don’t like people calling out to me non-stop to buy stuff. I don’t like the commotion. 

In Vietnam none of that happens because everyone, correctly, assumes I don’t speak the language. 

Today I went for a walk and looked at the market and .... I’m too soft for this. In Hanoi the fish had a bit of water in the pans they were put in. Here it was just needless suffering. 

On the positive side it is really nice to be someplace where smiles are returned easily and no one minds you taking pictures. 

I have been to a lot of countries and I’ve never had the difficulty setting up meetings that we are having here. It is hard to report on what a city needs and how open they would be to a project when they won’t talk to you. I’ve proposed that, when picking which cities to work with, we include as a factor how difficult it was to arrange meetings. 

The chicken is roaming around unfettered but guarded by a puppy who was very suspicious of me. The street long exposure looks a bit different than you’re used to because these are mopeds, not cars. I thought the three wheeled, hand propelled tricycle was pretty fascinating. I notice now that there is a guy reclining on his motorcycle. I’ve even seen people sleeping on them (not while driving).