Summer passion

With the steam and sweat that goes hand in hand with summer in Hanoi, comes sweet luscious summer fruits - mangoes, lychees and passionfruit.

Sunset-orange, plump mangoes... combined with the sweet, transcluscent lychee flesh plucked from round, pink and green crocodilesque skin... and covered with delicious passionfruit pulp, pips and juice scooped from purple-rich shells as large as cricket balls... They provide a taste sensation like no other. A truly rewarding treat and compensation for enduring the summer heat.

Sold from baskets on the back of bikes, or at small, makeshift stalls the hardworking women erect on the footpath, or at the markets, the fruits are everywhere at the moment.

A shopping bag half full of passionfruit is AUS$2, three kilograms of lychees - the same price - as is a kilo of mangoes. So for a few dollars one can indulge for days on end.

There is nothing better than waking, having a cool shower and starting the day with the magical combo.

And then there's the fruit juices. Mango shakes, lychee shakes, passionfruit juice... purchased everywhere from cafes to stalls on the side of the road.

There's a group of street juice sellers that sit outside the Dong Xuan markets at the top of the old quarter... they advertise their wares via cut-out vinyl lettering stuck to the side of eskies perched on small stools.

Riding my bike on my way home from shopping, catching up with friends or visiting the tailor, I stop off so often one of the ladies now sees me coming and has a cup of passionfruit juice ready before I even arrive at her stall. At 30c - it's the best pick-me-up ever and I've often drunk it all before peddling away.

Somewhat makes up for the craving I get in the heat for an ice-cold Coopers Pale Ale, or James Boag. And a little healthier too!