Thu with the meaning of Autumn is a Vietnamese name of many Vietnamese girls. Hanoian loves Thu so much that Hanoi Autumn has gone into a lot of songs with the sweet and deep melody which reminds every Hanoian of many their childhood.
Dear Hanoi Autumn, do you know that enjoying you is one of the most wonderful things that I feel so lucky to be born and raised in Hanoi to experience this gentle feeling of love.
Dear Hanoi Autumn, I love you because you are so gentle. You come after the flamboyant of Summer who makes me feel like going with a hot IT guy. Hanoi Autumn is so different. This season is not as cold as Winter. Winter sometimes gives me the warmness to please me and then gets cold again in the very short time. Autumn is not the humid weather of Spring. I also love Spring and the reasons are like of many people. However, Spring in Hanoi sometimes makes me feel a little bit tired of the humidity while Autumn is the opposite.
Dear Hanoi Autumn, I love you because you give me the most beautiful early morning ever. In the morning, when I wake up and look out from the window, you give me the golden sunlight filtered through the leaves of the confetti frame on the neighbor’s balcony. You look so poetic. You give me a cool breeze wind. Although the wind is not strong enough to make people tremble like winter, I can go down the street with a thin coat. After that, I want to take a deep breath and then take it easy, eat something warm and hot and feel as light as the sun deep down inside.
I love you because you are like a cup of fragrant tea. With that cup of tea, I just sit and watch, inhale carefully, then sip little by little to dissolve the tea taste on my tongue, the herbal aroma of tea floats in my mouth. After enjoying tea, I will find yourself light, and my heart is full of blooming little joys.
In the autumn mornings, Hanoi is silent in the silver color because the sun has not yet appeared. The streets were deserted, sometimes a motorcycle carrying goods to the market soon passed by, like the sound of a sheet of paper being torn. At this time, I have to take the opportunity to ride my motorbike down the street, ride through the old streets, the central road, and then run to the West Lake.
Hanoi is really Hanoi at this time, autumn is really autumn now. Sometimes I can see a dazzling scent from the pot of stewed broth. I see the selling morning gifts on the roadside. Very small things, very gentle feelings, but why do they make me feel so happy. I feel I’m going through such beautiful days.
I love you because you give that feeling not only to me but also to any other Hanoian around me. Do you know that I can see it on every faces I meet on the streets. The happiness is not only from a single person. When my friends are happy, I am happy. Thank you for your wind which makes the confetti frame on the balconies look more romantic. Thank you for making the rows of old trees on Phan Dinh Phung street seeming to wear the new dress. Thu Hanoi keeps being gentle like this, just walking down the street, all the stress will be relieved.
I love you because you make the passersby visiting Hanoi several times in the autumn often still be in awe of the pleasant atmosphere of the cool, sunny days. And then the traveler be eager to return in a weather where anything on the road can become adorable. You are peaceful and lovely.
I love you because you are the season of nice, gentle things like North Vietnamese people. Of course, it must be mentioned as an immutable thing. Although it is now sold for the whole year, people just look forward to the autumn rice season, to savor the inhaled grains of nuggets, absorb the aroma of young rice fields, eat and feel sticky, fragrant with the smell of new nuggets. Those are the seeds that are worthy of waiting for, which make people love to remember when Hanoi falls in the autumn.
In October, the Autumn has also specialties which name Dracontomelon. Just walk through the old town or some office buildings to know if the Dracontomelon season is coming or not. The ladies selling fruit pickles always display ripe dracotomelon in the most visible position. Dracontomelon is the “star” of October. The best Dracontomelon is after peeling, thinning, and immediately enjoying with salt and chili – eat it. Dracontomelon is fresh, chewy, crunchy, we can feel the sweet taste on the tip of the tongue. It is true that this is an easy gift to make people remember. Just a while ago, I saw the yellow dracotomelon stacked on top of a street vendor, how could I hold back from calling people back, buy some and it with sour or spicy.
Autumn in Hanoi is actually very short, within only 2 months. But it turns out to be 2 months full of small joys. 2 months to see, it turns out how no matter how much Hanoi has changed, how much modern it is, it is still such a peaceful place. 2 months for me to know: “Ah, it turns out to be the simple things like this which make my heart feel so happy”. Then I learn to slow down, look at everything with a gentler eye, think more beautiful and greener things, instead of worrying.
Dear Thu Hanoi, thank you!
P/s: Autumn may be the most season in Hanoi. But Summer is also wonderful because of the Hanoi desserts that I love the most.
