We doubt she understands the meaning of: ‘The United Nation of Ganja’, and ‘ In Grass We Trust’.⁃ Now we can’t escape comments about our advanced age. The niece (late 30s), of our hostess in Hanoi used her phone’s translation program to communicate. They seem very polite here, as with almost every translation, I read something about the ‘Grandparents’. That is us.
⁃ After arriving late due to the visa requirements at the airport, and a lost key, we tried to sleep a few hours in an apartment we weren’t supposed to be in. It was unheated, in a building with no insulation, and old windows. Craig thinks he slept maybe 20 min. Got up at 6.30, and guess it was the same 52 F inside, as outside. The entire building is being renovated, and this unit is waiting its turn. But the niece was super friendly, very apologetic, and got us some sweet bread for breakfast. A last minute change of plans, when an Uber didn’t come. The Grandparents were offered the option of being driven in a private car instead of taking the public bus, and we did this despite the $70 cost. Destination: Gia Sinh, a small village near Ninh Binh, 3+ hours south of Hanoi. All was well, except this made Craig a Comrade, when he ended up using a borrowed helmet after leaving his in the car. Fortunately his was waiting for us in Hanoi, in the correct apartment. Unfortunately this unit also is without heat, but it is a bit warmer now.
Link to Vietnam
⁃ Moldy bike bottles.. we hadn’t unpacked the bikes since leaving Hua Hin mid January. Wonder if we are the only ones who are dense enough not to think about what happens to plastic bottles in pretty warm weather, when left in sealed cases. But the bleach we found in Ninh Binh, and the ingenious implements we made, have produced cleaner bottles than we have had in months.
⁃ Have seen a few boys give us the V sign (no idea what they mean by it), and LOTS of kids hollering ‘hello’ when we ride by, and many smiling, friendly adults, some of whom also called out a ‘hello’ from the rice fields.
⁃ There is a peppy 79 yo father at the Airbnb home stay in Gia Sinh, who is Mr. Friendly, and who cooks great meals, and always has a smile on his face. His children recently established the (Airbnb) home stay, and our hostess speaks fairly good English. Most of their tourists have been European, and there are no others here now.
⁃ A repaired tire, a flat 5 miles from home at the end of the day, but a haunted tube which unexpectedly held air, then didn’t. When replaced with a patched tube, this deflated, then suddenly held air, and I got 2 more rides using this set up. New tires and tubes to be sent to NZ!
⁃ Grey Soviet type cement buildings, but also nice pastel colors on many new houses, and I am sure the architecture is quite different. Rice paddies as far as the eye can see, mostly covered with water, as they are being planted now. Dust, a general haze, which probably is dust combined with pollution, and maybe smoke; great mountain scenery from the totally flat valley, and all very different from what we have seen elsewhere in Asia.
⁃ Nice country roads and lanes for biking, but riding in Ninh Binh (population 160 000), the closest town, was hazardous. Generally a right sided traffic pattern, but the biggest vehicle wins, and motorcycles weave around, and between. We each almost got run over standing still, trying to walk the bikes across a cross walk. So now we give the right of way to everyone else, also on the country roads, where most of the motorized traffic honks to warn you of their approach. Some more politely than others. There are electrical mopeds, used by school kids and adults, which are very quiet, so the bike mirrors are definitely helpful. Everyone bikes here much more than we saw in the country side elsewhere - all for transportation, not exercise. They also carry loads of every imaginable size, shape, weight, and well being. We now know of 2 different ways to transport a live pig using a motorcycle. One pig was on its side in a cage, cross wise behind the driver, the other way uses a 2-wheeled trailer, where the pig stands, also in a cage. Probably on their way to a sad end, as an important part of the family Tet celebration table.
⁃ We are again millionaires, as $1 = 22 700 Dong. Takes awhile to figure out that paying 10 000 to 20 000 Dong to cross a small bridge is not bad at all.
⁃ The Tet holiday celebrates the Lunar New Year, which from a travel perspective equals our Thanksgiving as the busiest time of the year, because everyone goes back home. Instead of Xmas trees, they have kumquat trees of varying sizes, and apparently also peach blossom. Lights and flowers everywhere.
⁃ The language sounds more like a Chinese language than what we have heard in Thailand, Laos or Cambodia. They use the same alphabet as we do, but with accent marks above many vowels. But we have also seen Chinese script at temples, and not only at old ones. I believe they follow a similar form of Buddhism as the Chinese.
⁃ This is the first time we see Pagodas, which are multistory structures, usually with a religious connection. Have seen churches and temples here, but no monks walking on the roads.
⁃ The weather has been cooler, and cloudy, but we had no rain. Didn’t bike the last day as rain was forecast, and it was so cloudy that we couldn’t see the new tall Pagoda, which usually is a prominent feature here.
⁃ The city name Saigon is still commonly used, and one man said it’s because Ho Chi Min was mean. They like their uniforms here, as in park officials, a toll collector on a road, traffic police, and others I have no idea what they do.
⁃ We survived the trip back to Hanoi on a public bus, and then by taxi to the apartment. I have read all kinds of bad things about crazy bus drivers, and taxis scamming tourists, but the bus was a pleasant surprise in some ways. We were packed in like sardines, our bike cases were in the isle, we had the back packs and rack packs on our laps, and Craig had a box in front of his left knee. There was absolutely no way we could swap seats without asking other passengers to get up plus move one bike case, and by now the bus was moving. Many more passengers got on at later stops; they sat in the isle on stools with cushions; one young Dad carrying a sleeping toddler was asked to give up his seat, and he sat backwards on some box by the driver. The door barely closed, but the driver’s assistant kept it closed, and was a nice, easy going guy. I was totally amazed that no one gave us bad looks because of our luggage, and instead an elderly woman smiled, and wondered about the bike case, when she saw I sat with my helmet on the whole trip. I had to detach it from the backpack to make room for another person next to me, and had no place to put it. The driver couldn’t really live up to the travel info reputation of reckless driving, because it was bumper to bumper much of the way - Sunday afternoon return traffic. Everyone makes room for each other, and their stuff. We saved $ 60, and experienced this helpful attitude also towards foreigners. Westerners could learn a lot also here, like we noticed in Samoa.
⁃ We have seen very few western brands: Coke, Pepsi x 1, a Chevy SUV, an Audi at a dealer, ‘The USA Store’ sign in Hanoi, a French bakery with delicious croissants this morning; the chlorine bottle we bought looked exactly like Clorox, and I thought that was what I bought until we got home.
⁃ Am finishing this on our way, now in a tourist bus (private), to Cat Ba Island, in Ha Long Bay, east of Hanoi. Unfortunately it is cool, a little drizzly, and very grey, and we may not get to see the advertised views.
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