I got a message from my best friend this afternoon, saying that autumn is coming, it's when all the sadness begins. Musicians and poets have always writen that Hanoi's autumn was a sad season, a peaceful kind of sad, like a slow ballad. One morning if you woke up in the pale golden breeze shining through the window, or one afternoon if you saw a little package wrapped in lotus leaf on the table, or one evening if you smelled the sweetness of milk flowers, that's when autumn comes.
Hanoians live a leisure life no matter how busy they could be. They would stop to the side of the road just to smell the intense sweetness of milk flower before it goes away with the wind. They love to take a walk just to watch the leaves falling, to feel the breeze, to enjoy the slow afternoon. Somewhere around the corner, a full basket of yellow chrysanthemum smiles under the pale sun.
Hanoi's autumn is very unique, or maybe every season stays in Hanoi in its own way that you can not find anywhere else. When the rain comes and stays for a whole day, when you find yourself searching for a warm hug, just remember that Autumn has come.
