Day 5. Found a spot down a quiet alley. More importantly, it was cooler and shadier than the sun-soaked street. Cà phê sữa đá and the usual trà đá on a blue plastic stool that doubled as my table. Iconic Red chair. Motorbikes. Shuttered buildings. The coffee lady made my drink, set it down, and left me alone. No small talk, no hovering, no checking in. Just the coffee and the street.

Some mornings you want the interaction. You want the lady to hand you corn and gesture at you to eat. You want the chaos. But this morning I needed the other thing. Silence and space and a plastic cup sweating in the heat while I sat back and let my brain unspool. Wrote in my head for an hour. Didn’t touch my phone. Just watched the alley do its slow morning stretch and drank my coffee until the ice melted and it wasn’t worth finishing anymore.

Twenty-three years of this life and I still haven’t found a better office than a plastic chair on a sidewalk in a city that doesn’t know my name.

25march 26