The small things and King of Toothpicks

Finally seem to have gotten my bearings on Hanoi again, spent the better part of yesterday just enjoying my own company, getting lost on my bicycle around the city. It’s been a while since I’ve had/taken the time to do that.

Armed with Murakami’s Norwegian Wood, my glasses (which for two years now have not been the sufficient strength) and a smile on my face, I went by my old house to see off a dear friend and consequently had my bicycle tuned up at my local Corner Repair Guy. Upon arrival he promptly offered me his seat in the shade and got straight to work on my bike.

I could not have been any more content, the sun casting a favorable light on Phan Dinh Phung, the familiar sound of motos on the road (these days Bangkok is almost all about cars, sky trains and buses), the green tree canopy above me. As a bonus the construction worker from across the street, whom old nice Repair Guy had been having a conversation with, started chatting me up.

Good things come to those who wait; I received compliments on my youthful, pretty looks, and was treated to a flexing of biceps whilst Construction Guy repeatedly stressed that in spite of his impressive physical strength and surprisingly full head of hair, he was actually 56 years old. I, in turn, as the rules of the male-female encounter ritual rules prescribe, returned all the compliments whilst occasionally returning to my book. Within half an hour, I had a new tire on my bike, the brakes tightened and a marriage proposal in the back hand in case I should tire of my (according to Construction Guy’s gesturing unnecessarily) tall Western boyfriend. Life is good.

On a completely unrelated side note (but part of what made yesterday so great) I really wish I had more time in Hanoi to map out the quality of toothpicks at different eating establishments in the city. Went to Tamarind, enjoying a particularly cheesy lunch and the discovery that wearing glasses that make you see the world in a slightly blurry way, also (for me at least) endows you with something of a invisibility cloak not unlike that of a certain short person with hairy feet and toes (yes, I see the irony in that this description could well be of myself).
It’s a “I can’t see you, ergo you cannot see me” kinda logic I’m getting at. But I’m digressing from the subject matter at hand.

Upon finishing my lunch I asked for a toothpick and received the mother of all toothpicks, made out of plastic, sky blue with a pointy hook in the one end and a flossing device in the other! Amazing.
I considered for several seconds to wipe it off and discretely place in it my bag but the waitress (having been hovering around me for the last 3 hours) removed my plate, napkins, lemon wedge, and toothpick wonder in one fell swoop. Which accounts for why this post does not feature a pic of this revelation of teeth hygiene instruments.

At com binh dan with friends today I also encountered a specimen of high quality, albeit one made of wood but very pointy in both ends and unusually sturdy. It made me lament the loss of the Wonder Pick even more… Perhaps I can pass on the torch to someone out there, creating perhaps the world’s first Toothpick Olympic games?

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