Smell of ginger...

                                                                                          Vietnam, Hoi An

Smell of ginger ...

Of ginger and fresh fish, the stalls lichi, avocado and dragon fruit. Tourist shops, T-shirts, bookmarks and sleeping bags. Triangular straw hats, colourful vegetables, smiling old ladies: a kaleidoscope of emotions.

"Come, look for a scarf" "Do you want a foot massage?", "Italy, football."

And then a narrow little street, a door to another world.

So I enter it slowly, allowing time to admire the life that flows on the river.

I sit on a plastic chair, sipping a fruitshake, suddenly realizing that I don’t need to run in order to understand. On the contrary, there are lots of things that can be grabbed only when we stop.

Tonight I said a prayer to the river.

A little old lady looked at me and gave me three coloured lanterns, which I let go away…

How to describe Hoi An?

A caress of warm wind, soft lighting of candles on the water, live music on the roadside.

I cannot describe the magic of red lanterns, colourful lamps on the trees, the poetry of Chinese kites on a bridge.

A spell for tourists, maybe ... But it is still magic.