A short drive out of Hanoi led us to a small hotel compound that sat on one side of this quiet lake. Across the water were rice paddies nestled between the hills and what seemed to be an old elementary school. The constant heavy fog around the lake and the hum of natural ambience made an almost other-worldly landscape. One morning my mom and I took a walk around the lake, which we were able to circle in just an hour due to its small size.

It was as if no one else had been here for decades -- everywhere we would see hints of human presence that had long since left, like we were transported to some kind of dilapidated, rural dystopia. Distant bird calls from the surrounding jungle, aging playgrounds, rusted chainlink fences, paddle boats with faded paint, unkept greenery taking over an abandoned soccer field, almost zero indications of the buzzing metropolis we had just come from... words can't quite do justice to what it was like. It didn't just feel like a different country, it felt like we were in a completely different decade.

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