Hanoi...km 1710

With mixed feelings we cycled into Hanoi yesterday. Mixed because it means we have arrived at our objective, but it also means it was our last day on the bikes. Cycle touring is a love-hate thing. There are times when you wonder why you're doing it, but sitting here in our cushy big-city hotel sipping coffee, I'm already missing it.

The past few days of riding to get here from Cat Ba island were very pleasant, if not uneventful. The ferry ride back to the mainland through Halong Bay was stunning. The day started with a dawn 25-km ride across the island to catch the ferry. It was a stunningly beautiful ride through the jungle and mountains. We were way off the tourist route, since virtually all tourists take the "tourist bus-ferry" route that leaves directly from the hotels of Cat Ba. We had the road to ourselves and then shared the locals-only 1-dollar ferry ride with about 10 Vietnamese who I think we're wondering what planet we were from. "Canada" we told them in reply to the constant barrage of "where you from". Then "ah, Canada good".

With an overnight stop in Halong Bay City, we rode to our next overnight stop near the Con Son Pagoda (pagoda = temple = place of worship). Again, way off the tourist routes we toured the pagoda with about 1000 Vietnamese worshippers...not a caucasian in sight. The funniest thing happened to Amy here. She was stopped about a dozen times by teenaged girls who wanted to have their photo taken with her. I think they thought she was a movie star or something. The Vietnamese think Amy is beautiful because of her white skin and blond hair. She has been told "you very buutiful" the whole trip. Me...I get nothing. I'm just the big stupid white guy. Although once I was asked to step on a scale because they wanted to know how much I weighed...which is about 90 lbs more than the average Vietnamese guy.

So, the plan for the next day or so is for Amy to shop (she's very exicited about that) and for me to figure out how I'm going to pack up the bikes for the flight home. If time permits, we're hoping to take a few days and go to the mountain town of Sapa which is northwest of here. As usual, we'll keep you posted....