I was driving to work in heavy traffic the other day, when I saw some tourists standing on a street corner, taking photos of the traffic. When you're doing something as mundane as driving to work, it seems ridiculous that someone would consider it photo-worthy. And I'm pretty sure the Vietnamese driving around me thought the tourists looked even more stupid than I did - reactions to the abysmal traffic situation in Hanoi usually range from nonplussed through to mild irritation, and "one for the photo album" is nowhere in that range. But then I remembered my first day in Vietnam, crossing the road feeling all at once completely scared, excited, fascinated, disgusted and tempted to join in. I definitely took photos; I think I even blogged about it. I also remembered forcing my mum to cross one of the busiests roads in the city centre when they visited: "I'm not crossing here, no, no way, no, Laura, we can't do this...AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" (as I grab her hand and drag her straight through the middle of the stream of traffic).
The same goes for food; looking back over my blog history reveals that when presented with a particularly exciting and delicious-looking bowl of pho, when my dragon-fruit is even more pink and beautiful than normal, or when I see an extra-gruesome pile of dead dogs by the side of the road, I am compelled to photograph it. I'm not sure why photographs are necessary - it's partly because just "having a look" doesn't seem significant enough to mark how interesting I think it is, and partly because I think that people at home will be interested to see it too. In England, I never really felt so compelled to photograph my porridge, a banana, or some chicken fillets in Sainsbury's.
exciting cup of tea
exciting lunch and exciting boyfriend
On Pancake Day, we had a party at our house. Pancakes featured heavily at this party. Most of the people there were Westeners, but my Vietnamese friend Long (his name means dragon!) was the most impressed by my pancakes. He told me that I'll be a good housewife, and he took several photos of his pancake on his iPhone. Since a rolled-up pancake is delicious but quite ugly, and in a badly-lit iPhone photo slightly resembles a poo, this seemed a strange thing to do - but for Long, a pancake is exciting and novel. I look just about as strange to Vietnamese people when I take photos of a bowl of soup.
I think my point is that 'interesting' often just equates with 'novel', whilst 'unremarkable' just means 'seen it all before'... I'm pretty sure that Hanoi isn't an inherently more interesting place than Sussex. The reason why I feel I have so many adventures here, why I still spend half my time walking around in wide-eyed awe, why I feel a dead dog is photo-worthy, and why I look forward to tasks such as buying vegetables and sitting on a bench, is that Hanoi still holds that novelty for me. I guess the enlightened man would have the ability to hold this child-like excitement for wherever they happened to be. I am an unenlightened man, and so I plan to spend lots of money chasing excitement around the planet, so that I can continue to be stimulated by new experiences, new people, new sights, and new foods. This is a good reason to leave Hanoi on Thursday, and head to new shores.
some pigs in a toilet; this was very exciting
