Hà Nội Thủ Đô

River Route

Hanoi - Back on the Street

Back in Hanoi, the rhythm of the streets rolls on without a pause. I think it is one of the most appealing, even addicting, aspects of the city for me, this endless stream of unadulterated, undecorated, raw life ebbing and flowing on every street. Most notable is the buying and selling, but at core, it is mostly about simple population density. Nearly everything that people do gets done on the street. For myself, however, what gets done on the street is largely just observation. Study and work are most successfully pursued in a place with fewer distractions. I suppose it speaks to the quietness of my life before Vietnam, my inability to block out the blindingly vibrant activity to focus on my own task. In any case, it is a manageable and pleasant addiction to cultivate!

Bricks in the Wall

Iran Awakening
Shirin Ebadi
The gripping story of a determined, intellectual Iranian woman’s experiences, from her childhood under the Shah, as a university student during the Iranian revolution, and her work as a legal professional and eventually a leading human rights advocate within Iran.

Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace… One School at a Time
Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin
Mountaineer-turned-development worker Greg Mortenson dives into life in northern Pakistan with an unconventional approach that gets things done. And he drinks tea too, I can dig that!

Red Tape and White Knuckles
Lois Pryce
This woman rides her motorcycle from London to Cape Town. And has a sense of humor writing about it. I liked this book because it is ‘just’ a story about the journey, it’s not a history lesson or political analysis of the places she goes through and it doesn’t try to be. A frank account of what travel in Africa is like, or at least what it was like for her.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
William Kamkwamba, Brian Mealer
William Kamkwamba grew up in a small village in Malawi. Through a combination of curiosity, access to an old science textbook, and frustration at being unable to continue school, he built a windmill next to his house to power electric lights in the evening. With this as evidence of both determination and ability, he is able to return to school, eventually to university, and of course, write a book about it all.