Bullet Points
-On January 9th we flew from Barcelona to Hanoi.
-After an awesome week with my sister Monica in Hanoi we have departed to cycle around Northern Vietnam and in 2-3 weeks plan to cross the border into Northern Laos.
In a bizarre change of direction and continent we touched down in Hanoi, Vietnam, a long way and a far cry from Barcelona. We felt victorious after nearly 48 hours of connecting metros, trains, buses and flights, and must say a huge thank you to Adela, our friend in Spain, for helping us through the logistical challenge of carrying our boxed up bikes to the airport.
-On January 9th we flew from Barcelona to Hanoi.
-After an awesome week with my sister Monica in Hanoi we have departed to cycle around Northern Vietnam and in 2-3 weeks plan to cross the border into Northern Laos.
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In a bizarre change of direction and continent we touched down in Hanoi, Vietnam, a long way and a far cry from Barcelona. We felt victorious after nearly 48 hours of connecting metros, trains, buses and flights, and must say a huge thank you to Adela, our friend in Spain, for helping us through the logistical challenge of carrying our boxed up bikes to the airport.
Within
five minutes of arriving at our hostel in the old quarter of Hanoi my sister
Monica appeared outside the front door, our rendezvous a highly anticipated
occasion. Anna and I had seen no family, in fact nobody at all that we knew
previously, since leaving NZ on April 8th. Monica’s been living and
working in Hanoi since early November, being a ‘local’ she has come to know her
way around pretty darn well. She’s also a little bundle of energy and
enthusiasm and the three of us have had an amazing week together. We’re feeling
very lucky!
With
a population of around 7-8 million Hanoi is a lively place to visit and has a
cheerful vibe about it. The air is undeniably heavily polluted, but on the flip
side the city is blessed with a myriad of cute little lakes and parks, and in a
great piece of town planning many of it’s streets are lined with rows of great
leafy trees growing over to form long archways of greenery. The streets that we
experienced were kept surprisingly clean and amazingly free of the funky smells
you might expect with such a density of population!
Our
week has consisted of buzzing through the crowded streets, following Mon on our
bikes, amidst the sea of motorbikes, moving from one great eatery to another,
sampling a great range of delicious Vietnamese foods, and chatting over a great
range of topics. We’ve also loved just watching life go on by, so many curious
and entertaining things I’ve not seen before. Things like enmasse exercises,
aerobics and dancing in the park, young boys trying to repair Anna’s jandals as
she walks, babies squeezed between parents on motorbikes, crashed U.S. war
planes in stagnant lakes, a whole city curfew at 11pm, and themed streets where
all shops sell identical products. Space feels like it’s in short supply in
Hanoi, for the first time ever we were regularly charge a small fee to park our
bikes, most restaurants had chairs and tables the size of pre-school kids
furniture, footpaths were so filled with eateries and vendors that anybody
walking is forced to brave the road. Road traffic spills over onto the
footpaths and foot traffic spills onto the road! We’ve loved it. The week has
been an extremely precious time and Mon has given us a very good initiation to
the country. Massive thanks Mons!! After seven days of fun today it was time load
up the bikes again, to leave the nest and venture forth! To North Vietnam we
have embarked and by the sounds of it some very hilly adventures await us.
Ollie
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