Going to Den Lu was completely different from going to Hang Chuoi. When we were asked to go to a semi-developed place, never would I have thought that it would be more boring that Hang Chuoi and Hang Thuyen. At least in these areas, there were a lot of people everywhere even on a Saturday morning. Den Lu was a different story. The moment we got off the taxi, I was already lost. I was thinking to myself..."did we get off too early? Do we still gotta walk some more?" And apparently, not really. KDTM, in all its blandness, was right in front of us.
The place is about 10 years old and is mainly a residential area. Since I was so used to the liveliness of Pho Co and Thanh Xuan, the quietness of Den Lu seemed extremely boring to me. There were barely any people around. We couldn't find many of the traditional items such as knife sharpening or a person who makes keys. There were barely any people in this area to talk to. When finally a man finally walked by and helped us find the newspaper area, I was extremely excited. It was one of the few interactions we would have with the people there.
The most interesting part of the mapping project was going to the lake near the area. It was extremely beautiful but like many other public places, it didn't have any benches to sit on. Nonetheless, it was nice to look around and to enjoy the breeze of the lake. It was also funny seeing An try to save a fish by transferring it from a small tiny puddle to the nice lake. :)
But if I was given the chance to live here, I'd probably think otherwise. The place is extremely dead and the life and culture of Vietnam would be missing. There's little interaction on the streets and very few places to get the necessary things in life. For example, we couldn't find a place closeby in case of health emergencies. In comparison to many other places in Vietnam, this place would probably be one of my least likely choices.
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