A ride my bike here every day, try not to get hit with fishing rods.

Weekends don’t really have the same feeling when you don’t do anything with the rest of your week. My first two proper weekends in 6 months have been spent almost exactly the same way as when I was in Sydney, but more lonely, with more massages and less housework. Which basically means sleep, shop, cook, eat, tv, internet, hang out. Yesterday I did the shopping: 100,00vnd worth of meat and veg at the market, then 400,000vnd for a handful of items at the supermarket. This morning I had a disappointingly average massage, then bun cha and a stroll.

I see things differently through a viewfinder, I should take my lonely camera out more often.

There is so much quick and dirty construction happening, piles of bricks, mountains of sand and gravel and death traps of re-bar are the norm.

These girls were surrounded by an entourage at the back gate of the Sheraton. I don’t know what their deal was but they certainly wanted to pose.

I always knew that shoes were going to be a problem for me here. Hell, finding shoes that I like, that fit, and that I can afford in Sydney is such a problem that I spent years wearing only Chuck Taylors. Before I left I was discussing the shoe conundrum with a good friend. I related my fear that I wouldn’t be able to find shoes that fit, he responded “Don’t worry lili, I’m sure that you can buy chucks in Vietnam”.

I came equipped with 6 pairs from thongs to boots, but when I started this mad adventure as a drifter I never considered that I would actually get a job so soon. Yeah, you heard right, I’ve got a job, start Monday and need appropriate footwear. There will be less drinking Vietnamese coffees by the lake and more wrangling screaming children.

I visited the only real fancy shopping centre in Hanoi, Vincom Towers in the hope that its westernised shops would stock western sizes. Uh oh, no. I visited every single store, tried on every pair that may fit my size 41 hoofs. Which basically means I squeezed my poor feet into a cascade of size 39 shoes, the very largest that most shops stock. I giggled in despair and left many stores where the biggest size was 38. I did try on one lone pair, size 42, which ended with me leaving the store in a hurry and while the attendant tried to smooth the leather out to remove my bulbous toe imprints.

Disinterested staff, tiny shoes, but I finally found a pair that just fit, size 40. They are not what I wanted, but I bought them because I could fit into them (pictured first, and below) and they are hot. The only pair of shoes in Vincom Towers that came close to fitting.

Actually, I lie. There was another pair, flat, ballet type shoes, dark blue. Sounds good, but the toe area was covered proudly with a Union Jack in enormous sparkling diamantes. And they were a little cosy, and they cost 2,300,000vnd ($131AU). Imagine if I hadn’t already found the hot black wedges, I might be sitting here attempting to remove diamantes from my ridiculously expensive shoes.

The only problem with these shoes is the heel. The children that I’ll be teaching are already obsessed with how tall I am, now thanks to these awesome shoes I’m even taller. But I don’t care, because they are affordable shoes that fit, almost.

Happy lunar new year! In Vietnam Tet is a time for family, feasting and taking time off work. The whole country shuts down for the first few days of the new year, but not the eve. Further down the road out of town is an enormous flower market. We didn’t make it all the way there yesterday, it was icy and damp after a few days in the 30s. Cold, perfect Tet weather, if it is cool and drizzly you can eat more, see. Just a few pictures from the street corner, as people buy last minute plants.

Just plants, see everyone stocked up on food previously if Friday at the Fivimart was anything to go by. Queuing behind couples buying cases of Johnny Walker and bags of pistachios, chocolate, boxes of wine. Just like home. Happy New Year.

Oh, more photos here (I finally did that flickr thing).

Photos taken an eternity ago around Truc Bach lake, back when it was cool. Today was in the 30s, blue sky divine if only I didn’t yearn for winter and an end to tet traffic madness. Tomorrow I’ll leave the lane, promise.