Hanoians huddle, seek warmth as the cold bites

On Monday, the temperature plunged to 7-9 degrees Celsius in Hanoi, along with chilly winds. At night, the temperature dropped even further. People were buffeted by the piercing cold wind when going out.

A woman wraps a large plastic sheet around her seat to shield herself from the cold wind.

“I am freezing sitting here. I have to use this sheet I picked up from the roadside, setting it up to block the wind.,” said Huong, a sidewalk vendor.

A scrap dealer huddles against the cold as she takes a break on the sidewalk of Thuy Khue Street in Tay Ho District.

A homeless person wears a raincoat above other clothes and uses a blanket for badly needed warmth.

Delivery driver Le Hoang Duong also wears a thin raincoat to avoid the dry cold. ‘I’m wearing lots of clothes, yet I’m freezing. My hands are frozen, so numb that sometimes I can’t even dial the number to reach the customer.”

A barbecue restaurant staff on Gam Cau street, Hoan Kiem District, wears hermetically sealed leather gloves and layers of clothing as he tries to lure customers in.

Ha, who works as a cart puller at the Long Bien wholesale market,

Nhu Quang Anh and his friends are grateful for the fire that has just been lit outside the lemon tea shop on Nguyen Huu Huan Street.

People on bikes wear heavy winter coats, woolen gloves and scarves to avoid the cold wind.

Ngoc Anh and Ngoc Huyen, residents of Hoan Kiem District, wear clothes covering their heads and faces. ‘We wouldn’t have left the house if we didn’t have to.’ Huyen said. ‘The weather is chilly to the bone. No matter how many clothes you wear, it is not warm enough.’

A pushcart sticky rice and sandwich vendor uses a large outdoor umbrella as a shield. The bitter cold in the north will last until February 24, weather experts have said. Temperatures in the north are forecast at 8-11 degrees Celsius, with the mercury falling even further in moutainous areas to 3-6 degrees Celsius.