hanoi: where old meets new and i'm still jet-lagged

so here i am in hanoi, after what feels like a million flights and not nearly enough coffee. honestly, i'm not sure if i'm writing this or if my fingers have developed minds of their own. it's funny how travel does that to you - makes your brain feel like it's been put through a blender but somehow still works.

hanoi's this place that's been around for like, 4,000 years. can you even imagine? that's older than most of what i consider history. it's vietnam's capital and the second-biggest city, sitting in this red river delta place. i just looked it up - it's at 21 degrees latitude and 105 longitude, whatever that really means when you're trying to find a good noodle shop. the city covers about 913 square kilometers, which is basically huge when you're walking around with a backpack that feels like it contains all your worldly worries.

someone told me that hanoi's one of those cities where you can turn a corner and suddenly be in the 14th century, then turn another and see a skyscraper. it's got this mix of old imperial stuff and modern factories, all mashed together like it's the most natural thing in the world.

the weather here... well, i just checked and it's 20.99 degrees celsius right now, hope you like that kind of thing. it feels like 20.92, which is pretty much the same, but i guess that's why they have those numbers. apparently it gets from 17 to 29 degrees throughout the year, which sounds nice until you realize that's 62 to 84 fahrenheit and they have actual seasons here. the wet season's may to september, which i'm guessing means bring your own boat. and the dry season's october to april. the best times to visit? someone said april-june or september-december, when it's supposedly comfortable and not raining all the time. we'll see about that.

if you get bored, which seems unlikely here, there are apparently some mountains and valleys nearby, and ha long bay isn't too far. that's the unesco place with all those islands that look like they're straight out of a fantasy movie. i haven't made it there yet because i'm still trying to figure out which direction is which in this city.

hanoi's supposed to be the cultural center of northern vietnam, whatever that really means. it's got all these old buildings from when vietnam was still an empire, mixed with modern tech and healthcare places. someone told me that the northern part of vietnam is different from the central and southern parts, like they have their own identity or something. which makes sense, since this country is long and skinny, almost like if someone stretched it too much.

the city has this river called the red river that flows all the way from china. that's 1,183 kilometers of river, which is a lot when you're trying to cross it during rush hour. and there are all these little streams and lakes and stuff. they've got 63 kilometers of inland waterways total, which sounds like a lot until you realize some cities have more than that in their sewer systems.

i keep hearing that vietnam's one of the five countries most vulnerable to climate change, which is terrifying when you're standing in a city built next to a river. apparently hanoi folks might face floods, droughts, typhoons, and diseases. but hey, at least the weather's nice today, right?

i don't know, maybe i'm being too hard on hanoi. it's got this weird energy, like it's trying to be a modern city but can't help but show off its 4,000-year-old bones. it's messy and chaotic and probably smells like motorbikes and street food, but there's something about it that makes you want to stick around for just one more day. or maybe that's just the jet lag talking. who knows at this point.

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