A gentle left turn off one of my regular run routes round West Lake, there's a patch of green with a few deck chairs erected on it. After about 5.30, it's shady and the only half-hot breeze is lifting up off the water to cool the day's accumulated sweat. Later, the sun sinks behind the buildings at back and, depending on what kind of summer sky we have, shoots lasers of pink or orange or red at the correctly angled windows of Hanoi's rising crop of wannabe skyscrapers.
And I'm trying to read my book, which is impossible. It's not noisy. The strip of green lake bank is located on a virtual dead end so the number of bike revs is negligible. The dog's asleep at my feet, exhausted from panting all day. The other deck-chair sitters, mostly couples, are deep in quiet conversation. One distraction is the view over the water, choppier now as the sun retreats. Hanoi almost looks handsome from here.
The other is the frosty beer. Each line of the book is a major exercise interrupted by vacant stares over the lake and greedy thirsty gulps of beer.
Yep, Bia Hanoi served on ice.
I love this place. Glad to see I am not the only one.
Posted by: uggclogs | 06 July 2010 at 11:06 AM
THAT PICTURE BRINGS BACK SUCH WONDERFUL MEMORIES! NOT FORGETTING THAT THE FISH WERE DYING THE LAST TIME I SAW THAT LAKE! LOL MISSING YOU!
Posted by: ANNERLY COOPER | 08 July 2010 at 01:35 PM
uggclogs - can't believe it's taken me so long to embrace this place cos I only live across the lake behind the intercon
Annerly, love - it's been too long. Can't believe it's nearly two years since you left...catch up soon!
Posted by: Sticky | 10 July 2010 at 12:41 PM
Ahh, I recognize that plastic table near the lakeside. I used to sit right there with my gal. I think it's peaceful here, I love it in the afternoon.
Posted by: Vietnam Tours | 11 August 2011 at 11:39 AM