New Awesome Plan!

So I hired a guide for the rest of the trip. I will have a semi-english fluent guide in a Land Cruiser along for the trip by bike to Sapa. He will be with me for 8 days. I'll still carry my own gear, so I didn't wimp out but I just can't speak and I would have been up shit's creek with a turd for a paddle out there. I am going to put my bike together now as we leave at 7:30 in the morning. I also booked one night at the Victoria in Sapa and one night at some eco lodge up in the mountains before I take the night train back to Hanoi for my last two days. I am much more comfortable with this plan and I think that the guide will help me enjoy the time here rather than just suffer along, which is generally what I seem to determined to do. Maybe it's time to let that go...

Coffee

Who would have thought it would be so hard. I speak and people just stare at me. The language is incredibly difficult. I found a nice veggie place last night, and had some coffee and bread this morning after watching the locals do calesthenics in the park. I am going to make arrangements to get my bus ticket for tomorrow when I head out of town. Wish me luck. I watched some chickens get their throats cut this morning. I saw some that had been stripped of feathers and I wondered where they came from. I then noticed the cage full of live ones and figured that must be where. It's all out in the open here...

Old Quarter

Wow. That was an adventure. I took a cab from the hotel over to the Old Quarter. I started at the Ngoc Son Temple on Hoan Kiem Lake. There were many tourists taking incredibly staged photos, but the temple was pretty, but I think not much compared to what I will see as I leave the city. Walking through the Old Quarter in the rain was a real treat. The weather added an intimacy to the scene that was not there before the rain began. I walked through a street market with many food stalls, all of which turned my stomach. Too many pieces of meat. I do think I am going to have to just get over it and start eating like the locals. I found a nice little cafe and had some sauteed bok choy and mushrooms. It was pretty damn good. The coffee is the strongest that I have ever had, and maybe that's what makes the drivers so crazy. The traffic is a giant lesson in the forces of nature. One stream of energy flows until an incoming/opposing stream becomes stronger, at which point the energy shifts. People just keep inching out into a non-stop stream of traffic until they have managed to get out far enough that no one can squeeze by and then they go, along with about 50 mopeds, starting the new dominant flow until someone else squeezes them off. I just can't believe they don't all die in the traffic. No one wears a helmet. Maybe one of those little VC pth helmet things, but no real helmets at all. This is a city of juxtopositions. A man cooks meat in a homebuilt fire in front of a brightly lit store selling cell phones and PDA's. I have not begun to get a grip on it yet. My Vietnamese is so bad, the pronunciation is so difficult, that they just stare at me as I try to speak the language. Take care. Geoff

Made it...

After a very long flight next to a crying baby, I made it to Hanoi. It is another world. The traffic is beyond belief with overloaded mopeds, bicycles and pedestrians everywhere, going every which way with no regard for lights or order. It's no wonder the fatalities are so numerous. The city is beautiful and feels very old. I am at the hotel and need to get cleaned up. I'll see you later.

Getting Ready to Go...

Howdy All,

Just a note to say that I will be keeping a record of my travels so that you will know what's going on. If you don't know at all, I am going on a solo bicycle trip from Hanoi to Lao Cai in Northwest Vietnam from Feb 27 to March 12. Michelle bought me the ticket for my engagement gift because she is the best! I am frantically trying to learn a bit of Vietnamese so I can at least figure out where to go to the bathroom, if not actually get a bite to eat from time to time. My bike and supplies are ready and so are my legs. The travel clinic gave me the all-clear on my immunizations and I will be picking up my anti-malaria pills and some antibiotics next week. I am so excited!

Take care,

Geoff