Last Day in Nam

looking back

It is now 9am and we don't check our till noon. Not much to do, so I thought I would write a little recap of our bike trip. My total mileage was 435m and Geoff did about 450m. Geoff doing both mountain passes and I certainly did my share of some pretty stiff climbs. Only one person fell, that being Geoff (and now the story is he got pushed by a cow!). That does not include the many slips and slides through the mud fields. There were 9 flat tires (both of us having one). And it only rained 2 days. It is unbelievable to me how we were able to negotiate through some of the worst traffic in the world, along with animal crossings, and whatever else got in our path, without one incident (except for Geoff and the cow - but that was minor).  I am still trying to wrap my mind around the whole event. Everyone in our group should be quite proud of themselves. Dave, being our elder at 74, managed every pass, hill, construction site, mud, and every other terrain we crossed. Truly a remarkable experience. Thanks again to SpiceRoads and our two great guides.

Back to present day:

Chickened out on the herbal tea. We were not sure of the quantity and that seemed a bit risky -anything could happen. So G went down the the pharmacy to pick up some pills.

We headed out for pizza and ran into Freeman and Sonja by the elevator. He was sick as well. Lost 7 pounds in one day. Heard that John wasn't too well either. So something happened during our last day of the tour. Fortunately, it was at the end of the biking. Of course, I have the exact opposite problem as everyone else - that's enough said.

We were in search of Pizza Coozi, which happened to be down a small side street filled with scooters and outdoor eaters. The sign led us down a dark alley and looked like it was headed towards someone's kitchen. Found out it wasn't a restaurant - just a takeaway place. Got out of there and searched the streets for pizza. English isn't too well spoken here, but I found out you have better luck with the travel agencies (of which there are many). Eventually, we found a restaurant that made pizza - of a sort. Ordered a cheese and tomato and asked to throw in some basil. They were small, we had two. It occurred to me that I hadn't had a true meal in a while. 

Sat at a table outside and watched the traffic go by. While we were waiting, our waitress asked the usual questions: Where are you from, how long are you here, etc. We told her that we just finished a biking trip from Saigon to Hanoi. "At your age!" was the response. That gave us a chuckle. When we said we were off to Japan the next day, she wanted to know where the rest of our group was. Not too many Americans (especially our age) travel solo. 

Never made it to the night market. Took my little orange pills and was sound asleep by 8:30. Had a solid 10 hours of sleep, which seemed to do me a lot of good. Feeling better this morning. Good thing - we have to pack and check out and check into our backpacker hotel for the day. It will be a challenge going through the streets with our luggage. The new hotel is about 5 blocks away.  Not much to do but go to the Water Puppet show - looking forward to that.

Heard from back home. I guess it is snowing again. What's up with that? 

Surprisingly easy walk to the new hotel. To our advantage, the streets were finally dry and not so populated - maybe they all go to work on Monday? Anyway, we have a very adequate room for $20 till 8pm.  Going out to do more exploring. Later

Walked around the lake and on the iconic Red Bridge or the Rising Sun Bridge. Then we walked around some more. The sun actually made an appearance on and off today but in the end the clouds won out. Went for lunch at the famous City View Cafe high up - but they were full outside. The Highland Cafe was two floors down so we stopped there. After lunch we ran into the guy who took Geoff's shoe yesterday. He started after us again so we took off. Small town - time to leave. Wound up across the street at another upstairs cafe and had a smoothie. Just trying to kill time before the water puppets show. There was a couple from England up there and he was sketching the traffic scene. It was quite good.

Eventually, 4pm came and we entered the theater. Great seats in the second row. The show is just long enough at about 45 minutes. Very entertaining. 

The world-famous Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre in Hanoi has its roots in an art form that dates back to the 11th century. The tradition of water puppet theatre stems from a time when rice paddy fields were flooded and villagers would make entertainment by standing in the waist-deep water with the puppets performing over the water.Using large rods to support the puppets it appeared as if they were moving across the water with the puppeteers hidden behind a screen.

Now having coffee in our room. Taxi is coming at 8pm and off we go again. Get into Tokyo at 6:30am - no sleep tonight.

Next time... Turning Japanese