The area you live in

Noisy, without question. I rent a room in an alley off Bach Mai Street in Hanoi, and my alarm clock is basically a woman selling sticky rice from a bicycle with a loudspeaker at six a.m. After two years I've learnt to sleep through almost anything except karaoke. The neighbours make up for it, though. The lady who runs the tea stall downstairs keeps an eye on my motorbike, and when I had a fever last winter she sent up a bowl of porridge without being asked, which is more than I can say for some of my relatives. I didn't grow up here; I spent my childhood in a small town in Thai Binh where the loudest thing at night was frogs, so the first few months in the city were a real shock to the system. Would I move? Eventually, yes. If I ever earn enough, I'd like a flat a bit further out, near West Lake maybe, somewhere with a balcony and fewer loudspeakers. But I suspect I'd miss the tea lady within a week.