Saturday, October 11, 2014

Habits Happily Resumed

Back in Hanoi after a long summer away, I am amazed at how quickly I find my comfort zone on the cacophony of these streets. After the 12 hour time shift turns the world neatly on its head, and a few days of dealing with a sullen stomach surprised by the sudden onslaught of airline food and street food in quick succession, I am once again pedaling to work. This is a habit I missed over my long summer. Jumping on my bicycle again felt very good, in fact the thing feels so light and responsive to everything I put into it that I thought for a minute there was something wrong with it. But no, it's just a nice bike which hasn't been ridden for awhile. I am in the process of fixing that!

After work, sometimes, the road home goes around the lake. The rowers practise on the lake, a few runners and a lot of cyclists practise around the lake, and the fishermen practise in between us. 

On the journey back to Hanoi, I was thinking that the long summer back in the US hadn't really felt like the more than three months that it was. Packed with work, a little travel, and a lot of activities with family and friends, the time flew by quickly. However, arriving back in our neighbourhood in Hanoi, it suddenly felt as if we had been away for a long time. Good times race by!
Out by the lake, sometime over the summer they widened this little stretch of street and installed these gaudy Formula 1-looking stripes on the pavement. I'm hoping they won't inspire Formula 1-like driving, and in any case, I'm sure in a couple more months they will be faded and dusty enough to not stand out so much - hopefully they will still keep anyone from driving into the lake though.

Farther around the lake I stopped by this little contemplative spot. It seems like it should be, say, the entrance to a hidden temple or a forgotten tea-house or something. However, it is not. Rather, it is the side entrance to one of those giant hotels where I am a little nervous about stopping in front of for fear they will jump out and charge me 30$ for parking, or something ridiculous like that. But in fact, nobody noticed me or the red bike, and I kept on moving on.
Most of the way around the lake, after finding my favourite lakeside watering hole closed up for the day, I stopped down the road for this cup of coffee under a shade tree leaning up against the railing. Now this is a habit that takes no time at all to resume, only that I forgot to bring a book with me!

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