Courage

There’s a wholesale fruit and veg market just across a very busy road from the Old Quarter and this morning I went to see if I could get any good people photos. I wasn’t there early enough. There were still people there, but it was obvious that the main action was over (it was 9am) and people were clearing up. There were women loading up their bicycles with baskets of fruit or with flowers ready to set off for the day. I watched a few tying their baskets on and then followed a couple as they set off. Back on yesterday’s bridge, the vendors weren’t walking under the bridge, they were crossing the incredibly busy road underneath it (there’s no ramp up to the bridge, only stairs).

I do think this photographer I referred to yesterday has captured beautiful images of the vendors, but by cutting out the surrounding area, I’m not sure the photos capture just how challenging their work environment is. The photographer may have taken some of her photos from the bridge I was stood on. If not, then I’m fairly sure the roads the other bridges cross are similar. These women (they are mostly women although I have seen a couple of men with goods loaded on bicycles) battle hostile traffic constantly. As pedestrians (the bicycles are too laden for them to cycle), they are the lowest form of life on the roads, expected to get out of the way of everyone. As poor street vendors, they probably get even less respect. Whereas the bicycle was once the favourite form of transport in Hanoi, it’s definitely not nowadays.


After dragging myself away from the bridge, I packed up and then it was time to go to the airport. Since my Vietnam visa runs out today, I had no choice but to travel on a Saturday. But when I was looking at flights to Europe a couple of weeks ago, flying at the weekend was very expensive. By the time I booked my flight last week it was even more expensive. So I booked a flight to Kuala Lumpur since flights from KL to the UK were much cheaper a couple of days later. I’m having difficulty believing that there are only two days of this trip left, even though I booked the flight!