As some of you already know, Hanoi’s ‘Old Quarter’ features many little streets that were once dedicated to one particular activity each; there was for instance ‘bamboos street’, ‘cotton street’, etc. There are supposed to be 36 of them. Guess what? For this month’s theme day, I give you Lò Rèn; a.k.a. ‘blacksmiths street’. (Time has passed and now only a few of those streets have still managed to keep their original focus; I’ll keep posting on those this week).

Here’s the view from the rooftop of my office’s building; you can see the West Lake (close to the horizon line), and, on the foreground, the land where a new building is being erected. Hanoi being super humid at this time, this area is most of the time under the water; I don’t know how the workers do to cope with it. I really hope they’ll manage to finish the foundations soon so that they can work without wading in the mud!