Friday, June 10, 2011

Chopper chicks in Zombietown

Len

Spent one final glorious day in Hanoi, touring the sights with Lilly.  We shared our hopes, dreams and áspirations.  Felt a real meeting of minds.  But sadly it wasn't to be.  The cultural divide was just too big.  I said tomato and she said ca chua (I said potato and she said ..) .  Thêre was also the small matter of a húsband and three children.

So my Vietnamese journey has ended - I'm off to the airport in a couple of hours.  Hope you have ẹnoyed the blog.   My apologies to everyone who feels they need apologizing to.

And finally, with tongue completely out of cheek, I want to say I had a fantastic time and I'd recommend thís place to everyone looking for some adventure.  L

Ross
The last 24 hours exploring Hanoi has been most relaxing.  The water puppets were easily as good as  claimed with the small orchestra being as worth listening to as the puppets were clever.  The tour of the ethnic museum and parts of Ho Chi Minhs park were also well worth the effort.
We had some of the usual fun with taxis, a meter running at 10 times the official rate (we laughed at the drivers protestations - offered him the equivalent of $6 and walked away - with him quietly happy with the arrangement as well), then a metered ride with the right rate, but a very circuitous route.   The rides were remarkable examples of bullying with the taxis just shoving their nose into streams of motorcyclists, forcing everyone else to take evasive action.  Aside from this and the general risks as a pedestrian on these crazy roads, the city feels extremely safe.  A great place to just wander around.

Our guide also provided us with considerable insight into what semi rural life in Hanoi is like (she lives on a small farm out of the city).

On this our last morning we again wandered down the street looking for a street/garage seller of Pho (noodle soup).  While breakfast is free at the hotel, the street Pho at $1.60 is much tastier than a bland continental breakfast.

I have been reminded that I have not confessed to a small cycling incident that in the interests of reducing worry at home was not mentioned earlier.  There has been much rivalry over who is the safest/best rider.  Len is clearly out of this as while Mark and I felt he was by far the most competent, his fall after touching the front brakes in a corner eliminates him.  I also managed to lay my bike on the ground at a busy intersection after touching the front brakes.  However I claim extenuating circumstances, there were bikes coming towards me on the wrong side of the road, loose fine gravel over the tarmac and my back brake was not working.  Unlike Len, I was uninjured, and had the decency to brake the footrest right outside a bike repair shop (where it was quickly welded back on by a guy who didn't wear any eye protection while arc welding).  This should leave Mark the clear winner, but he twice dropped his bike while stopped to take photos, the first time landing under it and gaining a good set of bruises.   So I claim the award for lowest accident effort - although this is hotly disputed.

Lastly - many thanks to OffroadVietnam - it has been a great trip.

Mark


Having just been handed the key board and reading the 'minor incidient' report above one should put this in some perspective - we have had eight days of motorbikes riding towards us on the wrong side of the road, on roads all covered in gravel - so really there was no excuse. The crash did however provide a great delay of amusement to groups of locals standing on the side of the road - who wondered how one could fall of a bike on a straight road when carrying no load of pigs, cows, family or other items of trade.

So you can understand a little more of the above, I decided I should take a proactive approach to safety and thus undertook a couple of planned bike drops so in the event of having a spill which travelling I would land in the correct position. The other two not being as safety aware failed to recognise this.

Our last day together was spent looking at some of the historical items around Hanoi guided by Lilly. Most interesting to visit the home and office of Uncle Ho, to see the simple way in which he lived and worked, and then to walk past the huge building built in his memory. Even the current generation of Vietnamese have a sense of his power and influence, not as strong as previous generations but still significant.

The museum for the various ethnic groups proved to be just as interesting particularly given we had meet some of these people and traveled through areas where they lived. It was good to see that many of the unique cultural items are still evident, the way woman dress and house design being two we noticed. I wonder how long they will be able to retain there existing life style and balance this with the advance of development.

Yesterday took it's toll on us all the temperature in the high 30 with high humidity left us at times completely without energy. We have on the road all welcomed getting on the bikes just to cool down, each morning it was the same put on yesterdays clothes which may have had a rinse or not, get the safety gear on and go to the bikes feeling reasonably okay. The time we had tied the bags to the bike sweat was dripping off us and all our clothes were soaked.

As I look back at the journey it has been an incredible experience and one which I would recommend to others who are not nervous about driving and wanted to experience something of the Vietnamese culture and landscape. I could not have had better travelling companions whose were always positive, interested and keen to explore and discover more of this country and people. In the discussions had over the time we have solved many of New Zealand's economic problems and all that remains to be done is for Len to implement these over the next few months. Ross is planning his next trip here and I believe has sorted a return ticket already.

Thanks for listening and I hope you have managed to gain some sense of our experience and the life in Vietnam.  

No comments:

Post a Comment