Whooping in the rain
Posted: April 7, 2011 | Author: Steve Jackson | Filed under: Reflections, Stories, transport, travel, weather | Tags: Hanoi, happy, madness, motorbike, transport, travel, vietnam |2 Comments »Yesterday I was all suited for work as we had a VIP visitor.
Once they had left there was a glass or two of champagne left over which I gratefully took advantage of. Around the same time I realised it was raining and that having forgotten a coat my suit wasn’t going to fare well under the drizzle.
So, reasoning that a jacket would be wrecked, I set off in an open neck shirt and smart trousers.
Eyes half closed against the drizzle, I manoeuvred between the traffic while slowly getting wetter and wetter.
Then the laugh came, almost a whoop. The ridiculousness of it all. Living and working in Vietnam, driving home – a big tay amongst all the Vietnamese – soaked through.
So absurd. If they could see me now…
Even now, almost a decade after I first visited Vietnam I never really saw this coming.
Still living the dream. Still just about remembering this was the dream.
I loved the rain in Hanoi. My husband and his friend ran into pounding rain, from the Hanoi Horison to the supermarket on the corner to buy me ginger ale for my vodka.
Not seeing a huge pot hole the friend fell into it breaking his sandal. On entering the supermarket the assistant roared laughing at them both, handed them a towel while the security guard took away the sandal and returned it a few minutes later repaired.
Only in Hanoi.
Great post. Short and sweet, and reminds me of a few times when I have felt exactly like that in the Hue winter drizzle.