DIARY - Sunday 20th January 2008 Hanoi Well, I finally made it to the north and a bonding session with my little treasure! She is orange, probably the colour my hair would have been had it still been hot and sunny - but it ain't - either orange or hot. In fact it has dropped 20 degrees from the south and is foggy today.
Hanoi is so different to Ho Chi Minh City, the old quarter a maze of tiny streets, the footpaths just a parking lot for the millions of bikes - pedestrians have to take a chance with the traffic. Daily life is lived on the streets, all manner of jobs, from welding to cooking crabs, chipping headstones to playing mahjong. The noise, the pollution, the headache I have from a day walking round the streets - I can't wait to leave in the morning. At a guess actually getting out of the city is going to be my first headache. I lent my GPS to my son who is 'playing' in the western Sahara - the compass would have been handy, however no probs as they say - go with the flow.
I had a practice session at starting the Minsk last night, no key, just an off/on switch. Make sure the petrol is switched on and the on switch engaged, kick start on the left, gears are one down the rest up. To turn the bike off just flick the off switch up. The brakes work, the suspension seems ok and the tyres have tread. It is illegal to ride with the headlight on during the day and I won't be riding at night, so the electrics are incidental. There doesn't seem anything to stop her being nicked though, so a stout lock will be handy, and park her somewhere safe at night. She is orange, she is beautiful and we are off into the mountains. Stuff the Honda automatics! This morning I watched a performance of the puppets at the water puppet theatre. Punch and Judy in the water. Unique to Vietnam and quite funny.
The Temple of Literature was a slog round the streets but worth the effort. Founded in 1070 and dedicated to Confucius it was the site of Vietnam's first University and scholars have been absorbing life and literature since 1076. Nuff education - it's bike riding time!