benedictcooper Journalism, Travel Writing, Contract Publishing, Photography

Hectic, Electric, Magnetic, Hanoi

If I had to do one thing for the rest of time, I would walk the streets of Hanoi. There’s magic in those streets, where every sense tingles with a vivid intensity.

The colours, sights, smells and sounds you take in with every step and the thunderstorm of motorbikes and taxis that explodes every day.

And the food, ah the food. Those delicate but powerful flavours of the noodles cooked just that little bit differently in each street restaurant, the little baguettes with a myriad of mysterious fillings or the barbecued pork that smokes as it grills on a street corner in the warm evening air.

Perhaps it’s the feisty characters you meet there, whose tough fronts drift away into heart-meltingly honest, unreserved smiles that light up their faces like a firework show.