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March 04, 2005

Riding down the highway

We've had an action packed couple of days. We didn't manage to post last night because we were busy closing down the karaoke bar at the hotel with Karalee; Cuong and Tien, our Vietnamese guides from Buffalo Tours; Sparky, our expedition leader who's from the UK and works leading adventure expeditions all over the world for Across the Divide; Rich, a young fellow from the Boston crew; Janet, an mutual funds salesperson from San Francisco; Lenah, a transplanted Brazillian who lives in San Diego; and TJ, a Rotarian from Bellevue.

Karalee now has on tape far too much of the proceedings, which culminated (after I went to bed) with Ed, Sparky, and TJ singing a rousing chorus of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot acapella after the karaoke machine broke. Interestingly enough, for some reason the Vietnamese prefer really maudlin ballads and take karaoke pretty seriously.

Yesterday we cycled from Thanh Hoa to visit some the ancient capital of Vietnam in the Tenth Century, which was interesting. Then we cycled through amazing country side for a while. We stopped and visited a one room preschool where the kids performed some songs and dances for us and we did the Hokey Pokey for them - they looked at us like we were totally out of our minds, which of course we were.

Then we got onto Highway One, the major North-South highway in Vietnam. It's a complete and utter madhouse, with motorbikes, cars, trucks, busses, bicycles, oxen, and everything else you can think of (and much you can't). We rode on the highway to Thanh Hoa, where we spent the night in a hotel that looked like it was built in the Soviet era and hadn't been touched since. Ed and I were the only ones with hot water in our rooms, much to the envy of the entire crew. The whole town felt like something out of the movie Brazil - dirty, noisy, topped with loudspeakers blaring the national radio station starting at six in the morning.

Today we got up, cycled more on Highway One for the morning and then turned off onto backroads where we went through amazing farmland and small towns until we hit the coast. We cycled into a very strong headwind up the coast. We visited an amazing elementary school, where hundreds of kids swarmed anyone who took out a camera. We're now sitting in an internet place where lots of young folks are looking over our shoulders as we type.

We're off to dinner at the hotel, and then to a hopefully early bedtime!

Posted by oren at March 4, 2005 03:42 AM

Comments

Hoo boy -- I knew this trip would open you to new adventures and change the way you look at the world, and look - now you're singing karaoke! Have you had any cobra yet? Keep up the good work.

Posted by: Michele at March 4, 2005 07:51 AM

Oren, Sounds like an exciting adventure - and what great fun, too! Michele & Mo came by for awhile yesterday afternoon and we had an enjoyable visit. Cate

Posted by: Cate at March 4, 2005 12:16 PM

Oren / Ed, We avidly follow your viet nam vignettes and look forward to the the COMPLEAT STORY with pictures, regional odors, torrid tastes and the cacophony that goes with it. Abba and Eema

Posted by: Abba at March 4, 2005 04:22 PM