Day 5 & 6: A Bit Hanoi-ing...

Though we originally had a nice, relaxing, scenic 2-day ride back to Hanoi planned, it had to be scrapped, thanks to a certain highway construction effort 21 Km west of a certain national park.(if you haven't heard about it, go read here, urbody talkin bout it). Our only viable option was to call it a loss, and get back to Hanoi about 18 hours earlier than expected. So we turned our handlebars in the direction of the capital city we had been residents of for the previous 2 months, and were off.

The drive started nicely enough, but soon turned to boring highways lined by small towns, farms, and factories. It threatened rain all day, which actually made for a comfortable driving temperature, and once we got on to the bigger highway, the sailing was smooth for the 100 Km into Hanoi. We took a long lunch, avoiding a short but heavy rain shower, and got in around 4 PM.

Northern Loop completed (kinda).

Sunset view from our favorite bar in Hanoi. This is an old picture... but still appropriate for the post i think

We were disappointed to have not been able to complete our Loop as planned, but it was nice to at least be back in familiar territory, and we had a short list of things to get done (and a long list of things to eat) before we left town

Read on to find out if anything on our to do list was interesting!

There were just a few errands we had to run while we were in the big city, nothing exciting or interesting. Bike maintenance, currency exchange, and saying hey to certain friends were the priorities, as well as various restaurants and eateries that needed to be visited before leaving Hanoi for the foreseeable future.

I felt some of the biggest culture shock I've had since being abroad while taking care of one of our top priorities: see the new Batman movie in a real theater. And the theater was real. So real, I felt like I was back in The States, and it was... weird. And expensive. Not to mention the theme of the movie itself; if you haven't seen it, you should, and not just because of the effects. The whole “1%/99%” social phenomenon is one that peaked while I was abroad, so I'm a bit detached from it. Regardless, it should be noted that by a global standard, the USA is the 1%. Even the people in the US complaining about the 1%. You are the 1% to a lot of other people.

Some cultures who aspire to our particular version of capitalism admire our wealth; others don't. Still, it was a bit unnerving watching the movie in a country whose none-to-distant past involved class tensions, foreign invaders, and bloody domestic war. It's shaped the culture in many ways, often for the worse. I wondered what the Vietnamese people in the audience thought about watching the same scenario unfold in Gotham, especially as many of the victims were of the upper class (something the audience also had in common).

We checked all the boxes on our list, in plenty of time to say some final goodbyes to some of our best friends in Hanoi, then were off on the night train to Vinh, a town about 6 hours south of Hanoi.

The Plan: From Vinh, drive west to the nearby border crossing with Laos, and enjoy a glorious 10 days driving through Southern Laos's 4000 Islands and Bolaven Plateau.

Peace Vietnam, see you soon. Time to get our Laos on ya'll!!