Today we spent a glorious afternoon today with our new friend Meena, traveling by auto rickshaw through the streets of Ahmedabad and looking at astonishing textiles: silks, rich, saturated cottons, scarves and clothing and housewares (including the most beautiful pillows and pillowcases I think we’ve ever seen) when lo and behold, we came upon a camel pulling a small cart. Meena asked if Fiona could get a ride, and next thing we knew, they were both tying up traffic. The camel didn’t seem to mind in the least.

Rickshawcam : The Movie from helfand + drenttel on Vimeo.

A typical auto-rickshaw ride through a marketplace on a Saturday afternoon in Ahmedabad.

Hanoi is the noisiest, most insane place we’ve visited in ages — maybe ever. People eat, park their motorbikes, argue, kiss babies, sell everything and anything they can and basically live their lives on the street. Because it is so densely inhabited (and people here seem to never sleep), there are virtually no sidewalks to walk on. People honk their horns LOUDLY and constantly and incessantly.

Barring the crossing-the-street fear factor, we love it here. Mostly.