Hanging in Hanoi
This year has been punctuated with pauses, times of transition. It is in these pauses that we have gained the most insight into who we are and what we are learning. It reminded me of my fine arts minor in college and the lecture on the role of the negative space or as Traverse said, the “black point” makes all the difference in the photography. We get so busy in life that we forget the role of pausing, adding negative space and the truths that come forth in that pause.
We have had a few of these times recently- after Angkor Wat we spent a week in Siem Riep enjoying the pool, getting over our colds, getting caught up on work, blogs, homework. We also spent just over a week in Hanoi before family came to visit getting the lay of the land, figuring out the details of the city so when they came we could make the most of our time.
We learned we have limits, bailing on our airbnb due to mold and bed bugs. We learned that while we considered moving home and building a “tiny house”, living in one all the time was not as fun in person. We learned again, that time together is great, but time in small groups or on our own is also invaluable. This year has been a striking reminder that even without work, finding time to read, exercise, and finding balance still takes work and effort. Two truths keep repeating themselves in these negative spaces, that is only through the breaking down we can rebuild and that balance, like tree poise, is not static but a constant set of micro moves, we are never “balanced” we are always “balancing.” We are always off balance working to straighten ourselves and by embracing the struggles and the pauses are the only way we can truly see the light and grow.
The following is a collection of photos from our time before Jenny and Harrison came to visit us in Hanoi.
The bikes, everywhere the bikes pilled as high as you could reach full of wonder and beauty. The flowers were always my favorite.
Every day they close a section of a street so you can ride carts, kids and play and drive around these toys for rent.
And where the girls learned to Hover Board.
Fun facials from the local store.
Cafe along the railroad tracks. It is amazing how they use space in this town, every last inch being filled and used. Later when we road along the train that goes on this track it was impressive to see how close we got to each building.
Having fun exploring the tracks.
More daily flower baskets.
Beautiful hand painted water puppets at the water puppet theater in Hanoi. We didn’t get any pictures of the event (extra charge to photograph inside) but the it was fun to see the live performance including a beautiful single stringed instrument as part of the accompanying musical support.
Loving the variety of vegetable in the food in Vietnam.
Each street in the old quarter traditionally sold one thing, meat, flowers, vegetables and so on. That pattern still exist today with shops only selling one or two types of things. Here is the pig later one.
Ok so we really liked these bikes with flowers.
Walking around the market where fruit was sold all in a line. These women would then carry these baskets of fruit around town selling their good to anyone who wanted a snack on the road.
Rice, beans and lentils all perfectly stacked.
These were the two hats you see all the time, men in the old military one, women in the one used on the farms. More flowers for sale at the market.
Vegetables as far as you could see. Oh what I would give to have all of these veggies at home!
And more flowers.
Walking through the mountains of fabrics in the central market. It felt was impressive to reflect on the amount of “stuff” we produce as humans especially as it is all crammed together in these densely populated areas near the sight of production.
Scooters, temples, streets and fun adventures.
My little mini me as been wanting a pair of glasses and found this cheap adorable pain here in town on a date night we had together. It is so fun spending one on one time with these two and like most things - she wears it better ;-)
More fun along the tracks.
It was crazy how these baskets work as portable restaurants, stopping with hot coals to grill up an egg and make a Ban Mi.
If only you saw the number of flower pictures we delated!
Fruit for sale.
More market.
One tradition that we loved here is the egg coffee. We heard different stories of how the egg coffee got started - a lack of milk during the war, a farmer who had too many egg yolks. Basically they cream the egg with sweetened condensed milk. The different places all had very different egg coffees, this one with a candle under it to keep it warm as you sipped it. It was fun trying the tradition around town.