xanawu » hanoi

picnik

xanawu — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 19:52:40 +0000

… is a nice little website application that I found, when trying to figure out how to isolate a single colour in a photo.

here is the result:

-some pomelo vendors on my street in Hanoi

-common traffic scene on Ton Duc Thang street, Hanoi (you should see it live)

It’s pretty easy to use picnik, though it is a bit slow. Upload your photo (don’t even need to register) and it will take you to the ‘Edit’ tab. Switch to the ‘Create’ tab instead and select Effects. There is a basic effect called Black & White which lets you “paint” over the sections of the photo you want in black and white (or in colour). Good for people like me who don’t have software like photoshop to do it with (and who can’t figure out how to do it on graphic converter).

lenin statue park

xanawu — Tue, 12 May 2009 16:07:41 +0000

possibly my favourite park in hanoi, lenin statue park (not to be confused with the larger Lenin Park) is always filled with kids in the evenings: skateboarding/breakdancing hip-hop teenage kids, or–as shown here–young kids being driven around in remote-controlled cars rented by their parents.

all under Lenin’s proud gaze.

driving in hanoi – 2

xanawu — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 10:52:42 +0000

actually, this is me cycling on my way home from work. traffic is the number one thing travelers to Hanoi notice most, and it took me a month of cycling before I got the guts to go for the motorbike.

this is fairly light traffic, but gives you an idea… note the lack of traffic rules and the liberal use of the horn. my roommate makes the apt analogy with downhill skiing: just mind what’s in front of you, not what’s behind you (signaling is rare, and lots of people actually remove the rearview mirrors because they just take up space on the bike). heck, people don’t even follow traffic lights when there are any. and they don’t look down the road when shooting out of alleyways: a colleague claims this is a remnant from the French, who had some weird traffic law giving right-of-way to those coming out of side streets. some advice: don’t ask yourself questions like, “why is the car parked horizontally across the road,” or “isn’t this a one-way street?”–you’ll just confuse yourself endlessly. and never, ever get road rage. no one else cares.

temple on kim ma

xanawu — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 12:34:15 +0000

spent a day with my roomie, Seth, wandering around town, shopping, eating at our fav veggie restaurant (Ha Thanh), and also… visiting the temple on kim ma street.

it was fairly quiet (well, compared to the chaos outside on the street), though there were a few people inside for the mid-month worship. like the other temples around town, this one had a chinese design (must be from the 1,000 years of rule and all). a lot of the time these temples also have really cheesy and ugly chinese sculptures… this one wasn’t too bad though, and even better: there was vietnamese AND chinese characters on the gate. cool!

close up:

lotteria

xanawu — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 07:54:57 +0000

do you know what’s amazing about hanoi? no McDonald’s. no Starbucks. ok, granted there is KFC, but can you imagine such a glorious thing?

do you know what’s not amazing about hanoi? Lotteria.

out of sheer curiosity (and a bit of boredom), I decided to try the lotteria a couple of blocks from my place. as opposed to most establishments here, it’s actually hard to miss, being 3 stories of modern looking fast-foodieness on a major street (good advertising for language link, too).

it sucks. 54,000 dong for orange flavoured water and a bulgogi burger (it tastes about as good as it looks–they even skimped on the sesame seeds atop the crappy bun). in addition to that, I had to wait forever to get the damn thing, though in typical vietnamese style there were about a gazillion workers to serve 3 people. what a let down.

NOT happy together!

it hurts to know I could have had 3 bowls of pho at that price.