Good morning SE Asia!: 29/09/13 - Hanoi to Hai Duong

Got up 5.45 to finish packing and get the bikes downstairs. The hotel had done us a couple of little breakfast bags. After the usual dithering, we were ready to go at 6.45. It was Sunday, and early so we hoped the traffic would not be too bad. It was mental. I can only imagine how bad it would be at midday on a hot weekday. We definitely need face masks as you can chew the soot after about 5 mins. We were pretty confident after so much walking in the city last couple of days, and cycling is no worse. The hardest part is crossing from the left kerb to turn right across 4 lanes (two each way). The trick is just to keep moving slowly and make eye contact. We didn’t have any issues getting out of town apart from trying to go over the railway bridge the wrong way (it had pedestrian foot ways either side and we went up the wrong side).
Once out of Hanoi, we took smaller roads out into the countryside through rice paddies, small villages full of the tall 'Rocket' style houses that look strangely cool standing out on their own, not tightly packed in a city. Some were up to 5 stories tall, but only 5m wide, standing alone in a rural setting, like the rest of the town had just been demolished around it like in the 80's film "Batteries not included".

Everyone wants to shout "hello!" and the kids are especially interested, maybe they haven’t seen westerners on bikes in this part before. I can imagine that some of the young kids up to 4 years old won't have. Babies on the backs of scooters that pass stare in amazement.

We arrived at the hotel in less than 4 hours, got there at 11am! It was a bit early to check in but they were OK. We had a room on the 22nd floor of a 25 floor 4 star business hotel. Expensive for Vietnam at £40 (with breakfast). Swimming pool, gym, tennis, even a golf driving range. We had a swim and a massage (£5 for 60 mins).

Route Link

Accommodation Link