I've been meaning to write this post for the last few months, I just never dedicated time for it. Today, I finally decided to do it. I recently changed jobs, and now, save an hour a day on commute. I reach home before sunset, and I think this has had a significant impact on my energy levels.

We went to Vietnam (Hanoi and Hoi-An) in November of '22. We decided to go back at least one more time, but I think that number will increase every time we go back.

In Hoi-An, we saw a well-preserved town, one that dates back to the 17th century. The town, at least the part of the town that tourists frequented, had a few streets dotted with shophouses, and I got really curious about them. The front part of the shophouse had a shop, facing the street, and through a small back door, the shop owners, typically families, would go back and forth, and every once in a while, when the door opens or the curtains are parted, you can get a glimpse of the life behind.

Hoi An has several shops selling leather goods, dresses, bags - everything a tourist would find appealing. The front of the shops was generally quite narrow (houses tended to be narrow in order to pay lesser tax).

The shop part of the 'shop-house', facing the street.

This was behind the doors/curtains. Compared to the clean attractive shop front, the realness of the house part of the 'shop-house' was incredible. I believe that between the streets where tourists could stroll, cycle and shop, there were parallel smaller lanes, that opened to the back of the shophouses, creating a maze, and sort of like a parallel Hoi-An.

As part of the traditional Hoian homes, there was a central open courtyard, allowing natural light and rain to enter the home.

Just another photo with their poodle.

After coming back, I wanted to learn more about this kind of architecture; I really liked the concept of shop houses, a joint family, children being taken care of by the grandparents, parents out front making a living, but never far from their children, and the general concept of living and working together. I came across this website, Oriental Architecture, which explained the shophouse very well.

An excerpt, "It is a typical Hoian style shophouse with a long, narrow floor plan with a shop in front, a courtyard at center, a workspace in the rear, and living quarters on the upper level. The house may have been built as early as the 17th century."

Credit

Chettinad heritage homes, combined with earth tones of traditional Manglorean homes hold a special place for me. Those wooden beams, high ceilings, ceiling fans that seem to go on forever, terracotta or red oxidized tiles, long and narrow hallways, antique wooden furniture, rattan chairs. I would not mind inheriting one such home. Alas, I do not have relatives, not even distant, that are linked to Chettinad or Mangalore.

Kerala is dotted with beaches, most of which unnamed. Locals enjoy these hidden spots, and in some parts that are closer to the coast, it's almost like every neighbourhood has its own beach. We recently a) discovered and b) started frequenting Valapad beach. The drive is half the experience. We drove through the smaller roads, intentionally choosing to be away from the highways. We crossed so many bridges, I tried memorizing the names of the canals, rivers, backwaters, streams but eventually lost count. The smaller almost single lane roads are all lined with traditional houses, each with its own front yard, dogs, manicured bushes and coconut and mango trees. It being April, the mango trees were in abundance.

At some point, we started to smell the sea, this was after traversing through Kodungallur, Panangad, Perinjanam, Kaipamangalam, Koprakalam, Kazhimbaram. Kerala is one of the most densely populated states in India, and this is reflected as you drive through the lush greenery.

It probably is common across all beaches, but I always find it beautiful when I see sea weeds growing in the wild, outside the sea. Gorgeous Earth.

I stayed in Kerala for 10 days after years. It was nostalgic, humid, chaotic (the traffic was from another planet), warm, summer & rain at the same time, lush green. It was such a long week, and I remember every single day.

Individual houses practice burning waste, and with the whole Brahmapuram issue, this practice has become way too common.

The weather honestly changes in a matter of an hour, the clouds come rolling in.

I've seen this view for decades, just the height of the houses and the number of buildings changes. Houses add tanks, solar panels and roofed terraces over time, changing the landscape a tad.

The rain poured hard.

It's like coconut trees were built for slowly letting the rain drops slide off.

Never have I seen such a gorgeous snail.

Pothos growing wild in such a domestic setting, this is so common!

Kochi I have come to love and miss and get annoyed at - all together. I was lucky to see the rain in April.

It's been 2 months since my Vietnam trip, and I think I intentionally kept off posting all the posts immediately. When you post after a while, you're kind of forcing yourself to reminisce.

Hanoi - atleast the old quarters - is unintentionally built for walking. You could walk the whole day, continuously coming across new lanes, eateries and stores. Pedestrians are aplenty, but scooters and cyclists rule. We saw very few cars, I am certain that it would in fact be hard to navigate the small streets in a car.

I used to read a lot as kid - Secret Seven, Harry Potter, Sweet Valley, Famous Five, Nancy Drew. But somewhere between school and hitting 30, I realized I had read all of probably 10 books. Last March, I finally decided to do something about it as it bothered me.

I joined the Dubai bookclub - and tried to be consistent and managed to read 25 books - being inspired by fellow readers.

Apart from the books that I read for the book club, I read science-fiction (Project Hailmary was one of my favourites), multi-geography authors (Iran, Nigeria, Angola, Former Yugoslavia, Japan, Chile and Palestine). Reading about stories from different parts of the world made me realize that there are is so much I don't know.

Vietnam is a haven for shopoholics - even for those on a budget. While of course the bigger cities have the Pradas and Chanels, it was the smaller stores that fascinated me. Small art galleries, book shops, souvenir stores, handcrafted leather shops, ceramic stores. All just quietly sitting there - waiting for you to enter and be marvelled. 

If you have watched Korean dramas, you must be familiar with Soju. I liked that they specifically mentioned that the above Soju was imported fom Korea.

Ceramics is big in Hanoi. This store we walked in to had so many cute little things.

I almost picked this up, before realizing my cat would gracefully knock it on the floor.

A tiny ceramic cat.

While walking the inner lanes in the old quarters, I came across this book store. They had some really nice books - a collection that seemed hand picked by someone who loves books.

Some fine books.

2 cute little things - found them inside a temple.

I was not surprised to see such beautiful handcrafted shoes - a lot of global brands outsource their production to Vietnam and this is just an outcome of that.

We saw the seasons transition very explicitly, one day it was hot and sunny, the next, it was rainy with a cool winter breeze. This cute little dog was wrapped in a t-shirt overnight - it wasn't a pet, but someone obviously had done this for several street dogs which was nice to see.

This is an irony - a huge plate in a post titled 'little things'. I loved the jelly fish painted onto it - another ceramic store.

In the spirit of Christmas, a minimalistic cristmas tree at the shop front. This store had so many cute little things.