Viet Road Trip Days 15-17

Viet Road Trip is a blog series about my solo scooter trip through Viet Nam. This is day 15. Day 14 can be found here.

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his post is going to be a little bit different. I'm combining days because I only have a handful of photos for days 15, 16 and 17. I think I used up too much of my photography energy on day 14. The weather was also a problem. My phone wasn't waterproof, and the underwater enclosure for my GoPro was broken in Thailand, so that wasn't waterproof either. When it rained, I had to put my electronics away.

As for Hanoi, honestly, I didn't care for it very much. It was crowded, loud, expensive, cold, and rainy. Maybe if the weather was better I would have liked it more. The food was great there, but I was happy to leave.

Anyways, I'll get into Hanoi later in this post. Let's pick up where I left off, in Vinh.

eaving Vinh, I knew I was going to have to spend a lot of time riding on Highway 1. That's the one highway I was trying to avoid. It's full of traffic, construction, and there's nothing enjoyable about riding on it. I decided to take some side roads and quickly got off the beaten path.

Around here is when I started wondering if maybe Highway 1 wasn't that bad after all.

The good thing is that Google knows about most of these roads, so being lost isn't really a thing. The bad thing is that Google doesn't see much difference between tiny dirt paths like this, and brand new 2-lane highways. It was cool to explore the area, but I knew that I was hardly making any progress on those small dirt roads.

s I made my way north, I stayed next to the coast. The people in this area all seemed really friendly. Lots of people yelling Hello and waving. I was feeling pretty good.

Then this happened.

Things go from happy hellos to dead bodies pretty quick in this video.

This was a strange thing to experience. I was having fun, listening to music, saying hello to all the friendly villagers. Then I noticed a change in the vibe. People were getting more and more serious as I went down the road. You could feel the tragedy in the air. I turned off my music and saw the crowd up ahead.

I could see that a motorbike had gotten smashed under a truck. The police opened up a little space to let me through. On the other side of the truck was the grieving family. Crying next to a body covered by cardboard, with only the feet showing. I was trying to make my way past as solemnly and respectfully as I could. Then "Hello!" from the crowd. Right in front of the grieving family. Then another "Hello!" from the crowd, like we were at the market or something.

I just kept on going. Later that day when I was looking for a hotel in Ninh Binh, I saw another accident but everyone was alive, though injured. That night I stayed in Ninh Binh and went to Hanoi the next day.

Getting close to Hanoi.

Light Hanoi traffic.

anoi was a big wet chaotic mess when I arrived. The weather sucked and I just wasn't all that interested in hanging out in the tourist areas. I did want western food and beer, so I went out and got some.

At some point I met these people.

I don't remember much about what happened on my first night in Hanoi. Somehow I started drinking with the people in the photo. After that, a few of us went walking around for more drinks. At some point, I was offered back-alley sex by an Austrailian woman. As much as I wanted to have that story to tell, I declined the offer. Call me old-fashioned, but drunk dumpster sex in a Hanoi alley doesn't appeal to me.

The next day I tried to be as lazy as possible. I spent hours in my room, looking at my phone. Then I went out for Western food. For some reason, I was unmotivated to take photos. I had to force myself to take pictures because I knew I'd want them in the future. Thanks Past me! You were right!

Hanoi definitely has its own unique charm. I was just feeling a little out of sorts when I was there.

There's something about these tiny, crowded little streets that I love. There's a palpable vibrance to places like this.

Just a random street.

hese are my favorite photos from Hanoi. This is what it looks like when school gets out. I used to think that American schools were crowded when they're dismissed. This the Vietnamese take it to a new level. It took me 10 minutes just to walk through. I don't know how these folks do it on motorbikes.

Everyone just waits in front of the school until their kid comes out.

I wonder how many students go to this school. It looks like thousands.

n Hanoi, my bike started having engine problems again. The bike had shut down once or twice while riding. It started acting up again, in Hanoi. I took it to a mechanic and he found the problem. Due to the rain, my spark plug was getting wet and causing problems. The mechanic fixed it with some electricians tape.

With my bike fixed, I was ready to get back on the road and head north to Sapa. Until then, ride safe!

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Viet Road Trip is a blog series about my solo scooter trip through Vietnam. Read about days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7.1, 8, 8.1, 9, 9.1, 10, 11,12, 13 and 14 here.