Currently there are roughly 6.5 million motorbikes and scooters on Hanoi’s roads. The use of bicycles, once the dominant transport mode in the city, decreased dramatically as motorbikes and cars became more popular: in 1995, 47% of journeys were made by bicycle; in 2008, the figure had dropped to only 3%. The figure now must be less than 1%.
And so it seems almost a little funny to tour the country by bicycle, but I guess it’s not that different than touring the rest of the world where most journeys are by car. We like it.
Overall we were happy to have visited Hanoi and environs, and it was great to see Dieter and meet his girlfriend, but we were looking forward to getting out into the countryside. The air quality was kind of grim when we left and the forecast was not optimistic. And as older people, it’s getting harder to deal with all the traffic and rapidly moving vehicles, especially as Vietnam novices.
So, we opted to take a shuttle out of Hanoi to our starting town of Hoa Binh to the southwest of Hanoi. Part of it was not really wanting to navigate Hanoi’s busy streets on loaded bikes to the bus station as our first ride in Vietnam, and part was not really knowing if we could actually get our bikes on a bus. We were pretty sure we could but not sure. It seems that Vietnam is flexible in many ways so if it can be done, they’ll help you do it.
Dieter’s girlfriend Dung arranged a pickup for us at 10AM and we arrived in Hoa Binh around 12:30 or so to re-assemble bikes, find some coffee and attempt to find a food store.
The driver dropped us exactly where we told him to…but the grocery store we expected to be there was not there. This happens to us a lot. I’m not sure if it’s a map issue or the names we search for but it’s often that we get to where we want, but not to what we want. In any case, Chris got some direction from locals about which direction to go.
We were both pretty gleeful getting back on the bikes and starting to roll. It’s independence and being outside using your body and feeling the landscape stream by. The sense of adventure is back, and it’s so nice that we both share this joy of traveling and exploring on 2-wheels. The day was hot – and the forecast for the next 5 days was for highs above 95 degrees and up to 102. High humidity too. The haze in the air reminded me of hot summer days from my youth, but one nice thing about being on a bike is that you make your own breeze when you ride so there’s incentive to keep rolling along to not swelter.
Our destination that night was Man Duc, a non-tourist town about 20 miles away with about 1,400 feet of climbing along the way. We were on a mix of small and medium roads, and the smaller ones were delightful in their rural-ness…perfect for a bike to travel on with essentially no cars and little other traffic. Riding a bike on a road in Vietnam is much more relaxing than in NZ and US. Drivers are used to adapting to slower vehicles, weaving scooters, animals in the road, drivers making U-turns or even driving on the wrong side of the street. In NZ (and the US), honk-honk of a car means “get the hell out of MY way or face the consequences!!!” In Vietnam, honk-honk means “I see you, and I want to you and everyone else to know where I am since I’m going to give you plenty of room.”
And so, for those who consider biking in Vietnam, don’t worry about the honking – it’s actually kind of helpful and maybe even reassuring.
Along the way, people waved and greeted us with “hello, hello!” Old and young…the friendliness is remarkable. We stopped to get some water and search for snacks and the owner asked if he could have his picture taken with us, with big smiles. And we bombed these people?!. It’s amazing. In a few hours, we arrived in Man Duc. If you search for it in Google, all the entries will be in Vietnamese, since it’s not really a tourist destination. All good for us.
Our hotel in Man Duc was called the Hung Manh, and which also offered massage and had a bar. We think it was a legit hotel, but it gave us a smile. Dinner of a nice bowl of Pho Ba and a beer was about $2 each and we slept well.
The next day’s ride from Man Duc to Mai Chau was longer, about 37 miles and 3,500 feet of elevation gain. The forecast was for 99 degrees F (37C) and 98% humidity. We left around 8AM to beat some of the heat, and probably should have left earlier. We were on small roads from the beginning and during most of the day. We are in the mountains now, and the landscapes were dramatic, rugged peaks rising above seas of electric green rice fields. It’s stunning.
We encountered one “traffic jam”, in a village where parents were picking up their kids from school on scooters. We definitely got lots of attention there since I don’t think this route sees many westerners, especially on bikes. Lots more smiles and hellos!
Finding food is not hard in Vietnam, but finding travel snacks is hard. There are small restaurants every few miles serving Pho or Bun Cha. Sandwiches (Banh Mi) are harder to find and there are no snack bars or bags of trail mix. It forces us to eat real food, which is not a bad thing, but sometimes you just want what is familiar and easy to transport.
We skirted around a large lake with islands as we descended the main hill of the day.
We climbed over the last hill and rolled towards Mai Chau. The last few miles were on small paths crossing through Thai villages and rice fields with mountains in the background. Mai Chau was bigger than we imagined, a tourist destination for Vietnamese primarily but it seems there’s a few Europeans too. Our homestay is incredible – a lovely rustic place with a koi ponds and lovely views. And our room has air conditioning, which was sorely needed and greatly appreciated.
We took showers, got dressed and went into town for dinner at a place the owner recommended called 3 Sisters, which lived up to the recommendation. Way too much food but we took what we didn’t eat home so we could have it the next day. Today we definitely had some of the best food we’ve had this trip!
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