Suffice to say, it’s been a busy week. There always seems to be more to do to prepare for a trip like this than I remember. Even after a week preparing my bike and equipment, it was the night before that I realised that the pannier bags I was intending on using wouldn’t fit my pannier rack, and my seat post was stuck in the frame. Luckily my Dad was on hand to make the required amendments while I continued to pack.

Arriving in Hanoi, I organised travel to the hotel, and, as it was a third of the price of the alternative hotel-arranged airport transfer I took that as a win. Driving into town the roads were absolute chaos and when the rain started lashing down I decided to spend the rest of the day in the hotel. Still with a leisure suite and rooftop sky bar it could be worse. The quality of my accommodation after this may deteriorate…

Finally waking at 2 o’clock on my second day in Hanoi, I headed off into the Old Quarter to pick up a phone SIM and explore a bit. I’m feeling much better acclimated today and enjoyed exploring.

Road crossings were a nightmare due to the endless stream of scooters, maybe it’ll be easier when travelling alongside them, by bike?

I was happy to chat to Lanh and Anh and some fellow Hanoi University students near Ho Hoan Kiem, they were keen to try out their English skills, though none of them were actually studying English, Anh was studying Korean as well just to add to the list.

I tried some street food including a Banh Mi (pork baguette) and Pho Bo (beef noodles), Vietnamese staples that I might be encountering a lot on the road, which is fine by me. I’m also quite happy with the Bia Hoi draught beer found randomly dotted about on street corners!

This evening, I tried to pump up the tyres on my bike without much luck. I think I’ll probably need a new pump, so will head for a bike shop in the morning. Tonight it’s back to the Pan Pacific Summit bar to enjoy their eclectic range of out of place Christmas songs…

Should be starting cycling tomorrow if I have a working bike!

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