A few of my favorite things about Hanoi
Youth, bird cafes, foot badminton, faith, and a few other things
(Tomorrow I’m flying to Liverpool, to walk across the English Island. Look for upcoming posts about pubs, talking moles, and other British stuff. Will post more about Vietnam — there is just too much to write about now — when I’m home and have more time to reflect.)
Hanoi is swarming with kids1. And it’s great. It’s nice to be in a town where cynical old men like me are surrounded by happy kids still puffed up on hopes and dreams.
It’s nice to be in a town where the optimism of youth holds sway, rather than the bitterness of the aging.
It’s also nice to be in a town where the kids aren’t confined to kid-safe spaces, or buckled tight with 19 straps and special seats in giant SUVs.
Kids here are running loose everywhere, sometimes monitored and sometimes not monitored, by their parents.
And the parents themselves are often very young. It’s normal to see a couple here, who in the US might be just starting to think about maybe getting married, or maybe going to grad school, with two or three kids.
It’s a really nice change after Seoul2, or the US.
The energy and optimism that comes from being surrounded by kids being kids is partly why I like Hanoi so much3.
Because at a basic level how many children a society has (after a clearing a certain income level) is a measure of its health. It says people are still ok with the most basic human desire to keep on keeping on.
In that respect, Vietnam is a very healthy society.
I’ve now spent about a month walking in Hanoi, roughly 13 miles per day, despite close to 100 degree heat, despite few usable sidewalks, despite moped swarms (often ON the sidewalks).
It’s a young, optimistic, and generous place, which I’ve written about in Part 1 and Part 2.
Now I want to highlight a few unique things I particularly like about it. Beyond just having lots of kids.
As per usual, this isn’t a best of Hanoi list. As I wrote in “my fav things in Seoul” post,
“I don’t zoom around a town going from place to place intent on making the ‘best of X’ lists. Instead, I find a few ‘average’ places I like, then keep going back to them, to try and and be a bit of a regular, for a small amount of time.”
So, here are a few of my fav things about Hanoi.
(More coming in August. There are simply too many great things about Hanoi.)