Notes from December 28, 2022
Wow! We went on the longest flight I have ever been on. Max and I slept a good amount, and I read some of my book. I love the book - the rose code. Such a page turner.
Our bikes were lost, and they couldn’t locate them based on the tags. We had some issues communicating with the lost and found lady.
We went to our hotel by taxi. Hanoi is crazy - people load up their motor bikes like cars. There are plants everywhere, including many that I have at home! And the people are so friendly and helpful. There are no lines, no lanes, no problems. Traffic is wild.
We wandered around to get food and it was clear there are serious Christmas Eve celebrations here - they had a full on rave set up, including dancers on wires and a DJ, and people were partying. We wandered around the lake and to the Christmas market, and to a big train street for a beer to watch the train. We also went to a big church which had another music performance, and a craft brewery. The hospital was all open air. We slept like the dead for 11 hours.
The next day we went to the ancient palace and temple of literature. Both were pretty and I learned so much. We also walked over to the area with the ho chi minh museum and a large lake with a pagoda. You can’t wear shorts in the temples, but they are very decorated and people leave offerings of coke, or snacks, or tobacco. We got bahn mi and saw some people cock fighting. Max was very hungry. We got back to the hotel, still no bikes, and decided to book a day trip to Ha Long Bay.
We went the next day and it was so pretty! Lots of steep cliffs of limestone down to the ocean. Our boat cruise toured through the islands. We got traditional vietnamese food for lunch, and toured a massive cave (surprising cave) with three chambers. We kayaked around an area with monkeys. Two people fell off their kayaks, and had to get dragged out. Max’s legs fell asleep and he nearly fell getting out too. Then to Titop Island, which we hiked to the top of, then hung out on the beach. We finished the day with some wine, and we heard our bikes were arriving!
We got back to the hotel, grabbed some quick supper, and then put our bikes together. Another big sleep at le grand hotel Hanoi.
In the morning, we got some breakfast and then took off on our bikes toward Ninh Binh. Holy shit it was terrifying. I was so tense for the full 100 km and so sore the next day. The traffic was insane, but we learned to just follow the crowd and not stop. If you can ride the coat tails of a truck or stick with all the motor bikes, you seem to have critical mass to do whatever you need to. We rode for many hours and everyone honked all day. The honks either mean (1) hey, just letting you know I am here and passing you, (2) GTFO of my way, or (3) I want your attention to wave at you, because you are hilarious. We were a vietnamese sensation. People shouted “hello” and waved, and if we shouted hello back they would burst out laughing. Motorbikes would slow down and talk to us if they spoke any english, example conversation:
- Hello! Where you go?
- Ninh Binh
- NINH BINH! Wow. Where you from?
- Canada
- CANADA?! Oh my God. Good luck to you!
It was quite funny. I felt pretty sick from the fumes and burning garbage along our route. We passed a cement plant where they were mining out the mountains. Then we approached Truang An and it started to become so beautiful. Fields of rice paddies, mountains, water Buffalo, less traffic… I was so excited to be done. Our hotel was so cute and the food is great! We hiked up Hung Mao for sunset, and it was 500 stairs. The hikes are so odd here.
The next day (today) was raining. We went on a boat tour of Truang An for three hours, which included multiple pagodas and caves, including one that was 1 km long. The mountains along the river were gorgeous. We went with Unshaul and Precious, who were hilarious. Our driver was drifting around corners in those caves and Max called her Vin Diesel, she spoke no English besides “head down!”, “temple”, and “NO”. The last bit was windy and lashing rain, almost apocalyptic. Precious and I helped paddle while Max held our umbrella, and the driver made Unshaul fill out a survey. He said he wanted to live, so six stars. Haha.
We walked home and chilled (I finished my book!) Then decided to go to Tam Coc and Bish Dong despite it still raining. We took our bikes and hurried out before sunset. Both were pretty and I am glad we saw them, but we got very cold. We wolfed down some food and decided to go to bed early so we can wake up at 5:15 and try to bike 200 km to Vinh. I don’t know if we can do it, but we will try. We have a back up plan to stop partway. Wish us luck!
