It's a funny thing...

I'm a city person. I've always been a city person. I love the diversity and the anonymity and the bustle of a city. I love being able to move around without everyone knowing my business and with nobody wanting to talk to me as I move around in my little daily dazed bubble...

So, why is it I'm missing the people in Vietnam? I miss not being able to walk more than ten steps without someone shouting at me:

"Miss, miss, you come look at my shop?"
"Moto? Moto?"
"Cyclo? Cyclo?"
"You buy cigarettes?"
"You buy lighter?"
"You buy picture?"
"You buy book?"
"You give me money?" (okay, nobody actually said that, but for the hands reaching into your face, they may as well have.)

I miss that. I miss the busy roads. I miss being narrowly missed by a moto or taxi passing inches from my face. I miss the dirty, dusty streets....

And I miss the 30 degree weather.

Still, I've just discovered the joy of heated hand pads in Tokyo: little magic pouches that you shake and that heat after an hour, and stay hot for hours, and are just lush sitting burning away inside your gloves. With a stomach full of hot Matsui food (Japanese fast food: pork, rice and hot soup) and the pads, and a heap of clothes, maybe I'll survive the Tokyo winter. I mean last night I went to bed wearing two long sleeve t-shirts (one may or may not be thermal; I've not quite figured it out), a sweatshirts, a pair of longjohns (may or may not be thermal; again, I'm not sure), a pair of pyjama bottoms, a pair of socks and a pair of legwarmers. Okay so half that lot got kicked off in the night, but that's not the point, is it?

And I am LOVING my heated carpet!

P.S. - You have to laugh at stories like this: Tokyo firemen set fire to their own fire station. - oops!

P.S.2: Please feel free to make some bloody comments on my Vietnam posts below!