It was my first morning in Hanoi, and I was thoroughly immersed in my enjoyment of the cool 20 degrees Celsius climate while jogging around the legendary Hoan Kiem Lake in the old quarter of the capital city. To meet my five-kilometer target, I had to jog around the lake a few times, and on my second round, something shimmering caught my eyes. I squirmed my eyes and there it was; a deflated helium balloon amidst the greenery.
An absolute eyesore! Frequency bias set in and I couldn't help noticing more and more of these deflated helium balloons up in the beautiful trees that lined the lake's perimeter.
Now, my version of "find wally". Could you take a look at the following pictures I took and count the number of deflated and abandoned helium balloons? Note, these pictures were all taken around Hoan Kiem Lake.
How many did you manage to spot?
Do keep in mind that sometimes, one tree can have as many as six deflated helium balloons. For someone who works in facilities management, these are serious pains in the ass as it's actually costly to remove stuck balloons. A deployment of scaffolding can set me back as much as S$800, each time.
Even if they manage to float away, it's not good for the environment as well. Personally, I think helium balloons should be banned for environmental and sustainability reasons. Responsibility should also fall on the party (e.g. parents of kids) who release the balloons and cause them to be stuck.
Sadly, it's unlikely the popularity of helium balloons would ever die down as kids (and some adults) absolutely love them; the pigs ones were so kawaii! And with demand comes supply. On weekends when the streets of the old quarter were closed to motor vehicles, helium balloon sellers would come out in full force to market their wares!
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