The gloves have come off. Both Trevor and I are going mad. Sorry to say but biking up Highway 1 is horrible. Almost everyone honks their horn. I hate that horn... I hate it with a passion in fact. I really don't get the nonstop honking. It sucks too because I think some want to get our attention to wave or say hello but really just end up pissing the both of us off more.
There are also way too many hello's. I do not like to be mean but I can't keep saying hello to every single person in Vietnam... can't do it. Most of them yell it in a rude way. It is tough because sometimes (well actually rarely) a young child will wave and say hello but I am so pissed to say it back. I feel bad because I think I am giving them a bad impression of foreigners.
A few more piss offs (trust me there are a lot more though... I could probably write a book) here are they need to keep your passport at the hotels overnight. I do not like giving that up. I persuaded the guy in Vinh to let us keep them but the last 2 stops I have lost the will and strength to try and keep them. It is hard enough getting our bikes in the room.
Seriously it is a free-for-all on the roads... two idiots came right at me along the highway forcing me to fall off my bike and jump down this hill. They were off before I could yell 'What the bleep you bleeping piece of bleep and you too you bleeping load of bleep!'
Another annoyance is people like to touch things that is not their's. Trevor really hates this as do I. Touching our bikes as if they own them... not liking that. I have been touched as well and do not appreciate that. I am not a touchy feely kind of guy... especially with strangers.
I keep yelling and cursing because of all the chaos. I am pretty sure they do not know what I am saying but probably know I am pissed. I need to vent my anger because it does help. Trevor keeps it inside which isn't good. Case and point... yesterday a few kids tried to catch us and say hello a million times. Trevor then asked me to pick up the pace which I in turn got pissed at him for always needing to go go go (it was one of those days we were both so pissed anything so small would trigger anger). And so he booked it and flew off. He did this earlier in the day as someone else pissed him off and he booked it. When we met up I got pissed at him saying how am I supposed to fix a flat should one occur if he is super far ahead of me with the spare tubes and patch kit along with all the Dong. Anyways so he booked it again to get away from the kids and me. It was late in the day and I unknowingly ended up passing him somehow where he waited. I got into the town of Ninh Binh just before sunset but couldn't find him. I thought he was so pissed at me he booked it with the intention of leaving me stranded with no money. I couldn't find him and so I had to end up taking money out of an ATM and find a hotel. I had no clue where he was. Luckily he emailed me telling me he waited for me in some town about 20 km away. I told him where I was and told him to bike to the place. A huge relief there. Trevor ended up getting the worst of it as he had to bike in the dark as well. That is horrible along the main road... when he finally got in he was in bad shape. I didn't get pissed at him as I could tell he learned his lesson for going well ahead and not sticking together. This was the worst biking day. I did however break my single day record... now 220 km! Trevor probably did 240 km that day.
Right now we are in Hanoi. Spent hours trying to find a decent bicycle shop. We have now learned there isn't one. Basically some dude on the side of the road is your man. This guy led us to this other guy who ended telling me I need to buy a new bike and my bike cannot be fixed. I was just trying to get our bikes tuned up. Our bikes are dying... I really hope they can hold up until China. Then I pray we can find a decent shop there...
So yeah it definitely has been absolute downhill since leaving Thailand. We really miss biking there as well as Malaysia and of course Singapore. We pray China will be better... it has to be though...
Picture 1: A spoke broke again. Too many rocks flinging around on the highway... annoying. Anyways it was difficult but we managed to find a place in this roadside town to fix it. Wasn't a great job but it got me going again. I need to get it professionally done but where is the question... definitely not in Vietnam.
Picture 2: On highway 1... I look real happy don't I? That was the worst day...
Picture 3: We couldn't get any peace anywhere so we bought some snacks and warm drinks and booked it until we found a spot that wasn't as chaotic. It is just annoying when people come up and hassle you... I need peace!
Picture 4: Another picture of me ecstatic about biking in Vietnam!
Picture 5: At the HCM mausoleum with about a billion motorbikes around... Trevor still hasn't got the crossing of streets down. Just got to walk at a casual pace really... it is like real life Frogger here.
Picture 6: Paid 30,000 dong for this shirt only to cut it up into pieces... no I wasn't letting off steam... basically we needed rags to clean the bikes and lube up the chains soooo that was the only option!
PS - I think when this is all over Trevor and I need to enroll in a good anger management course...
No comments:
Post a Comment