Goodbye holidays, hello Hanoi.

Market haul. I actually bought 2 kgs of tomatoes and a whole load more capsicums, limes, chillies and herbs. I won’t tell you how ridiculously cheap the whole experience was.

A few days ago, thanks to the wonders of jetlag and early morning flights, I stayed up all night. I got stuck in a 3am traffic jam in Kuala Lumpur (party town!) and made it to my airport bus just in time. There was also time for one last round of kaya toast before blearily boarding and passing out. I arrived in Hanoi to the usual visa getting rigmarole, which ended with my passport almost being confiscated because I don’t look like the photo in it. I adore the photo in my passport, but they’re right, I look nothing like that.

Hanoi was drizzly grey and blessedly cool. The taxi driver laughed at my attempts to speak Vietnamese, if only he knew how often I almost told rickshaw wallahs to đi thẳng or dừng over the last few months. Right now I’m settling back in to this town that feels empty to me. This morning I visited the market, today I may finally cook something, or assemble, rather, as it’s far too warm to consider turning the stove on.

There were new things at the market: eels, pomegranates, and too many unidentifiables. My last few months have been an onslaught of new and I’m yearning for familiarity, so today I just bought basics. Also, despite my intense desire to cook, my confidence is pretty low right now and cooking for one can be boring and soul-destroying. Regardless, I gotta eat, so I think I might turn some of this haul into gazpacho and the rest into salady deliciousness. Though if you have any ideas of what I should make, I’d love to hear them.

I’ve got a few posts about India brewing, but in the meantime you can read about my time in India here, or check out my photos on flickr. I’m updating these two places every few days and I’ll be checking out and replying to your comments soon.