Vietnam Day 8: Back to Hanoi

Today's post will be a short one, because it was mostly riding the highways back into Hanoi. However, a couple things of note did happen, which I want to share: The boat ride, the highway and the hotel situation.

Just a couple of bros in very natural poses

The Boat Ride: As promised, after breakfast, Huan took us out on his boat. A long, flat boat made of aluminum, Cassidy and I sat in the middle under an aluminum awning. Huan sat at the back next to this giant ancient looking engine. He then proceeded to pull out a crank and actually spun the thing up by spinning the crank in the engine for a few rotations. I know this is basically what a pull start does, but to see an engine started this way was actually pretty cool. It kind of justified every video game where I was sent on a mission to find a crank to start up a generator, or open some new expansive door.

Anyways, with this massive thing making an ungodly racket, Huan sat down on a cantilever and maneuvered the engine into position and slowly trolled us out of his little cove and into the lake proper. We passed other boats, fishing, hauling goods (like foliage or building supplies) from one place to another. We passed fish farms and many little islands - the same ones we rode by the previous day - on which grew banana trees, cinnamon, or fruit.

After Cassidy dipped his hand in the water and felt how warm it was, Huan offered for us to go swim, but we declined - I think once you get in the mindset of a long day or riding, you just kind of want to do that thing. So, after about an hour passed we were back home, gearing up for the final day of the guided tour.

Front of the boat

The Highway - Is madness. And as we close in on Hanoi we shifted from rural, less busy roads, to the outskirts of the city which were busy with a lot of people, school children and farm animals, and then finally just jam-packed city congestion. You just had to be hyperaware and go with the flow. Even though this was probably more dangerous than the mountain roads, I felt a lot more at ease bobbing and weaving here (it is kind of fun). As an example of how things could go on these roads, about 2 hours out of the city, we all had to slow down because a group of shepherds were moving about half a dozen buffalo down the highway in our lane in the opposite direction of traffic.

My bike setup

Eventually we made it back into the city and said our goodbyes. Huan was a great guide and we bid him "how-me-dune" the phonetic spelling of the "thank you" in his people's tongue (one of the 56 ethnic minorities in Vietnam).

Note: for most of the riding, I captured a lot on go-pro but this will take some time to download and sort through and edit before posting.

The Hotel Situation: Because we had spent another long day on the road (about 6 hours) we had booked ourselves a nice room near beer street so we could live in comfort but also see the night activity of Hanoi before travelling south.

However, the hotel was a complete shitshow. The entrance, I will grant, was beautiful. But after paying cash, we were ushered through a doorway, into an alley and then immediately into another building, this was where our room was!

That eye-contact style toilette situation

Upon opening the door, we were faced with...a calamity. There were burn marks in the headboard, the old plumbing from a previous toilet was still visible in the middle of the floor, the bathroom was part of the same room as the beds, basically, with a barely opaque sliding glass door. Cass sat down to do his business and as I laid on my bed, I was front and center to a pixelated image of him taking a poop. No sir. Then there was the "balcony." Once the balcony door was opened, you found yourself in the middle of several buildings just a few feet away. In fact, Cassidy went out there and was immediately greeted by the man in another room on his balcony who tried to start a conversation.

We went for a walk and decided to eat the $100 bucks and find another place. We longed for our original room above the coffee shop, and actually ended up finding a nice hotel on the same street - about a 7 min walk away. This time though, after confirming they had room, we asked them to show us the room first and we approved. So we hoofed it back to our original hotel and just...left.

Do not regret it at all.

That evening, we went out to beer street and found ourselves at a club. Honestly, it was a lot like a dance club back home, except we couldn't understand what everyone was saying. But we watched people and had a good night. We were back in Hanoi.

Your boys be clubbin