We were awakened this morning before dawn in Mai Chau by the
many boisterous roosters below our window.
We waited until the morning light come up over the misty rice fields
outside our window. Wanting to explore I
set out with Keith down the road and took a left as Ngoc had suggested
yesterday. After walking through a few
alleys we were suddenly astonished by all the street vendors, cafes and restaurants
that filled four or five square blocks.
Keith was amazed that all this was steps away from where we were
staying. Keith, who had been to this
town twice before and had stayed less than a hundred yards from this, said, “I
had no idea this was here.” Our first
attempt to get coffee in Hanoi was difficult and this, after all our experience,
was just as difficult. But our efforts
were again rewarded with some great coffee.
Vietnam has some of the best coffee I have ever had, if you can figure
out how to order it. I am definitely
going to buy some to take home. Keith
ran back to our house to get Scott to show him what they had missed on their
first two trips to this village while the coffee we finally ordered started to
brew. We had three cups of coffee and
then headed to breakfast were we, now that we were experts, ordered more
coffee.
Like Willie Nelson said, we were on the road again. Keith today seemed to have an allergic reaction
to his handle bars. He tried to touch
them as little as possible. Through
town, through traffic, through Water Buffalo dung and only when the road got
really twisty did he put his hands on the bars. I mean really twisty, because even in a lot of
turns he continued hands free. We road
on some amazing roads along a large brown river for many kilometers. It was cool watching Keith and Scott fight
through the corners while I attempted to keep up. We passed through lots of cool little
villages where the kids continued to be entertained by Keith’s riding. Actually it is really amazing how kids all
along the road wave at all of us as we go by.
I have never seen so many great smiles in a day.
I have lived in Bend for eight years and every time I see
deer I still think it is cool. Times the
cool factor by five with Water Buffaloes.
They are everywhere and I am awe struck by them all. The baby ones are sooo cute. They are amazing, and tasty, animals.
After another great lunch, where people stared at us and our
bikes the whole time, a guy came up to us and shook our hands. This does not seem to be unusually in
Vietnam, but this guy was unusual. He
didn’t look unusual, but his actions freaked Keith and me out. I got on my bike and I had my side zippers on
my pants open for ventilation and my bare legs were exposed. This guy came over and put his hands inside
my pants and started tickling my legs. I
thought it was too much rice wine and just kind a brushed him off, but then he
went over to Keith and stuck his rear end at Keith like he wanted Keith to take
him in a loving way. We got out of that
town quick.
From lunch the road was pretty straight which made Keith so bored
he was no longer satisfied with riding
hands free. Trucks, people, animals,
rice and hay on the road and Keith starts to ride with no hands standing up. This still is not good enough so Keith takes
one foot of his pegs. Crazy Keith.
We made it to our hotel safely and headed out to
dinner. A huge spider, and I mean huge, was
on the wall above the toilet prevented me from closing the door in case I needed
to make an exit mid stream. During
another great meal, that included many strange things including meat that had
been fermented for ten days, I looked up at the ceiling and there were Gekos
walking above us.
Tomorrow we start the Ho Chi Minh trail.
Posted by Robert the one who keeps his hands on the handle
bars.
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