We are invited to lunch in Hanoi Old town with my brother and two new students fresh up to Hanoi from far-flung rural provinces. We walk back past Hoan Kiem lake with Canh to find the bus stop back. I ask what Canh's plans are when he graduates.
'Ha’e you heard the saying … you wait for a ‘ousand raindrop' to fill the sea .. I cannot make out the end of this proverb because of the blaring of the traffic, his soft voice and accent, but I am impressed and resolve to follow it up. English teenagers of my acquaintance would not respond to such a bland question in such an enchanting manner. 70% of Vietnamese are under 35. If the streets of Hanoi are anything to go by 100% of them drive motorbikes. Most traffic lights are ignored. As a pedestrian you don't cross the road, you weave the road, with its ten lanes. Did I say lanes? More like an ice rink where anything goes. I draw heart from the fact that there are large penalties for running down a westerner who are novices at this activity. You wait for a bit of a gap and then calmly and firmly cross, having courage that everyone will weave around you, which they do. Whatever you do you mustn't dart. The pavements are fairly impassible; lined with parked motorbikes, street vendors. eating stalls, ironwork welders. When we eat at a street stall we sit on plastic stools 8" high; one step up from squatting which the Vietnamese are so adept at and fond of.