getting it to take away

Most mornings I will go walk. I kinda know what I want or this desired direction. Most of all it is some coffee shop I want to visit. If I turn left or take the other dirt road I can reach this place I like. Sometimes though I go farther.

Like today. Today I wanted to be at a favored shop downtown by the river. I catch a tuktuk and see a driver I get often. We idly chat since he speaks really good English. The weather these days cooler so most Khmer wear jackets or sweaters. It’s not cold. Not even. But it makes me remember. So stay with me here. It somehow all comes around again.

Da Lat Vietnam days

Some years ago I traveled here and there awhile in Vietnam. I ended up living in Da Lat which is in the central highlands. Cooler and when I got there on the edge of rainy season. I lived there a month in a small hotel which my primary memory of was the walking to the lake there and every so often sharing beers with the owner. His wife did no drinking but happily fetched beer for us from next door.

The walking part was always interesting. I got to see vietnamese people all dressed up in heavy jackets and boots and caps. It was cooler. Not cold.

Evenings I would walk for dinner somewhere. Often vietnamese food or a stop at a Korean place which somehow was down the street. Many of my mornings I would spend at the delightful La Viet coffee shop. They had the best sandwiches ever. Of course locally grown And harvested coffee beans too.

It happens Da Lat grows a lot of coffee and can do both arabica and robusta beans. So I got some of each when I wanted. I love vietnamese coffee. Most of all I’ve been happily addicted to ca phe sua da. It packs a punch and the varieties of it seem to be regional.

Da Lat was fun for a month. Then it was time to go. I think I went to Da Nang again but I cannot recall. I spent time there so maybe.

But now we get to this other thing. Perhaps the point of it all. Or there is no point and I just write because I love to write.

Hanoi does take away

Well I ended in Hanoi in the winter. It’s cold there. I mean cold needing a jacket and pants. So I did. This never stopped me from coffee at the lake. Well ca phe sua da Hanoi style. One delightful little fixture was the wonderful vietnamese lady that made breakfast banh mi sandwiches. Filled with scrambled egg, sausage, cilantro, onion. Other stuff. So here you go…

Only for take away

So we would line up and revel in her wonderful wizardry of a sandwich gone crazy in Vietnam. She just did the breakfast one. Did it well and we all knew. Ordering meant waiting. Then taking to the little cafe by west lake where mornings were spent.

An amusing sideline is this was next door to the little cafe I bought cold Hanoi beers at night. I could never see going too far for either. So I did not.

from there to here

Now across the street is the guy selling the sandwiches. Then I remember the wonderful and cheap vietnamese fare for mornings. All connected with these thin lines.

Presented to you the discerning reader with no reason for it’s existence. Besides these moments of people watching. Writing. Both. I did both as well in Vietnam.

Life is this web of little webs. Connected with fine lines. Here to there and back again.