Go on a walk today and share a photo of something that catches your eye.
We are on a short holiday in Vietnam. This is our first day, so we started with a tour of Hanoi. We were walking through the city when we saw this woman with her fruit cart.
She was standing in a narrow street, wearing a conical hat, with her bicycle loaded with green vegetables and oranges. Around her were scooters, shopfronts, signs, tarps, and the usual movement of the city. It was an ordinary scene. But it stayed with me.
We have been told that average wages in Vietnam are around AUD$100 a week. That is hard to imagine from the outside. And yet there is nothing weak about this place. Vietnam feels full of energy. People are working, building, selling, moving, repairing, hoping.
Soon we will head north to drive the Ha Giang Loop. I am expecting mountains, sharp roads, and remarkable beauty. But already, in Hanoi, I have seen something of the country.
Vietnam has survived French colonisation, war with the United States, and then war with China. It has carried more than most nations should ever have to carry. And still it stands. Still it works. Still it looks forward.
What strikes me most is the contrast between resilience and grace. The cart looks heavy. The work looks physical. But the composition has a quiet dignity to it. The conical hat hides her face, so she becomes almost emblematic: not an individual portrait so much as a glimpse of labour, routine, endurance, and street life.
There is also a strong narrative quality. You wonder where she has come from, how far she has walked, how many times she has done this route, who will buy from her, and whether this is a good day’s trade or just another ordinary morning.
The Afterword 
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