In the pouring rain, the sidewalk tea shop remained open. It moved from the street to the nearest alley and fought against the rain with a tarpaulin.

On the same day, at 12 am,  the government banned all sidewalk tea shops due to Covid-19. In Hanoi, sidewalk tea shops are a part of the city’s culture: it is an old way of bonding and releasing from the grind of life.  There are no fancy interiors and hand-poured coffee. People would sit on plastic chairs, drink cheap green tea, have a cigarette, and talk with either friends or strangers.

The next day, the same tea shop still hid in the alley. People who lived around the area came there from the early morning till late afternoon. It was raining cats and dogs that day as well. No one seemed to be bothered by the weather but they were savoring every minute of the rain after days of suffering in the heat. It was the same for the next 2 days, the same sidewalk tea shop, same weather, and the same people.

After 2 days, the heat returned unexpectedly. The shop moved their stuff to their old spot on the main sidewalk. The streets were empty and all the shops around were closed because of the pandemic. The tea shop, however, was always full of people under any circumstances. There was no police around and despite the social distancing rule, the customers could not break their habit. Sitting at the sidewalk tea shop had been their only entertainment during this depressing time.