January 24, 2017

 Happy Birthday Richard.

I had a nervous nights sleep, as I usually do before riding in a new country. I was very apprehensive about riding out of Hanoi and several people had warned us about the crazy A1 – the road we would be taking south. I managed to eat breakfast, a very nice omelet with bread and some fruit. We headed out on the road by 9:30.

After a few wrong turns getting out of Hanoi we were on the A1 south.

What an amazing first days ride in Vietnam. Not because of the scenery, it wasn’t much to look at, but because of the sheer volume of traffic, noise and people. I am not sure how many photos we are going to be able to take, because the volume of traffic means you have to concentrate on the road and the ride rather than the scenery.

We did pass an area of marble carvers, it was an area that stretched along the road for about 1 km.

We also passed this huge building, we have no idea what it was.

The sheer volume of scooters was incredible. Not only do we have the regular traffic to contend with, but we have holiday traffic to contend with as well. In two days time is the start of the Vietnamese Lunar New Year celebrations and people who work in the cities are heading home to their families in the countryside.  There is a wide shoulder for cyclists.

I hadn’t realized how good my bike handling skills were. Ralf stayed behind me and I think slightly out in the road to protect me as best he good.

It would appear that the horns are used for notification. I am idiot and I am driving towards you on the wrong side of the road, please avoid me. Or, I am an idiot and I am going to overtake and drive on the opposite side of the road into traffic, please avoid me. Or I am just going to merge without any indication. Or I have a horn and I am just going to keep using it. I used my horn, which is 96 decibels it sounded like a kids bell compared to the noise of the scooters horns. I used it when a vehicle pulled out in front of me or looked as if they were going to do something, just to let them know I was there but I don’t think that is part of the rules.

We saw a funny traffic sign, max speed for trucks and buses 80, max speed for cars 70 and maximum speed for scooters and bicycles was 50. Something doesn’t add up – the motorbikes and scooters outnumber the trucks and buses by about 100 to 1. On one section of the road Ralf said to me there is a car, a couple of scooters and a transport be ready for the transport to pass. We cycled for another 15 minutes and it never did pass us, there were just too many scooters in front of it.

Ralf was wearing a jersey that had on the back of it Share the Road, well people sort of of did that.

We stopped at 20 km and drank some electrolyte drink and water. While swigging down the electrolyte I noted the head of a cow on a chair about 2 metres in front of me.

The lady on the other side of the train track was selling the meat. Road side advertising!

At about the 30 kms mark I just couldn’t believe I was cycling in this mayhem. Scooters everywhere, coming on the inside, overtaking trucks and heading on the other side of the road. I kept in my lane and just pedaled, every one went around us. It was chaos but for some bizaare reason it works. Nobody got upset, they just went around you.

At about the 40 kms mark we stopped again to eat our bananas and more electrolyte. The road is very flat.

As usual on these trips you get some strange looks from people who pass and some encouragement from people – thumbs up and shouts of something similar to vite vite. Or of course it could have been get of the road you crazy people. It would appear we are the only white people on the road.

We arrived in Phu Ly which is the capital of this province. It is a large city with a highway running through the middle of it! It is incredibly noisy. We found a small guesthouse on the outskirts of the town. It costs 170,000 vnd about $10.00. It is very basic, double bed, t.v, air conditioner and fan and I think we provide our own sheets! There is a bottom sheet and some blankets but no top sheet. No food is included but they directed us back into town.

We had a shower that had very little water pressure but the water was hot. We then walked back into Town and had Pho for a mid-afternoon lunch/dinner. We bought some milo – like a chocolate malted milk drink to use on the cereal we bought for breakfast. We also bought more water and some buns for a snack later.

Our plan is to do about 60 kms per day until we get our cycling legs back. Today was exactly 60 kms. Looking at the maps for tomorrow, it looks like it could be a longer day. We have noticed that the guest houses are in most towns. Although there may not be a Town on google maps, we have not seen very much countryside between towns. All the Towns and Cities merge into each other.

I cannot connect to the internet, I will post this tomorrow. An early night is in order.