The peaceful sound of Hanoi's sidewalks in the old days

I did not get to live much on the sidewalks of Saigon, as I used to walk around the sidewalks of Hanoi in the past, during and after the war. In the past, the sidewalks of Hanoi were so peaceful, even though American bombs were still lurking, sirens were still ringing, and the announcer still warned every day, " American planes are approaching Hanoi..."

Back then, every time we had a chance to approach the sidewalks of Hanoi, my friends and I had the opportunity to sit and drink, eat peanut candy, and drink cuoc lui. With little money, peanut candy, cuoc lui wine, and roasted peanuts were very modest, not like two friends from Nghe An who said to each other: "What is life? Let's go all out!". We just ordered a few cups of hand-roasted Thai tea each, asked the old lady who owned the sidewalk stall to pour us each a cup of cuoc lui wine, and enjoyed it with a tiny plate of roasted peanuts. That was enough fun.

I still remember, at the end of 1975, when I fell in love with a girl who later became my wife, every Sunday, my wife's day off, my lover took her to wander around Hanoi by bicycle. At that time, the main means of transportation was bicycle or walking, although some Hanoi residents who went to Saigon bought or were given motorbikes, called Hondas. But the number of people riding motorbikes in Hanoi at that time was still not many. Cycling or walking was the main thing. One time, on a Sunday morning, when I was out of money, I asked my lover for 5 cents. Just for each of us to have a drink, because I only had 5 cents left in my pocket:

"At that time no one said they loved anyone

only know joy only know joy is closer than all

no promise no anger no home

all day sunday

but on a cold morning I asked you for five cents

At that time, that person appeared before me.

nothing more to show"

( Remember - For you, February 1976)

Actually, I can't show off because I only have a lieutenant's salary, 65 dong a month.

Little memories like that that we both will never forget.

Bicycle carrying flowers on the streets of Hanoi

Tu Pham

Back then, sidewalk dessert shops in Hanoi only sold desserts, not iced tea, because ice was rare in Hanoi after peace. I still remember that couples in love back then, whenever they held hands and entered a shop with "Iced Black Bean Dessert" in the middle of summer, felt very happy. If the shop only sold black bean dessert, missing the most important word "iced", then no one would want to come in and drink.

My friends who are now over 70 years old, surely still remember the cups of iced black bean tea? It cooled my hands, cooled my throat when I drank it, and cooled my heart when I felt the ice melting in my body. How peaceful and sweet!

Westerners enjoy eating at Hanoi sidewalk restaurants

Ngoc Thang

After that, every time I went to Hanoi, I no longer saw the "Iced Black Bean Sweet Soup" refreshment shops. A new page of history had been opened, ice had become too normal, and almost no one had the need to quench their thirst with "Iced Black Bean Sweet Soup", because there were so many new drinks that attracted more customers. But in the 1975s after the peace, enjoying a cup of iced black bean sweet soup on a hot day was a blessing for many people.

Although iced black bean sweet soup is only sold in shops, not on the sidewalk, the space between the shop and the sidewalk at that time was very narrow and very close.

What I like most when sitting and drinking tea on the sidewalk is listening to the people drinking tea with me tell "new age jokes". The stories are extremely humorous, the more you listen the funnier it gets. The cyclo drivers often talk to each other about our country having a large oil mine, if we exploit it and sell it, "our country will be rich as hell!", it's both funny and touching.

Crowded sidewalk tea and coffee shops in Hanoi

Ngoc Thang

Sitting on the sidewalk is also an opportunity to watch people passing by, especially the mothers and sisters selling flowers, bananas with egg cuoc, persimmons with egg, or seasonal green rice, selling small culinary gifts of Hanoi when you have just arrived in the capital from far away. If you have money in your pocket, you buy, if you run out of money, you just sit and watch to your heart's content.

Hanoi's sidewalks have long been a place for poor workers to make a living. Except for the tea stalls, the other street vendors are mobile, they do not "occupy the sidewalk", but only stop to sell, then leave. The liveliness of the sidewalk is also there, the street vendors are like "mobile chess pieces" that can be a pair of shoulder poles, a bicycle carrying goods, or a basket that a mother carries on her head... It is diverse and creates an attractive color on the streets of Hanoi. Now, foreign tourists coming to Hanoi are very interested in these "mobile chess pieces" selling street food, as long as they do not cling to customers and try to "rip off" international visitors.

In those days long ago, I always found peace in my heart when sitting at a sidewalk tea shop, or wandering on the sidewalk, waiting for the flower bike with the gentle saleswoman to buy some roses. Sometimes I bought flowers just for fun, to give to friends when I met them.

I remember one time I went from Quang Ngai to Hanoi for a meeting at the Writers' Association. On the morning of October 20, Vietnamese Women's Day, I stopped at a flower stall to buy 20 dozen beautiful yellow roses and brought them to the association to give to the girls in the office. They were very happy, each received a rose. When I asked if they received flowers from their leaders on Women's Day, they shook their heads. I'm sure I'm not a leader, but is it okay to give them flowers on October 20? They said OK.

I have also sat in sidewalk cafes in Paris. Their sidewalks are wide and clean, they sell coffee both inside the cafe and on the sidewalk, anyone can sit wherever they want. But sitting on the sidewalk is much more interesting, it is airy and easy to watch the street. Once my friends took me to the famous Café de Flore with a small billboard but everyone read Les chemin de la liberte (JPSartre). That was the cafe where the writer and philosopher JPSartre used to come every morning to "sit in a trance", drink coffee and write the famous novel The Paths of Freedom . The cafe is small, but has a small room to display some memorabilia of the great writer, along with some souvenirs of the cafe named JPSartre. I bought a small notebook, which I still keep as a souvenir. The cafe is located at 172, Saint-Germain Street 75006 Paris.

Suddenly remembering, in Hanoi in the past, there were many famous artists who used to sit at sidewalk tea shops, sit at the 109 Hue Street pub whose owner was a gentle old lady, sit at the Lam Toet cafe, drink coffee on credit and pay off debts with art paintings.

Hanoi and Paris are similar in that way, except that Mr. Sartre did not drink coffee on credit, he sat in cafes to write books, while the great artists in Hanoi drank coffee on credit and paid their debts with the artwork they painted at home. That's all.

Thanhnien.vn