Saturday evening. The sun is slowly setting on the fields at the outskirts of my hometown. There is a warm yellow light at the horizon. The same colour and light in spring as well as autumn as if the season would be unsure as to which direction to take. I stay at a friend place just outside the old centre. It is quiet here and I can hear men talking outside the bar down the […]
it 7:20. The blue sky is covered by clouds tjis morning. The Costa Coffee has opened just 20 minutes ago. I am one of the first customers. Two men and a woman work here, dressed in modern-coffee-place-style uniforms. The two men speak a language I do not know. We are all foreigners in this place. The woman has black hairs with some red dye in it. I sit at the table I have been sitting […]
To run or not to run. It is Sunday morning. Blue sky outside the windows of the hotel. Just before 8. Ok, run. I take the running shoes, running clothes, my heartbeat monitoring, the GPS watch which will draw a path on a Google Map later on. The first few metres are chilly. The legs feel the cold. The lungs hurt a bit. It will get better in few minutes. I reach the Tower Bridge, […]
The usual question of a consultant weekend are: read or not read? finish the paper or not finish the paper? review the sent last week or not? write a blog or not write a blog? go for a walk in town or not? eat in a restaurant alone or not? These question accompany the hours of the weekend and more often than not I am surprised to see that all of a sudden outside the […]
I started my round of interviews for the study I am conducting here in Ha Noi for the World Bank. I am working with two young researchers of an independent research institute which has been established just few years ago. It was nice to hear that Hoang on of the two colleagues, has studied for one year in Pavia which is les than hundred kilometres from my hometown. It is now possible to have English […]
I am in Doi Can, the street that goes from Lieu Giai to the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum. If is later afternoon. People are rushing out from their offices to go home. The street gets busy. I am sitting on a typical narrow plastic chair. Knees above the waist line. Motorbikes parked one the sidewalk, pushing people to walk on the street. Shops accompany this busy and lively street up to the mausoleum. Lights are […]
Let’s see if I manage to keep a diary of my stay in Ha Noi this time. It is the very first time I am here and will not do work for the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences. It seems to me a sign of the passing of time, as well as the new route that the taxi took frorm Noi Bai airport to the hotel where I stay, the Horison. It took a narrow […]
It is July 1990. It is hot. I am jet legged and travelled for 24 hours. First by train from Cremona to Roma. Then with an Air Jordan flight to Amman and connection to Delhi. I am with a group of four other friends and for me is the first time outside Europe. I am 23. My blue Invicta rucksack is the first to be delivered by the belts so I am sent out of […]