I have very few photographs of Ha Noi.

I don’t think I collect memories of Ha Noi the way I do other cities. It’s hard to feel like a tourist in my home city, at the same time, everything I experience in this city seems like it’s the first time.

As one of the oldest cities I’ve been to, Ha Noi reminds me that city building isn’t always about being idealistic and building the best solution – it is more often about finding solutions that fit within what had been constructed. And there are buildings and roads in Ha Noi that haven’t moved in its 1000-year history. So that’s why alleys are so narrow and sidewalks are thin. And some buildings are narrow with sub-standard structures. But that’s also why the city has created a blueprint for itself, with road rules that can only be learned from living there and enduring the grinding traffic, and intertwining alleys and sub-alleys that only locals could know.

That’s why there’s no shortcutting through local neighbourhoods (you’d get lost). And traffic patterns take on a form of its own, with close interactions that actually feel safer than what I’m used to. That’s why people are so willing to help out a stranger who’s lost. There’s so much to this city that makes the people of Ha Noi unique. They find a sense of belonging and identify in the knowledge of this city.

I am jealous of that sense of belonging in a city.