OMG! Day 2 by Robert

I do not usually fall prey to being rendered speechless and fall back on the abbreviated butchering of the English language like omg.  But, OMG!  Today may qualify as one of the most amazing  days of my life.  Throughout the day, while communicating via our headsets, Scott kept saying to me, “You just can’t explain this to people back home.”  He is so right.  The greatness which I experienced cannot be expressed properly by any other way than to experience it firsthand.  I will attempt to give you the short version here, but realize that my simple explanation will never live up to the actual experience. 

We started the day in Hanoi waking up in our hotel to the barking of dogs and crowing of roosters.  This was quickly followed by communist announcements over the loud speakers in the streets below, which was then followed by what appeared to be traditional Vietnamese music.  All this before seven am.  After waking we made our way to the roof of our hotel where we attempted, and finally succeeded, to explain a deaf woman, who spoke no English, that we needed coffee desperately.  Keith attempted several times to explain to her exactly what we wanted.  He ordered hot coffee with a heavy cream that sat at the bottom of the cup and, when stirred, made the coffee into an unforgettable drink.  After our first attempt succeeded we ordered another round only to get the same delicious drink over ice.  Not what we were trying to order but great all the same.  Another cup was ordered by pointing to the first glass, that was hot, and doing the universal “no” sign over the cup with ice.  A light drizzle was all that chased us away from the roof with views of the lake to the west and the surrounding city. 

We then drove across town to grab our motorcycles that had been reserved for us for the remainder of the trip.  The Yamaha 250cc bikes are much larger and faster than all the scooters that fill the streets of Hanoi.  After check our helmet radios, I took a deep breath and headed out in to the mayhem.  Years of cut lanes in heavy traffic in southern California only slightly prepared me for the experience of the Hanoi streets.  With the voices and laughter of Keith and Scott in my headset we, with only a few close calls, made it out of the city.  In a light drizzle we continued on past the city attempting to keep our eyes on the road as we passed rice fields, water buffaloes and sights that would hypnotize anyone who stared at them too long.  We were driving on this road for many kilometers all the time wondering if the road we were on was a one lane or two lane road.  People on scooters continued to come at us from the other direction, and in normal countries this would be a clue that this was a two lane road, not in Vietnam. 

We continued dodging trucks and one way drivers until we made it to our first beer stop at about our 70km mark.  During this stop I told a joke to our guide that had him literally in tears.  The punch line of this joke, which I told to Keith and Scott while in the airport, appears to be the rally cry of the trip so far and continues to provoke laughter.  (It is only day two, we will see how funny it is after day ten?) 

After one beer we continued on down smaller narrow roads that we sometimes paved and sometimes not.  While driving down these narrow roads we came across school children coming the other way on bicycles who were so amazed by Keith driving down the road with no hands and taking pictures of them, that when they looked back at him, after he pasted, they swerved into the road in front of me.  I could not figure out which kid was the craziest, the one on the motorcycle in front of me or the ones on the bicycles. 

At 130km we stopped for lunch.  I wish I had the ability to portray the scenery of this restaurant.  I will not try, the pictures may help a little, but I will attempt to tell you about the most delicious lunch I have ever had.  Wild boar and water buffalo rice, soup (Pho) and wild vegetables.  Banana flower, green papaya leafs and white eggplant peas were only part of these dishes.  I chased this down with green tea.  All this for $72,000 dong. (That is about $3.50) Side note:  Ngoc, our guide, told us that rice, green tea, rice wine and tobacco smoked in a big wooden pipe are free all over Vietnam.

After lunch we continued to ride into the country side.  No more dodging big trucks. Water buffaloes, chickens and dogs were now our new hazards.  We came across puppies who were taking naps in the middle of the street.  We stopped to give kids candy and Keith continued to entertain them with his no hands riding.  We came to a river that had an alternative crossing that was a toll road that would help us remain dry.  We decided to save our money, and have more fun, by riding right through knee deep water.  The road continued up into the hills and peaked at a giant lake before we began our descent.  This ride is the most amazing I have ever been on. 

For brevities sake I will stop there about the ride, but there is so much more to talk about, because I have to talk about our home stay and the greatest dinner ever.  We are staying in a house that overlooks the rice paddies.  We started our stay by parking our bikes right under our stilted room.  Ngoc brought us a table, which he carried on his shoulders while riding on a scooter, on which we placed the beer and cribbage board that immediately followed.  After 14 beers, and a few games of cribbage, we walked down the block into the darkness that was only illuminated by the lights of our neighbors that were enjoying a time when the government turned the power on.  The power is turned on and off during the day and night according to what the government deems is needed.  While walking to dinner Scott said about the tranquility of the night, “You know it would be perfect if there were just some fire flies flying around.”  Just then we had just that.  Wow!  Ok, now dinner.  We just sat down and food started to arrive.  A huge plate, which I took a picture of, was filled with more water buffalo, chicken, banana flower, spring rolls and grasshoppers.  Yes, grasshoppers, which our host called flying shrimp.  They were awesome.  All this accompanied by lots of rice and sauces.  I am not exaggerating when I say that this was the greatest meal I have ever had.  Hopefully more like that are in our future. 

After dinner my companions went back to our large room with three bed rolls on the floor with netting for the bugs and went to bed.  I went back to the restaurant and enjoyed a show with traditional music and dancers.  I danced with the local woman and a few Swedish tourists and then walked through the darkness back to our home stay. 

Day 2 is over.