Be Careful of What You Wish for

In the spirit of making use of every second I have, I hired a private care to take me to a Thursday Market 2.5 hrs away before departing on the night train back to Hanoi.  A very small market but an opportunity to see the colorful Flower H’mong ethnic minority and several other Hill Tribe  people Warm weather and a touch of sun was in my favor.

The usual fare of people doing their weekly shopping. More unique were the horse drawn carts that some used, and the piglets that arrived to market in sacks with leashes on squealing the whole time. Despite being a meat eater myself, it is still disturbing to hear. I had previously seen dogs on their way to market in Laos and China, this time I got to seem them weigh the dog in. You know he wasn’t being sold as a house pet.


Then on to the train station for a 5 hr wait for my night train back to Hanoi and further south to Hoi An via an airplane. I had been taking a better class train, only 4 to a berth. 2 Europeans and I Vietnamese in my carriage. During my last hotel re-pack, I had thought to myself that I had brought perhaps 1 pair too many socks. No problem, my friendly bunk mate took care of that. Gone to the bathroom on the train for less than 5 minutes and so were my socks that were lying on my bed.

A relatively inexpensive reminder, NEVER LET YOURT GUARD DOWN. I hope that the people of Vietnam are a lot gentler in the South.


More to come soon,
Carpe Diem,
Lorrie Dallek
www.LorrieDallekPhotography.com