Hanoi does not slow down in the rain, it simply adapts. The tiny colourful plastic stools that line the restaurants don’t move, hidden canopies slide out to cover them instead, local’s still gathering to eat. The traffic does not come to a stop, motorbike riders instead adorn themselves in translucent ponchos as they hum through puddled alleys unfazed. Cafe’s glow behind fogged windows, cups of hot egg coffee in hand. Street vendors huddle under tarp, pots of steaming pho bubbling away, the scent of fresh herbs still lingering in the air. Retreat indoors, the city does not. Vietnam’s chaotic Hanoi continues, come rain or shine.