Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
J: We rode back to Hanoi on the bike, it was a lovely sunny ride through the villages & mountains. Although my navigator did have some issues.... Sam directed me on the "motorway" which shouldn't have bikes on it (although no sign posts to tell me of this) a man at the side waved us down said we couldn't go further.... So I had to turn around go the wrong way down the motorway for 200 meters, up the slip road against the traffic and back into the normal road again. All on a days adventure with Sam directing.
We hit Hanoi and drove round the city which is epic fun on a bike, it's just mental, no rules and yet it works.
We completed nearly 600K on the bike and I must admit I have the bug!
S: Personally I didn't see what all the fuss was about?? People in Vietnam drive the wrong way up the road all the time lol?? But I am putting extra effort in my lefts and rights from now on and my concentration levels lol.
We needed to get a hostel for a couple of nights so we checked out a hostel and it seemed fine. We then picked up our 2 big bags, loaded up the bike with us as well. I daren't move for overbalancing, but it was great fun weaving in and out of the traffic.
As we had got back to Hanoi early we visited the São Lo prison. Where the French locked up the Vietnamese and then the Americans. It was interesting to read the different accounts of how people were treated there. Apparently the Americans called it a hotel?? Our hostel had free beer between 6 and 7 so we wandered back and had a few and met some other travellers and swapped stories.
J: We set off early the next day and went to Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum, which closed at 10am. This is where they still keep his embalmed body, the place was freezing inside, and then you walk in a room full of armed soldiers and a massive glass box with Ho Chi Minh inside. He looks rather good still, although they needed to trim his hair that had kept growing.
S: After we visited the complex, which included his house on stilts, his museum, which had some beautiful cars. We saw the presidential palace, although the public isn't allowed into it. As we had walked about 4 miles to get to the complex we carried on a little further and went to the B52 museum. There was an actually B52 that had been shot down in the war, as well as a few anti-aircraft guns in the grounds that had shot down the B52's. Unfortunately the museum was closed but James loved the planes.
J: Oh I must bring you in on a brain fart Sam had. While walking to the Mausoleum, and having just spent 3 weeks around Vietnam, Sam announced that the Americans won the war here, the North Viet Cong lost and Ho Chi Mihn was part of the south.
Even though we went into the museum at Ho Chi Mihns place it didn't help the debate as it was all in Vietnamese.
We had a debate like the days when you don't just have Internet in your pocket. It lasted all day both of us trying to prove our points...... Once we finally stopped at a coffee house with Wi-Fi I was able to prove I was right all along! Don't you just love that moment your right. Sam is now reading her book on the Vietnam and Asian wars to get some education, as she clearly hadn't listened to all the tour guides we have had.
S: Thanks Mr K!
We decided as this was our last day in Vietnam we would go all out and have all the food we loved here and try some new things. We had some spring rolls with crab in, salty doughnuts, dog rolls, and we tried a porridge like substance that actually tasted like a pork roast dinner with Yorkshire puddings. It's still great when you sit down on the street with the locals and they just want to talk to you and see what you think of their food.
After we had filled our bellies, we walked to Hoan Kien Lake to see the 200kg turtle that lives there….? No we didn't see him, but James kept pretending he was there. We walked across to the Ngoc Son Temple where they explained the turtles were a gift for the kings in Vietnam in times gone by. We found a baby turtle on the way, which James obviously held.
J: At the Ngoc Son Temple we did see one of the old turtles that used to swim in the lake, it's stuffed now but it weighed over 250kg and was over 2 meters long!
We also walked to St Joseph's Cathedral in the old town, which was a beautiful just sitting in the middle of a busy city.
J: Vietnam has been amazing! It has been a country with so much to offer and where anything seams possible. The people have been the mostly friendly and inviting into their homes and culture. The country has been through some rough wars yet have come out the other side positive. We have loved Vietnam, crawled through its history (literally in the tunnels) and had a real adventure riding the roads. It will be a place very fond in our hearts.
Oh and I love the fact I was a millionaire in my wallet everyday, £1 gets you 36'000 Dong!
- comments