Arriving in Hanoi was great, there were so many new things I got to experience for the first time. I spent my first days exploring and getting my bearings. I quickly found out that it’s bus no. 11 that brings you to the city center, not bus no. 54 even though they both leave from the same place and travel in the same direction? I guess the beauty of discovering a new place does not come without getting lost at least once. I eventually ended up at west bank, passing some stalls on the way. The freshest produce I have ever seen, all of the fish were caught this morning and the bananas are still green. The air is full of so many new and wonderful smells, its hard to actually describe but it is definitely something everyone should experience.
Walking along the west bank it’s had to ignore the elephant in the room which comes in the form of a thick blanket of smog where the distant skyline should be. It is a not so gentle reminder as to why I undertook this masters in the first place and that is the every growing problem of climate change. According to The World Health Organisation around 60000 deaths that occur every year in Vietnam are air pollution related. The evidence of this growing pollution problem is obvious when you take a minute to notice just how many locals you see wearing a smog mask whilst going about their daily tasks.
Today’s exploring has giving me back all my motivation and I am ready to start my research now more than ever!