Before the season of rushing for deadlines, we had a good lunch and went for my first movie in Viet Nam last Sunday. Well, the Megastar Cineplex at Vincom Tower is actually as 'hi-tech' as those in KL. It's clean, modern, good sound system and has the latest shows. We watched The Heartbreaker Kid.. good funny show. :)
Last Sunday was also the Old Quarter's 1000 years celebration. The Old Quarters is the busy heart of Hanoi. The traffic is crazy with motorcycles everywhere, honking without anybody's business, and street hawkers at every corner. I'm already quite used to crossing the road 'like a Vietnamese'. To walk across the road without stopping slowly... You don't really have to look out / stop for the bikes, they look out for you. But of cos, be smart also la... :P
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In the Old Quarters is where most of the shops are... clothes, shoes, bags, stationeries, music instruments, decoratives, herbs, you name it... It's where all tourists come to shop. A number of streets here starts with Hang, which means merchandise or shop. Each of it has its own history... named after its product or location...
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To me, well... this is what I know / do at these streets...
Hang Be - the tailor shop where I made my first suit, and where Hang Be Pub is - a Pub where expats like to go. Lara first brought us there when she first found out that beer was really cheap. It serves good burgers.
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Hang Dao - alllll the clothes are here... on Sunday night, they have their long night market...i bought a jacket once for VND45k (that's like RM9). Walk right to the end, you'll see the market where I bought my comforter for VND300k. Don't know what market it's called but it has all sorts of cloths, blankets, etc...
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Hang Non - where I did my mani and padicures for VND100k.
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Come to think of it, I don't know what the other streets are called... ahahha... There's one where I buy shoes, one where the cheap DVDs are, one where we had our first 'chap fan', one where I duplicated my keys, one where I bought a guitar. It's a small town. I can do most of my errands here and find a place by the Hoan Kiem lake to cool down after.
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Anyways, we watched the celebration put up by the people. There were thousands of people, thousands of motorbikes. We had ice cream by the Hoan Kiem lake and sat by the rock. There were kids running about having pop corn and candy floss.
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I was just thinking, I wouldn't have even gone for the Merdeka celebration in Msia and here I am at this anniversary where I don't even understand what they are saying. But yea, since I came here, I've had a more peaceful mind and I've learnt to be more patient. It's a place without much distraction here for foreigners like us. We fill the empty time slots with time to think and ponder. Sitting by the lake or just at home at this cold weather, having a cup of hot coffee. I just wished it's not our peak period at office so I could really enjoy the cold weather relaxing. :P
